Leon S. Kennedy: the Rookie Cop Who Became a Government Agent

Leon S. Kennedy is a rookie police officer who arrived for his first day at the Raccoon City Police Department as the city was being overrun by the t-Virus, survived, and was recruited by the US government as a special agent. He went on to rescue the President's daughter in Spain, face outbreaks across the world and, by 2026, return to the ruins of Raccoon City itself. He's a lead in Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil Requiem. (Resident Evil 2 (1998); Resident Evil 4 (2005); Resident Evil Requiem; Resident Evil 6)

Raccoon City (1998)#

Leon reached Raccoon City for his first day on the job after the outbreak had already spread through the streets. He met Claire Redfield outside a diner and the two took a police car to the station, but a crash split them up and they made their own ways to the RPD. Inside, most of the officers were dead. He met Ada Wong, who said she was looking for her boyfriend, and followed her through the sewers to Umbrella's underground laboratory, where the G-Virus had been made. (Resident Evil 2 (1998))

Ada was a spy after the G-Virus. Leon found out when she turned on him for the sample, and she was left for dead in the lab as it began to self-destruct. Leon met up with Claire and Sherry Birkin, William Birkin's daughter, and the three escaped as the mutated William Birkin chased them down. Umbrella had also sent a Tyrant after the virus, and in one version of events Ada, wounded, threw Leon the rocket launcher that finished it. (Resident Evil 2 (1998); Resident Evil 2 (2019))

How the remake changes it. The 2019 remake keeps the outline but rewrites the details. Ada claims to be an FBI agent, Leon's partnership with her becomes more personal, the Tyrant (Mr. X) stalks him through the police station, and their final scene in the lab plays out differently. The original also had two scenario orders for Leon and Claire that don't quite fit together, a problem the remake doesn't solve either. (Resident Evil 2 (1998); Resident Evil 2 (2019))

Government agent (1998 to 2002)#

After the escape, US forces took Leon and Sherry into custody. Sherry was held as a research subject, and Leon was given a choice: say nothing about what he'd seen and join a new government unit set up to fight Umbrella, and Sherry would be protected. He accepted and trained as a special agent. When Claire was captured in Europe that December, it was Leon who passed her message on to her brother Chris Redfield. (Resident Evil 6; Resident Evil CODE: Veronica)

In 2002 he was sent to a South American country with Jack Krauser, an Army special forces veteran, to stop drug lord Javier Hidalgo from using Umbrella bioweapons. Krauser was injured on the mission and left the service soon after, which matters later. (Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles)

Spain (2004)#

Six years after Raccoon City, Leon was sent to rural Spain to find Ashley Graham, the President's daughter, who had been kidnapped. He found a village of people controlled by Las Plagas, parasites spread by a cult called Los Iluminados under its leader Osmund Saddler. Leon was infected with a Plaga himself, worked with former researcher Luis Sera, and fought through the village, Ramon Salazar's castle and Saddler's island base. Krauser, his old partner, turned out to be working for Wesker inside Saddler's cult, and he and Leon fought on the island. Krauser didn't leave it alive. (Resident Evil 4 (2005))

Ada was there too, working for Albert Wesker. She saved Leon more than once, and at the end took the Plaga sample from him at gunpoint before leaving him the keys to a jet ski. Leon got Ashley out as the island blew up. (Resident Evil 4 (2005))

How the remake changes it. The 2023 remake keeps the same story beats but makes Leon quieter and more haunted by Raccoon City, gives Luis and Ashley bigger roles, and reworks the island chapters. (Resident Evil 4 (2023))

Harvardville, Penamstan and Eastern Slav (2005 to 2011)#

In 2005 Leon was sent to an airport outbreak in Harvardville, where he worked with Claire again against a man infected with the G-Virus. A year later, the White House was hit by an outbreak from within, and Leon traced it to a cover-up dating back to a US operation in the fictional country of Penamstan. In 2011 he went into the Eastern Slav Republic during its civil war, where both sides were using Plaga-infected soldiers and Lickers, and ran into Ada again. (Resident Evil: Degeneration; Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness; Resident Evil: Damnation)

Tall Oaks and China (2013)#

By 2013 Leon worked for the Division of Security Operations, the agency set up under President Adam Benford. At a speech in Tall Oaks, Benford was infected with the C-Virus and turned, and Leon had to shoot his own friend. With Secret Service agent Helena Harper, he followed the trail to National Security Adviser Derek Simmons and to Lanshiang in China, where Ada, framed by a clone, helped him finish Simmons. (Resident Evil 6)

New York and Alcatraz (2014 to 2015)#

In 2014 Chris pulled a drinking, guilt-ridden Leon into the hunt for arms dealer Glenn Arias, who released a new virus in New York. A year later, Leon was sent to Alcatraz to recover a kidnapped scientist and found Chris, Jill Valentine, Claire and Rebecca Chambers caught up in the same outbreak. (Resident Evil: Vendetta; Resident Evil: Death Island)

Requiem (2026)#

Twenty-eight years after Raccoon City, survivors of the outbreak began dying of a mystery illness caused by t-Virus that had stayed dormant in their bodies. Leon, still a DSO agent, was one of them, and so was Sherry, now supporting him from a distance as his field operations contact. The trail led to a former Umbrella scientist, a care centre near the city and FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, and finally back into the ruins of Raccoon City and a hidden lab beneath it. In the ending where Elpis is released, it turns out to be a cure, Grace uses it to save him, and a Hound Wolf Squad team sent by Chris pulls them both out. In the other ending, Leon dies there. (Resident Evil Requiem)

Relationships#

• Ada Wong. The longest thread in his life. She's lied to him, worked against him and saved him, starting in 1998. (Resident Evil 2 (1998); Resident Evil 4 (2005); Resident Evil 6)
• Claire Redfield. His fellow survivor from Raccoon City and a friend he keeps meeting at outbreaks. (Resident Evil 2 (1998); Resident Evil: Degeneration)
• Sherry Birkin. The girl he protected in 1998. Her safety was the price of his recruitment, and by Requiem she's a fellow agent. (Resident Evil 6; Resident Evil Requiem)
• Chris Redfield. A friend and fellow fighter, though the two have clashed over methods. (Resident Evil 6; Resident Evil: Vendetta)

In the films#

Johann Urb played Leon in the live-action Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), part of Paul W. S. Anderson's Milla Jovovich series, where he's a soldier sent to rescue Alice. Avan Jogia played him in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), which retells the first two games and makes Leon a hapless rookie. The CG films Degeneration, Damnation, Vendetta and Death Island, and the series Infinite Darkness, are part of the game story and are covered above. See our guide to the CG films and Welcome to Raccoon City explained. (Resident Evil: Retribution; Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)