Resident Evil Requiem will be a game that “pushes the Resident Evil series forward,” says its director, as Capcom focuses on the concept of “addictive fear” for next year’s survival horror game. And if you believe the people making Resident Evil Requiem, a superhero protagonist and clear fan favorite like Leon S. Kennedy is just not a good fit for that kind of experience.

But whether that actually disqualifies Leon from appearing in Resident Evil Requiem remains to be seen. Capcom hasn’t quite ruled out the former Raccoon City police department rookie from showing up in the game, or even being playable.

Resident Evil Requiem’s only confirmed playable character thus far is Grace Ashcroft, an intelligence analyst for the FBI who is investigating her mother’s death — an incident which might just be related to the events of 2003’s Resident Evil Outbreak.

Unlike many other Resident Evil stars, Grace is not a superhero, says Requiem producer Masachika Kawata in a video featuring the game’s creative leads. She’s “more like a typical horror game protagonist,” overcoming challenges “with her wit and ingenuity,” but can fall back on her FBI training. “She can handle action and firearms, especially as she’s an FBI agent,” Kawata said, “but her movements can be timid or hesitant.”

Game director Koshi Nakanishi says that Grace is “introverted and easily scared,” so that she experiences the game’s horrors “from the same perspective as the player,” but is also able to act with “calm deductive reasoning.”

Nakanishi also addressed the elephant in the room, as Resident Evil returns to Raccoon City. Where’s Leon?

“We always thought about making Leon the protagonist,” Nakanishi says, “but making a horror game based around him is difficult. He wouldn’t jump at something like a bucket falling. No one wants to see Leon scared by every little thing. So he’s actually quite a bad match for horror.”

Hmm.

Capcom’s coyness around the potential of Leon appearing Resident Evil Requiem is, of course, the smart play. The publisher-developer can’t reveal everything out of the gate, but if Mr. Kennedy doesn’t appear in some capacity — say, the way Chris Redfield did in the Ethan Winters-starring Resident Evil 7 biohazard and Resident Evil Village — that would be a big surprise. This is Leon’s town, after all, and Requiem’s creators are talking a lot about balancing the concepts of action and horror in their next game, which they are trying to accomplish by offering both first-person and third-person perspectives.