With Resident Evil Requiem nearing its release, its latest trailer featured some dramatic reveals.
Resident Evil Requiem has released its fourth trailer during the latest PlayStation State of Play ahead of its 27 February release date, once again confirming that fan-favourite Leon Kennedy has been infected as he makes his return to the ruins of Raccoon City while also teasing the possible return of Sherry Birkin.
The trailer showed Leon looking at his hand showing clear signs of infection in the form of greying, decayed flesh. Considering how fast infections can take hold and turn people to zombies in the world of Resident Evil, Leon is racing against the clock to cure himself. This also confirmed fan theories that popped up after Leon was first revealed to be Requiem's secondary protagonist last December, where fans spotted a wound on his neck.
It should be noted, however, that this won't be the first time that Leon has been infected by Resident Evil's wide array of zombie-spawning bioweapons.
In Resident Evil 4, both the original 2005 release and its 2023 remake, Leon was infected by the Las Plagas parasite but was able to remove it from his body before it could take hold. Resident Evil: Death Island, an animated film release in 2023, saw Leon get infected by a variant of the T-Virus before getting cured by a vaccine. And those two examples are only the canonical instances of Leon suffering infection.
A couple of non-canon instances, namely in 2001's Resident Evil Gaiden and the Chinese manhua Biohazard 3: Last Escape (a tie-in to Resident Evil 3: Nemesis), actually resulted in Leon succumbing to infection and turning into a zombie.
While we can mostly be assured that Leon will once again survive this ordeal (I mean, hasn't he suffered enough already?), you can't help but be nervous about what Requiem has in store for Resident Evil's most beloved hero.
Aside from confirming that Leon has been infected, Requiem's latest trailer also teased, but did not directly confirm, the return of another familiar face: Sherry Birkin. Fans were quick to point out a new character reveal in this trailer: a blonde woman whose face remains unseen, speaking to Leon over comms. Her appearance, what little of it that we can see at least, matches that of an aged-up Sherry, returning from Resident Evil 6. It's also been pointed out that her voice matches Sherry's voice actor from the game, Eden Riegel, though the actor has made no comment on the matter as of yet.
She first appeared in 1998's Resident Evil 2 as a child, and later returned in 2012's Resident Evil 6 as a federal agent more than capable of fending off a horde of zombies. It's worth noting that Sherry is another character to have survived infection in the past, having been infected by the G-Virus during the destruction of Raccoon City. That notably gave her mysterious regenerative abilities, which was then used to manufacture the C-Virus in Resident Evil 6. She also happens to work with Leon in the Division of Security Operations (D.S.O.), increasing the likelihood of her making an appearance.
There's a clear narrative being pushed in Requiem's trailer featuring both a re-infected Leon and Sherry, especially when considering this latest title will have us return to Raccoon City, but how it all fits into the game's overarching story remains to be seen. Thankfully, we only have to wait a couple more weeks to find out. We still can't help but be worried about Leon though.
Resident Evil Requiem is launching on 27 February, 2026. You can pick up a copy of the game on Playasia here.
