Resident Evil Requiem may have introduced a brand new character to pair with fan-favorite protagonist Leon S. Kennedy, it looks like there previously were plans for a grander reunion of notable characters from the franchise. In a couple of since-deleted social media posts (as caught by Reddit user AashyLarry), industry insider DuskGolem has pointed to dataminers having discovered “spawn points” for a third character that would work alongside Grace Ashcroft or Leon, at least temporarily.
This third character’s file is tagged “Jill_Support”, which would imply that Jill Valentine was originally planned for at least one appearance in Resident Evil Requiem. The character was seemingly removed through programming, leaving “standing point” for a “specific cinematic cutscene” empty in the game’s code base. The game’s data also seemingly includes references to Ada Wong, gameplay sections revolving around a car, and missions that were ultimately removed from the game’s level list “very late in development”.
“Data analysts found that some scenes contain ‘spawn points’ for a third character alongside the protagonist, bearing the tag Jill_Support,” wrote Dusk Golem. “This proves that Jill was set to appear in a specific cinematic scene (such as the battle with the penultimate boss) and was programmatically removed, leaving the ‘standing point’ empty in the code.”
This discovery is a call back to rumors from back in November 2024 which implied that Resident Evil Requiem would revolve around Leon and Jill working together in some way. At the time, it was also believed that Chris Redfield and Barry Burton would be returning as well, with the former even mentioning Rose Winters of Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose fame.
Other rumors from back in 2024 also indicated that Capcom would be going for an open-world approach for Resident Evil Requiem. However, as we see with the actual game, things didn’t quite turn out that way, with the title focusing more on the classic Resident Evil style of gameplay for much of its runtime.
Since its release across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2, Resident Evil Requiem has done quite well for Capcom. The company has announced that it managed to sell more than 5 million units before even completing its first week. This has placed it firmly ahead of Resident Evil 6‘s record, which sat at 4.5 million copies sold at launch, as well as Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake.
According to another report by Dusk Golem, Capcom is slated to discuss the future of the Resident Evil franchise by taking sales data and other analytics into account for Requiem, 4 Remake, and the rumored upcoming Code: Veronica remake. This means that, since Code: Veronica is expected to come out in early 2027, this internal meeting at Capcom will likely happen in the second half of next year.
In the meantime, check out our review of Resident Evil Requiem, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10. Also take a look at our thoughts about its depiction of Raccoon City, and why its combat system is a brutal, brilliant masterclass.
