It's time get excited, nerds, because the return of the Resident Evil G.O.A.T. is finally confirmed. The franchise is coming back to consoles with a brand-new installment, Resident Evil: Requiem. The game will follow Grace Ashcroft, an intelligence analyst for the FBI and daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, one of the protagonists in Resident Evil Outbreak. Grace is assigned to investigate a dead body, afflicted by an unknown disease in an abandoned hotel—the same building her mother died in eight years prior. And so, Ashcroft finds herself venturing into the now-destroyed Raccoon City.
Requiem is the ninth mainline game in the series. Every main Resident Evil game has allowed players to take control of a second character (at times, even four, as was the case with Resident Evil 2). For Resident Evil 9, that second character had long been rumored to be Leon S. Kennedy, the rookie cop-turned government agent who's taken center stage in Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 6. Multiple rumors and purported leaks pointed to Leon making his triumphant return to the franchise in this upcoming installment, but with so much secrecy surrounding it, nothing had been confirmed.
But fret not, my fellow Resident Evil diehards, because his return has finally been made official—strangely enough, thanks to the PlayStation Store. As reported by IGN, players who pre-ordered the standard version of the game saw a new cover art for it on their home screen. The image depicted Grace front and center, with Leon—now older—looming behind her, in a style somewhat reminiscent of the cover art for Resident Evil 2. Though there were suspicions that the image was fake, IGN has confirmed it is legitimate:
In a franchise-new look for him, Leon sports a beard, and is more weathered and grizzled than in his last appearance, Resident Evil 4 Remake. In a detail that many longtime fans will likely appreciate, the hero is depicted wearing a jacket very similar to the one he sported in that game.
This is, without exaggeration, a monumental development for the series. Leon is one of the brand's most beloved characters, and his return was clearly meant to be a big surprise for fans, given the lengths Capcom went to in order to hide his role in the game. That included omitting him from its two main trailers and gameplay demo. Furthermore, at the 2025 Capcom Spotlight broadcast, Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi even went as far as to say Leon would not be a good fit as the protagonist for this latest installment in the franchise, explaining he's too seasoned of a character to be a compelling lead in a horror story (via IGN):
"We always thought about making Leon the protagonist, but making a horror game based around him is difficult. He wouldn't jump at a bucket falling. No one wants to see Leon scared by every little thing. So he's actually quite a bad match for horror."
The leak's timing may not be a coincidence. The Game Awards is happening on December 11. It's possible that Capcom planned to announce Leon's return at the event, and the cover art was meant to release following that theoretical announcement, but was instead put out ahead of time by mistake. While the leak interfered with Capcom's long-kept secret, it will nonetheless likely increase anticipation for any potential Resident Evil presentation at the Game Awards, and ultimately, for Requiem itself.
Timeline-wise, in the games (I'm not counting the most recent animated film, Resident Evil: Death Island, though it is canon to the games), Leon has not been seen since 2013 in Resident Evil 6. Resident Evil Requiem is set approximately 30 years after the Raccoon City outbreak. The incident took place in 1998, which signals Requiem is set, at the latest, in 2028. That, in turn, means there are over 10 years of history that we have to catch up on with the character.
Though one would think Leon is now an old man, canonically speaking, he's actually still young. He was born in 1977, meaning that he'll be, at most, 51 years old in Requiem. Thus, we wil likely be able to see him perform the physical feats we've grown used to from him. The question that remains is how big of a role he'll have in the story. Hopefully, that will be answered on December 11 at The Game Awards.
Resident Evil Requiem is scheduled to come out February 27, 2026.
What do you think about Leon finally being confirmed for Resident Evil Requiem? Drop your thoughts in the comments!