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Hideki Kamiya has confirmed a long-standing fan theory that Leon Kennedy is named after the titular character in Luc Besson's Léon: The Professional (or simply Léon for those outside of the US).
Over on Twitter, Kamiya recalls that during the result of his directorial debut, Resident Evil 2, he consulted Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami about what he should name the protagonist of the game. He claims that after being shot down on a few ideas, he suggested taking the name of the character of a film he had recently watched, which just so happened to be Leon.
Leon Kennedy and the titular Jean Reno-played hitman don't have very much in common, mind you, but the connection was made through other references found in the series. In the film Léon, takes in a 12-year-old girl after her family is murdered, the girl in question is called Mathilda (played by Star Wars' Natalie Portman in her first film role), and in Leon Kennedy's next game, you can unlock a gun named Matilda, which is also unlocked alongside the "Professional" difficulty setting, further referencing the film.
Kamiya notes that naming the gun Matilda – which is based on Leon's fully upgraded handgun in Resident Evil 2 – wasn't actually his idea; rather, he credits someone else at Capcom, which is a given considering Hideki Kamiya's version of Resident Evil 4 was a lot more Devil May Cry-esque than Resident Evil, and ended up being released as… Devil May Cry. Still, that's another long-standing fan theory that has been put to bed by someone simply tweeting it out, and I'm sure the cross-section of Resident Evil theorycrafters and French cinema enthusiasts are feeling victorious on this day.
You can check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the horror game yourself, or our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes to help you through it.
