sisslethecat
As a whole, Resident Evil has a tough time juggling all of its characters. Chris, Jill and Leon all have plenty of screen time, but being a partner character is almost certain doom for ever being seen again. A few have managed to crawl out of the pit like Boba Fett running on fan hopes and dreams. Sherry Birkin, Ada Wong, Barry Burton managed it, but Sheva Alomar, Parker Luciani, and Carlos Olivera as well as the entire casts of Survivor, Outbreak and Dead Aim have all just disappeared into the void. Most notably, fan favorites Rebecca Chambers and Billy Cohen have simply vanished post their adventures in Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil. Billy has something of an explanation, being a military convict on the run and reported as dead, he has little reason to be bringing his head up above water – and Rebecca’s future remained silent for years before last year’s Resident Evil: The Stage, which is her first canon appearance since the 1998 Arklay Mountain investigation in the very first game. She’s currently working as a BSAA adviser and is giving a lecture at an Australian university, at least until the events of the outbreak in the play, where she was re-united with her old partner Chris Redfield.
But Capcom UK’s YouTube channel has added a little more flame to the fire, with a new video that ponders what they’re doing at the moment in the RE canon. Reading off fan theories as to their statuses, it makes me wonder… what for? The HD port of Resident Evil Zero is due to be released in just a few weeks now, and Capcom has already announced that Rebecca will be making a starring appearance in next year’s new straight to video CG RE movie (which given the history of the direct to DVD series, I’m going to bet is called something like Resident Evil: Devastation). Is this perhaps a tease that the pair will be reunited in this upcoming film? Or that maybe they’ll be taking roles in the (as-yet-to-be-announced-but-probably-being-announced-this-year) Resident Evil 7? Personally, I think that if they’re planning on doing something new with these character’s I’d rather see it in the Revelations series, but with so much of the franchise’s future being a blank slate, anything’s possible. At the moment, all we know about is RE Zero HD, Umbrella Corps (a multiplayer shooter) and 2017’s new CG film, but with Revelation‘s producer teasing “many” announcements coming this year and it being Resident Evil‘s 20th anniversary, we have to be prepared for pretty much anything.
