Since the release of Resident Evil Village, many fans have been questioning the sudden disappearance of one Leon Kennedy. He was last seen partnering up with Secret Service agent Helena Harper in the divisive Resident Evil 6, traveling the world to find the mastermind behind 'Neo-Umbrella' and stop them from causing a global C-virus outbreak.
When anyone speaks of the Resident Evil series, four character names will pop up in their heads – siblings Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Leon S. Kennedy. Chris and Jill were pinnacle characters, both introduced in the first ever game in the zombie-survival series, while Redfield sister Claire plus starry-eyed rookie Leon were brought in during Resident Evil 2 - although all four of them are iconic in their own right. After the events of the sixth game, fans know that Leon is alive and well, but developers haven't given the slightest idea what he might be up to during the events of Resident Evil Village.
Where is Leon Kennedy?
Most Resident Evil 6 reviews agree that Leon's campaign was the best. He and Helena faced the incredibly traumatizing decision of having to kill the former's friend and mentor, President Adam Benford, after being infected with the new C-virus. Benford was the founder of the Division of Security Operations (BSO) and the man who brought Leon into the fold. At the end of Resident Evil 6, Leon was seen alive and well as both he and Helena were cleared for further duty.
Like Jill and Claire, Mr Kennedy was very noticeably missing during the last two games, although Chris Redfield was definitely not. Players met the macho Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) agent after Ethan Winters escaped the Baker residence at the end of the seventh game, and the Redfield brother was even given his own story within the free Resident Evil 7 DLC Not a Hero. Chris was not only present in Resident Evil Village, but was very prominent across promotional material.
Although fans of the survival horror series may not have seen him in recent games, he has been around somewhat. Leon played a starring role in the 2017 feature-length film Resident Evil: Vendetta alongside Chris and Dr Rebecca Chambers. Set in 2014, a year after the events of Resident Evil 6, Leon bumps into Chris and Rebecca while he was on holiday after surviving an extremely traumatizing event, and the three team up to save New York from a possible outbreak from a new virus strain made by bioweapons' dealer Glenn Arias, aptly named the A-virus. At the end of the film, Leon is noticeably jaded and rightly exhausted by the burden of his position at the DSO to the point of questioning how much longer he has in him to combat bioterrorism.
However, the movie made no indication that Leon was going to actually be retiring from the DSO, leaving fans to wonder where he has been. The short answer is…'around.' It should be made clear that although the DSO and BSAA are both anti-bioterrorism organizations, the two have vastly differing jurisdictions. The DSO is an organization under the US Federal Government, created by former President Benford, while the BSAA is a paramilitary agency sanctioned by the United Nations and works on an international level. The story of Village was based in an unnamed Eastern European country, which is undoubtedly outside the jurisdiction of the United States – hence, Leon's absence.
During the events of the recent installment, Leon was most likely back on home soil, either on a much-needed vacation or perhaps running DSO after the events of Vendetta. It was a good eight in-game years between the events of the CGI movie and Village. It's highly doubtful that Capcom would retire a star character without notice, so hopefully the rumored Resident Evil 9 will bring back the DSO agent and give fans clarity on what he's been up to.
Resident Evil Village is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.