Resident Evil Requiem director appears to tease more returning characters beyond Leon

Resident Evil Requiem game director, Koshi Nakanishi, appears to tease the return of more beloved characters beyond Leon in an interview with Japanese games publication 4Gamer. The publication asks Nakanishi if there are any other characters that will appear besides Leon, and Nakanishi confirms that “The playable characters are Grace and Leon,” before teasing, “As for other characters, please look forward to playing the game”.

This translation comes courtesy of Genki_JPN, a news aggregator for video games developed in Japan. Capcom put an end to one of gaming’s worst-kept secrets by revealing the return of Leon at The Game Awards on December 11. According to Nakanishi, the playable sections for Grace and Leon are “almost equally split,” and the gameplay is a mix of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4.

Both the original 1998 Resident Evil 2 and the 2019 remake are standard survival horror experiences, featuring limited resources and vulnerable protagonists. Grace’s sections will feel like Resident Evil 2, whereas Leon’s playable sections will play like Resident Evil 4, which is more action-oriented with roundhouse kicks and a lot less tension and horror.

Grace Ashcroft is an FBI analyst and an entirely new playable character. Although Requiem is her Resident Evil debut, series veterans will recognize her as the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, a playable character in Resident Evil Outbreak from 2003.

As for Leon Kennedy, he is a fan-favorite federal agent for the United States government. Leon made his debut starring as a rookie cop in Resident Evil 2 back in 1998 alongside Claire Redfield, before starring alone in Resident Evil 4 in 2005. The last we saw of Leon was in Resident Evil 6, released in 2012, as he didn’t appear in either Resident Evil 7 or Village.

Which characters could return in Resident Evil Requiem beyond Leon?

If there are more returning characters in Resident Evil Requiem, there are a couple of ideal candidates. These include Ada Wong, a secretive spy and mercenary who was part of all the other entries starring Leon: RE2, RE4, and RE6. She has a key relationship with Leon in the games as she toes the line between rival and ally, both using and saving Leon in the past while simultaneously flirting.

The last time we saw Ada Wong was in Resident Evil 6. Concept art shows that she was planned to be part of Resident Evil Village in 2021 as a “mysterious masked person that saves [protagonist] Ethan,” but she was ultimately cut.

A lot of fans would like to see the return of Jill Valentine, one of the playable characters in the first Resident Evil released for PS1 in 1996, who was last seen in 2009’s Resident Evil 5. Despite not appearing in any of the newer video game installments, Jill was rejuvenated through the RE3 remake and the CG Resident Evil Death Island movie released in 2023.

Unfortunately, Jill doesn’t appear likely. Dusk Golem is a Resident Evil leaker who accurately leaked Leon as a second playable character before Requiem was announced at Summer Game Fest. There were rumors that RE9 would star Jill as a playable character alongside Leon, but Dusk Golem shut these rumors down, saying, “Jill doesn’t play any major role in RE9, unfortunately”.

We don’t have too long to wait to find out if there are any other returning characters as Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Leaks claim it’s the most dynamic game in the series’ history, and that the newest stalker is more like the Xenomorph from Alien Isolation.