There have been a lot of Resident Evil 9 rumours making the rounds lately. Recently, we heard that Resident Evil 9 has been internally delayed by Capcom but in contradicting reports, industry insider Dusk Golem claimed that the next game in the iconic survival horror series will be announced soon and released in 2025.
According to Twitter user PRE_Alarabiya (thanks Comicbook.com), Leon S. Kennedy will reportedly be the main playable protagonist in Resident Evil 9. If this rumour is true, it could be an interesting prospect for fans of everyone's favourite RPD rookie cop.
Resident Evil 4 is set in 2004, two years after the Raccoon City incident by which time, Leon S. Kennedy is no longer a rookie cop of the RPD. In fact, in Resident Evil 4, Leon S. Kennedy is a U.S. agent for the president of the United States sent on a mission to rescue his daughter, Ashley Graham.
What's more, in Resident Evil 4, Leon S. Kennedy is said to be 27 years old and going by today's year, that could mean that Leon S. Kennedy is 47 years old. Now, 47 is certainly not old, especially if Leon S. Kennedy is still in tip-top shape, and he probably is.
With Leon S. Kennedy being 47 years old, there's still a strong chance that he could be the main protagonist for Resident Evil 9. That being said, the door is also open to tell a new prequel story whether it takes place before or after Resident Evil 4.
For example, in the Resident Evil 4 remake, the enemy and once mentor of Leon S. Kennedy (played by Nick Apostolidies), Jack Krauser mentions 'Operation Javier'. This mission took place in South America in 2002 and involved a virus outbreak in the Amparo region of the Amazon Rainforest.
As you can imagine, this mission doesn't go according to plan which results in Leon S. Kennedy and Jack Krauser parting ways (to put it mildly). 'Operation Javier' is also a mission in the spin-off on-rails shooter, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.
Without giving too much away, 'Operation Javier' is a mission that could lend a lot to a new Leon S. Kennedy story which expands upon the lore of Jack Krauser and it would be fair to say that there are a lot of Resident Evil fans that may not have played Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. So in that respect, there's a lot of potential if Capcom wanted to explore that avenue.
Of course, at this time, talk of Leon S. Kennedy being the main protagonist of Resident Evil 9 is mere hearsay, plus, it remains unclear whether Capcom would want to tell a new prequel story or something more modern with its next game. Either way, it's an exciting time to be a fan of the Resident Evil series.
