Sherry Birkin: the Girl From Resident Evil 2 Who Grew Up to Be a Government Agent
Sherry Birkin was the young daughter of Umbrella's G-Virus scientists, rescued by Claire and Leon in Resident Evil 2 with her father's virus still inside her. She grew up in government custody and became an agent. Here is her story from Raccoon City to Requiem.
Sherry Birkin is the daughter of William Birkin and his wife Annette, the two Umbrella scientists behind the G-Virus. She's the child Claire Redfield protects in Resident Evil 2, she grows up to be a government agent in Resident Evil 6, and she's back as Leon's handler in Resident Evil Requiem. (Resident Evil 2; Resident Evil 6; Resident Evil Requiem)
Who is Sherry Birkin?#
Sherry is a lonely kid with two parents who are never home. William and Annette spent their lives in the underground lab beneath Raccoon City, working on the G-Virus, and Sherry was mostly left to look after herself. Annette gave her a pendant that she was told never to lose. It held a sample of her father's work. (Resident Evil 2)
Raccoon City (Resident Evil 2, 1998)#
On 22 September 1998, Umbrella's special forces raided William's lab to take the G-Virus by force. They shot him, he injected himself with the last sample, and the creature he turned into killed most of them and spilled the t-Virus into the sewers. Within days the city was overrun. (Resident Evil 2)
Sherry made her way to the police station and hid. On 29 September, Claire Redfield found her there, and Leon also knew she was in the building. Sherry ran from her father without understanding what he'd become. In the sewers, G caught her and implanted an embryo, because her blood made her a fit host. (Resident Evil 2)
Claire carried her into the lab. Annette, dying after a fight with William, told Claire how to make DEVIL, the vaccine for G. Claire gave it to Sherry before the embryo took over. Sherry, Claire and Leon then escaped on Umbrella's underground train while the lab self-destructed, and William, now a mass of flesh, was destroyed in the blast. (Resident Evil 2)
How the remake changes Sherry's story#
The 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 changes how Sherry gets infected. Police Chief Brian Irons kidnaps her for her pendant and locks her in the Raccoon City Orphanage. Claire comes for her, and William attacks them on the orphanage lift, knocking Claire out and implanting Sherry there. Annette then locks Sherry in a waste room in the sewers until Claire finds her. The vaccine and the train escape stay the same, though Annette's part in the cure plays out differently. (Resident Evil 2)
Government custody#
The vaccine stopped the mutation but didn't remove G. Resident Evil 3's epilogues say that after the escape, Leon and Sherry were picked up by the US government, and Leon accepted a job as a federal agent in exchange for her safety. (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis)
Resident Evil 6 fills in the rest. Sherry spent years in protective custody, regularly giving blood for research, kept in the care of the national security adviser Derek Simmons. Samples of her blood were later used to develop the C-Virus. After Albert Wesker died in 2009, she was offered freedom if she worked for the government, and she said yes. (Resident Evil 6)
Resident Evil 6 (2012 to 2013)#
In December 2012, Sherry was sent to Edonia to find Jake Muller, a mercenary whose blood held antibodies against the C-Virus, and bring him to the US. She didn't tell him at first that his father was Albert Wesker. Hunted by the giant B.O.W. Ustanak, they crashed in the mountains, where Sherry pulled a rotor blade out of her back and healed in front of him. (Resident Evil 6)
They were captured and held for six months in China. In June 2013 they broke out, met Leon again in Lanshiang and handed him evidence against Simmons, who had arranged President Benford's assassination. Captured once more and taken to an undersea lab, they were freed by Chris Redfield and finally destroyed Ustanak. Jake's blood gave the world a C-Virus vaccine. (Resident Evil 6)
Resident Evil Requiem (2026)#
By 2026 Sherry was still with the Division of Security Operations. She and Leon both had the black bruises of Raccoon City Syndrome, an illness killing survivors of the 1998 outbreak. She'd moved to a desk as Leon's handler. (Resident Evil Requiem)
She guided Leon from Wrenwood to the ruins of Raccoon City, and kept digging when her bosses told her to stop investigating Elpis. In the ending where Elpis is released, Leon tells her he's got a dose of the antiviral for her, and the epilogue confirms she was cured. (Resident Evil Requiem)
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Sherry Birkin?
- Sherry Birkin is the daughter of Umbrella scientists William and Annette Birkin. As a child she survived the Raccoon City outbreak with Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 2, and as an adult she is a US government agent in Resident Evil 6 and Leon's handler in Resident Evil Requiem.
- Does Sherry Birkin have the G-Virus?
- Yes. Her father implanted her with a G embryo in 1998. The DEVIL vaccine stopped the mutation, but the virus stayed in her body and gives her a healing factor, which Resident Evil 6 shows when she recovers from a helicopter blade through her back.
- Is Sherry Birkin in Resident Evil Requiem?
- Yes. She is Leon's handler at the Division of Security Operations, working from a desk because she is suffering from the same Raccoon City illness as him. In the ending where Elpis is released, Leon secures a dose of the antiviral for her and she is cured.
- Who are Sherry Birkin's parents?
- William Birkin, the scientist who created the G-Virus and turned himself into the monster G, and Annette Birkin, his wife and fellow researcher, who died in the lab after giving Claire or Leon the way to make the vaccine.
Sources
- GameResident Evil 2, Capcom, 1998; remade 2019
- GameResident Evil 3: Nemesis, Capcom, 1999
- GameResident Evil 6, Capcom, 2012
- GameResident Evil Requiem, Capcom, 2026
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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