Leon S. Kennedy’s silver fox status in Resident Evil Requiem was down to the strict diligence of Capcom’s female staff, who even adjusted his neck wrinkles.
Resident Evil might be built on survival horror scares and elaborately designed puzzles, but there’s another secret ingredient to its success: every character is hot.
Whether you jive with Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, Chris Redfield, or bushy-haired Carlos Oliveira, every one is designed for maximum thirst – despite the fact they’re all fighting for survival, necking questionable herbs, and perpetually covered in dirt and gory splatter.
While all the characters have their own fandoms, in various dark corners of the web, arguably the most popular is Leon S. Kennedy. He has the best one-liners, excellent taste in jackets, and a mop haircut fresh from the Backstreet Boys.
In Resident Evil Requiem, set 30 years after the events of Resident Evil 3, Capcom had the task of aging up Leon to be in his 50s. Based on the reaction to his reveal trailer, which led to a wave of ‘hot uncle’ references, it seems his pin-up status is still intact.
It turns out Leon’s silver fox vibes were agonised over amongst the female staff at Capcom, who were ‘pretty strict’ when it came to his new design.
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Speaking to Automaton about Leon’s new look, Resident Evil Requiem director, Koshi Nakanishi, said: ‘We’ve spent quite a lot of time polishing Leon’s visuals. Leon has many fans among Capcom employees, and women in particular were pretty strict when reviewing his design. They would point out and comment on even the finest details like the wrinkles on his neck.
‘When I mentioned that story in the past, a female fan told me, ‘The women developers at Capcom did a really good job (laughs).’
He added: ‘Throughout the development process, Leon was thoroughly refined, and I think we managed to come through with a design that would make anyone’s heart throb.’
For what it’s worth, when we were at our most recent preview of the game, the majority of other journos present happened to be women and when we asked what they thought of Leon’s new look the enthusiastic consensus was that they ‘still would’.
Leon is only one half of Resident Evil Requiem, with new character Grace Ashcroft sharing the top billing as a playable character. As noted in our preview, the Leon sections are set to be more action focused, like Resident Evil 4, while Grace’s sequences more closely resemble the pure frights of Resident Evil 7.
We don’t have long to wait to bask in Leon’s elder statesman glow, with Resident Evil Requiem set to launch across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on February 27, 2026.
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