As a fanfiction writer, I love any series that offers a wealth of characters that stories could be built around. In that regard, the Resident Evil video game series is one of the best mediums out there—at least a hundred unique characters have been introduced since the franchise started in 1996. But out of the many personas that have been seen over the years, only a small fraction were deemed worthy of recurring appearances—dozens of characters were only seen on-screen once before fading from the limelight.
Below is my list of fourteen Resident Evil one-shot characters, in no particular order, who could easily return to the series in some form.
1) Billy Coen (first appearance in 2002) – In the first Resident Evil, fans were introduced to the STARS Alpha team, a paramilitary unit who were fighting for their lives within a monster-laden mansion while investigating the disappearance of the secondary Bravo team. Given how popular the game series became in its early years, it was inevitable that a prequel would be produced that focused on the sole survivor of the Bravo team—Rebecca Chambers. She could easily have been paired with one of her doomed teammates for this new adventure, but the game’s developers had other ideas. Enter Billy Coen, an ex-marine wrongfully accused of mass murder and sentenced to death row. He escaped from his prison transport during its ill-fated trip through the woods populated by recently-escaped genetically-engineered creatures. Billy and Rebecca soon crossed paths and were forced to team up to survive the night and discover how the outbreak happened. By the end of their story, Rebecca was convinced of his innocence and helped him fake his death—Billy is never seen or mentioned again after they part ways. While he presumably went into hiding to escape his fate, there are multiple ways in which he could have come back into the over-arcing story. Whether he managed to prove his innocence or assumed a new identity, Billy would have fit in nicely in later entries for the series.
2) Oswell Spencer (first appearance in 2009) – As the mastermind behind the development of illegal viral and genetic research, it’s surprising that Oswell Spencer only appeared on-screen once during the entire run of the Resident Evil franchise. While it’s fitting that he was killed by one of the monsters he helped create—the super-powered villain Albert Wesker—Spencer is a character that deserves more than a one-shot appearance. If Capcom—the production company—ever decides to produce a game that delves into the thirty-years-worth of history prior to the series’ first title, Spencer could easily make a comeback.
3) Sheva Alomar (first appearance in 2009) – Later entries of the Resident Evil series introduced a global military organization called the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance that was founded in response to Umbrella’s illegal research making its way onto the black market. While the B.S.A.A. has headquarters on every major continent, very few of its soldiers have gotten any screen time. One exception is Sheva Alomar, an African operative assigned to assist series veteran Chris Redfield on one of his missions. Sheva has proven a very capable fighter in her own right by simply surviving several run-ins with the super-powered Wesker. Should she return in a future game, she has more than earned the right to stand alongside the veteran soldiers of the series. As an added plus, Sheva is young enough that she could easily come to the forefront should the older B.S.A.A. members either perish or retire.
4) Carlos Oliviera (first appearance in 1999) – Though he was employed by Umbrella Corporation as a security officer when first introduced, Carlos was initially completely in the dark about how shady the company was. His run-in with the first game’s survivor, Jill Valentine, opened his eyes and he easily could have joined the fight to take down the corrupt pharmaceutical company. With the many directions that Carlos’ story arc could have taken, it’s a shame that he never returned in the succeeding entries of the series.
5) Manuela Hidalgo (first appearance in 2009) – Given how rare it is for someone exposed to a genetically-altering virus to maintain their humanity, those that fall under this category could be the subject of some interesting storylines within the franchise. Manuela is one of the lucky few to avoid mutating into a bloodthirsty monster. Her story began when she contracted a fatal illness and her wealthy drug-lord father procured the T-Veronica virus from the black market in a desperate bid to save her. To keep Manuela from mutating, her father kidnapped many young women from the neighboring villages for routine organ transplants. Upon discovering what her father had done, Manuela ran from him and subsequently aided a pair of government-trained operatives in taking him out. Though she remained human, she was taken into custody by the US government since she possessed the unique attribute of making her blood spontaneously combust when exposed to oxygen. In spite of the avenues that could have been explored with her character, she hasn’t been seen since her introductory story.
6) Jake Muller (first appearance in 2012) – In spite of the broad character roster and potential for romantic pairings, children are a rarity within the series. Only three of the mainstream characters are known to have kids, all of whom were born prior to the first title of the franchise. The most interesting member of the next generation, Jake, wasn’t even introduced until three years after his supervillain father was killed. While it’s unclear if Wesker even knew he had an illegitimate son, Jake had grown up to despise his dad for never being there. What little is known of Jake’s background is that he and his mother were barely getting by; he became a soldier of fortune in a failed attempt to secure proper medical treatment for her when she got sick. Despite being on a path to becoming a bad guy in his own right, Jake turned his life around upon discovering who and what his father was. When last seen, Jake was operating as an independent fighter against bioterrorism free of charge.
7) Excella Gionne (first appearance in 2009) – Every supervillain, no matter how powerful, still must rely on others to carry out their orders and help build an empire. And Wesker found an influential and very loyal follower in Excella, a wealthy ambitious woman in charge of her own pharmaceutical company. Though she was quite intelligent, Excella was still blind to the fact that he was using her for his own gain—she even fancied herself as a suitable romantic partner worthy of his attention. While she was ultimately betrayed and killed by Wesker, there is still room for her to return in a game set earlier in the overall chronology.
8 & 9) Bruce McGivern & Fong Ling (first appearance for both in 2003) – When a former Umbrella employee called Morpheus threatened attacks against the U.S. and China for ransom, each country sent in a single operative to neutralize the situation. In spite of the fact that they were working toward the same goal and could benefit from each other’s help, Fong frequently undermined Bruce to serve her own ends. That all changed when her country gave in to Morpheus’ demands and sold her out. At the end of their story, Fong and Bruce were on their way to becoming a couple. It would have been nice to see them working as a team combating another threat, but they never came back for a second game.
10) Moira Burton (first appearance in 2015) – In a franchise filled with skilled fighters, it’s refreshing to see a character with a strong aversion to firearms. Moira—daughter of STARS\B.S.A.A. veteran Barry Burton—is one such person. As a child, she hurt her sister in an accidental shooting involving one of their dad’s guns. When abducted years later alongside several other employees of the NGO company Terra Save and dropped into a nightmarish scenario, Moira relies heavily on a crowbar or partner Claire Redfield to survive. Though she was forced to overcome her fear of guns to save Claire’s life, Moira still stands out for being a very headstrong character with a foul mouth. It would be nice to see her again in a future title.
11 & 12) Raymond Vester & Jessica Sherawat (first appearance for both in 2012) – The Resident Evil series has its share of two-faced characters, but most who fall under that category at least earned recurring status. Raymond and Jessica—who started out under the employ of the Federal Bioterrorism Commission—are extremely good when it comes to subterfuge. Both of them were exposed as double agents during their story who were seemingly working against each other. However, it was revealed at the end of their story that they were triple agents under Excella Gionne’s employ and had been playing an elaborate charade simply to steal a new virus strain. Though both Raymond and Jessica are guns-for-hire, it would be interesting to see them in action again.
13) Joe Baker (first appearance in 2017) – Like Billy Coen, Joe Baker is an ex-marine but from a completely different walk of life. A Lousiana native, Joe both looks and talks the part of a hillbilly who enjoys life in the swamplands. He first came onto the scene after a virus had consumed his brother Jack and Jack’s family. Joe aims to cure his niece, Zoe, by any means necessary, only he relies primarily on his fists to subdue any bad guys or creatures he sees roaming about the bayou. If Capcom follows the same route with Joe as they have with many other characters, he will likely only have the one appearance in the games. But it would be nice to be proven wrong.
14) Nicholai Ginovaef (first appearance in 1999) – Most of the bigwigs from the Umbrella Corporation have been systemically eliminated over the years since the company went under. But there are several who remain unaccounted for. Nicholai is a corrupt Umbrella officer—and team leader of Carlos’ unit—who managed to escape intact but who has never been seen since. He could easily return as a formidable opponent for the heroes of the franchise, but time will tell.
With such a diverse set of fictional characters—there has to be somewhere around 150 that have been dreamed up in the twenty-plus years the franchise has been around—it’s no wonder that the Resident Evil game series inspires so many fanfiction stories. And maybe someday there will be a game or two that gives some of the “forgotten” characters another chance to stand in the spotlight. The sky’s the limit when it comes to the future stories that the franchise’s development company could come up with. And if some old familiar faces turn up in the process, all the better.
