Resident Evil Requiemis officially the ninth mainline title in theResident Evilseries, and while Capcom hasn’t revealed too much about what will happen in it,the game seems to be marking a milestone in the series and an end for certain characters. In a recent Capcom Spotlight, the creative team behind the game spoke about the game’s timeline, their new protagonist, and howRE9will be a requiem for everything that came before it.
These updates from Capcom have made me worried thatResident Evil 9could be the end for my favorite characters, but that might be a good thing.Resident Evilhas reinvented itself a few times throughout its history, and retiring the old guard might be a way for the series to blaze a fresh, exciting path. New characters, ones that haven’t been hardened by years of combat and experience, could allow for scarier games.
When Requiem Takes Place & Why It Matters
Decades Of Time Have Passed Since Raccoon City
Resident Evil 9will take placethirty years after the outbreak in Raccoon City. On the most important night in the series, the spread of T-Virus-infected monsters threatened the country, and characters like Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, and Jill Valentine were pulled into a seemingly never-ending battle with the Umbrella Corporation. The nextResident Evilgame taking place exactly three decades after these events doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
2026, the yearRE9is set to release, isalso the 30th anniversary of the series, as the originalResident Evilcame out Jun 29, 2025. In those three decades, the series has consistently evolved, shifting between action and horror. It’s been continually making video game history at the same time, like popularizing over-the-shoulder gameplay inResident Evil 4,a mechanic that revolutionized the action genre.
A milestone anniversary like this matching up with the in-game timelineseems to point to a major shift forResident Evil, one that might spell the end of the line for certain characters and their stories. Thirty years is a perfect amount of time to mark the start of a new generation, especially since the ages of characters seen in the first few games will mean most of them are hovering around the 50 to 60 age range.
It Makes Sense To Wrap Up The Characters’ Stories
A New Cast Of Characters Deserves The Spotlight
As stated in the Creator’s Message from Capcom’s Spotlight, available on the officialResident EvilYouTube channel,Resident Evil 9is a culmination of everything that came before it. Even the title,Requiem, was chosen to “mark a milestone in the series”, according to Director Koshi Nakanishi. With the return to Raccoon City and Art Director Tomonori Takano stating that “figuring out how to tell a story which came off of all that came before was quite a daunting undertaking”, it’s clear thatResident Evil 9will have a heavy focus on the events of past games.
Taking Director Nakanishi’s other comment from the same video, that “this game is a requiem, a eulogy to those who came before”,it seems thatResident Evil 9might serve as some sort of finale for the series, since a eulogy is only given for the dead. What exactly that end will be is up in the air, but it could mean a finale for characters like Leon, Chris, and Jill, and the beginning of a new chapter for fresh characters.
Resident Evilis an incredibly long-running series, and whilelots of charactershave come and gone in the interim,only a handful have made multiple appearances and become icons. Chris, Leon, and Jill are the most popular protagonists, for good reason, but their stories have been going for a very long time. AsResident Evilexplores new aspects of horror, it might make sense to finalize the stories of these main characters.
FromResident Evil 1toResident Evil 6, the main characters of the games have been through the worst events in the world. It would make a lot of sense to utilize this milestone anniversary as a sort of retirement, though hopefully one that doesn’t involve too many iconic characters dying.
Someone likeGrace Ashcroft is the perfect protagonist for a new era. Her job as a well-trained, but easily scared, FBI analyst will allow her to more easily fit into the survival horror genre, while herconnection to the events of Raccoon Citythrough her mother gives her a good reason to be invested in past events. Hopefully, Grace can stick around for longer than other one-off characters throughout the series, though a two-game arc like what Ethan Winters had could also work.
Resident Evil Has Made Major Changes Before
Shifting Styles And Mechanics Helped Keep RE Alive
Resident Evilhas changed a lot since 2017, the yearResident Evil 7: Biohazardreleased. After the more action-orientedRE5andRE6,RE7placed survival horror at the forefrontwith its average Joe protagonist, a major shift from traditionalREprotagonists who tend to be trained for combat. The game also added a first-person perspective, one that didn’t let the player shy away from the horror in front of them, which marked another huge change forRE.These changes revitalizedResident Evilas a series, asBiohazardbecame one of the highest-rated titles in the series.
IfResident Evil 9is trying to continue this upward trend for the series that began withRE7and continued intoRE8,end the stories of series regulars like Leon, Chris, and Jill could be for the best. These characters have had thirty years' worth of content to explore their stories, and it might be time for new characters to lead the series. Ethan Winters proved a popular main character, despite not having a face for the entirety of his games, but his story has already ended.
Grace Ashcroft might be the new face of the series, and while she seems to be deeply connected to the series’ beginnings,she could mark the beginning of a new era forResident Evil.Change can be difficult for a long-running series, but sinceREhas successfully done it before, I’m confidentResident Evil 9will blaze a great (but horrifying) new path for survival horror.
