Resident Evil Requiem finally made its terrifying, full-blown debut during Summer Game Fest 2025, and while it looks like everything I've ever hoped for, there's just one teeny tiny, '90s-coded thing missing: Leon Kennedy.
Series mainstay Leon Kennedy has long been rumored to be at least one of the playable characters in Resident Evil 9, but there's no indication from the game's reveal trailer that he has anything to do with it. Instead, the trailer focuses on FBI agent Grace Ashcroft, daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak hero Alyssa Ashcroft, and in our hands-off demo, Grace is the only playable character, with Leon nowhere to be seen.
Furthermore, Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi (via Neon Slice), recently sent a video message to Resident Evil Ambassador participants, and in it he refers to Grace explicitly as "the new main character" of Resident Evil 9.
Case closed, right? Everyone go home. RIP Leon. Surely this will bring about a swift and decisive end to the speculation that, secretly, Leon Kennedy is actually the main protagonist of Resident Evil 9.
If you believed anything I said in that last paragraph, email me for a discount on some beachfront property in Phoenix. Of course the speculation will continue, likely until launch unless Capcom itself spills the beans.
To be fair, calling Grace "the new main character" doesn't rule our Leon's involvement; it could simply mean she's the only new main character to the series. Also, the prevailing theory, spearheaded by prominent Resi leaker Dusk Golem, has long been that there are at least two playable characters in the game and that Leon is "the main character."
It wouldn't be at all uncharacteristic for Capcom to pull a fast one on fans and bring out Leon as a surprise some point after the prologue. Or, I could just be huffing hopium like the rest of the Resident Evil community. Only time, and Capcom, can tell.
