All eyes are on Resident Evil 4 Remake right now after its massively successful outing earlier this year that might have raised the bar for how companies should approach remakes. But, we shouldn't forget that the mainline Resident Evil titles aren't in short supply.

As already confirmed by Capcom around the same time that Resident Evil Village came out two years ago, the next game in the series is part of a trilogy that started with Resident Evil VII: Biohazard.

Now, it appears we might just have our first clue about who's going to star in Resident Evil 9, and it's a familiar face.

RE9 will primarily revolve around the character of Chris Redfield, with the potential inclusion of other classic characters in the narrative. However, it is my belief that the story arc involving Ethan Winters has concluded, or at least temporarily reached its conclusion.

— Chris Marx (@MarxxChris) May 19, 2023

According to Chris Marx on Twitter, Chris Redfield will be the lead character in Resident Evil 9 after appearing in both of the past two Resident Evil games, Biohazard and Village.

Marx claims that "the story arc involving Ethan Winters has concluded, or at least temporarily reached its conclusion."

But, while this is certainly "good" news, those who've been feeling Resident Evil for a while (or more like since its inception) aren't buying anything that Marx is saying. Apparently, Marx's latest statement is less of a leak and more of an educated guess based on readily available public information.

Don't forget, the ending to Resident Evil Village saw everybody's favorite boulder-punching "regular" human hero vowing revenge against the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance for sending in a Bio Organic Weapon disguised as a BSAA soldier.

As a matter of fact, most expected the DLC for Resident Evil Village to feature Chris Redfield taking matters into his own hands with the help of the Hound Wolf Squad. 

Coincidentally, the actual DLC, which case Ethan Winters' superpowered daughter, Rose, into the lead, didn't give much information about what happened following the events of his father's death in Resident Evil Village except that she's under the tutelage of Chris Redfield, who's survived after all these years.

So, unless Resident Evil 9 jumps forward in time by decades, the only sure thing right now is that the next Resident Evil game will technically be a prequel to Shadows of Rose.

Plus, Capcom confirmed that Shadows of Rose will close out the story of the Winters family, at least for the time being.

So, which is which? For now, it's best to take Marx's words with a heavy dose of criticism.

For what it's worth, one of the most trusted insiders when it comes to horror games, Dusk Golem, has said many times before that we shouldn't expect to hear more about Resident Evil 9 until at least next year. Besides, Capcom's focus right now is clearly on Resident Evil 4 Remake, which is supposedly getting new DLC content soon. If we assume that it's coming out by next year, the earliest Capcom would announce Resident Evil 9 is right around the usual E3 season in the same year with the release date set for 2025.

Hopefully, if Chris does take the lead in Resident Evil 9, his sister gets time to shine in the next remake with a modern re-release of Resident Evil: Code Veronica.