Over the past six years, Capcom has been doing a fantastic job with theResident Evilseries. Thanks to a strong set of remakes and a pair of solid sequels, the publisher has pre-established the series as one of the medium’s best horror franchises. However, with a storyline that has gone on for nearly 30 years, one has to wonder what Capcom has in store for its long-runningResident Evilcharacters.
The franchise is a fairly unique one in that the storytimeline forResident Evilis well documented. The franchise began in the mid-90s and the storyline now continues to progress well into the modern era, with each new game taking place in the “present”. It’s an otherwise consistent timeline that sees new protagonists and villains enter the story as the years go on. Unfortunately, given how old some of these characters are future installments may opt to end their story with a dose of tragic mortality.
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Resident Evil’s Original Characters Are Getting Older
The simple fact of the matter is that the originalResident Evilprotagonists are getting old. Characters like Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and Leon Kennedy were in their early to mid-20s when the series started. By the time the eighth game takes place, most would likely be in their mid-40s. It’s also very possible that inResident Evil 9Chris Redfieldcould be pushing 70 if it does take place afterResident Evil Village’s DLC.
Leon Kennedy would likewise be getting olderby the timeResident Evil Villagerolled around and would also likely be in his 60s by the time the Shadows of RoseDLC took place. Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield would also be getting quite old. Typically, elderly characters are delegated to mentor roles and are often killed off at an early point in the story to spur the new protagonist into action or die towards the end for a big “all is lost” moment. Other times, the character is on one last journey that usually results in their death while passing the torch to a new, younger character. What’s strange about theResident Evilfranchise, though, is that it’s already been doing this for a while.
New Protagonists Have Already Started Taking Over The Resident Evil Franchise
Resident Evil 6is easily the most divisive installment of the numbered continuity games, but it was the first main game to focus on younger characters as protagonists. The game had players take control of a now grown-up version of Sherry Birkin alongside Jake Muller, the son of Albert Wesker. Dialog sprinkled throughout the game seemed to indicate the two would be the start of a new generation of heroes which has yet to materialize.
Resident Evil 7andVillageprotagonist Ethan Wintersalso seemed to fall into this area of the next-generation heroes. It was implied that Chris was involved in Ethan’s training in between installments, and it’s also suggested in both the ending ofResident Evil Villageand Shadows of Rosethat Chris had been a big part of Rose’s life. This further suggested that the story would now focus on her in future installments. If Capcom were to follow through with this, it likely won’t bode well for the legacy characters, though Capcom still claims that this DLC closed the book on the Winters family.
The current rumor is thatResident Evil 9will be released in 2025and will focus on Chris Redfield while concluding the storyline from the previous two games. What’s not entirely clear is whether this will take place before or after theShadows of Rose DLC. That said, with original legacy characters getting older, it’s becoming more and more likely that their time in the franchise is coming to an end. It remains to be seen how this will turn out, but it’s clear that the older characters are likely in danger of becoming obsolete.
