Resident Evil's Leon Kennedy is named after a milk-guzzling hitman, Hideki Kamiya casually confirms

Back in 1994, Luc Besson released a movie that not only introduced us to Natalie Portman in her feature film debut, but also - it turns out - inspired the name for one of gaming's most iconic characters: Leon Kennedy. That film was Léon: The Professional, and saw actor Jean Reno in the titular role of a milk-loving hitman who takes 12 year old Mathilda (played by Portman) under his wing.

Many had surmised that this film inspired Leon's name in the Resi series, but now we know for sure, as Resident Evil 2 director Hideki Kamiya recently shared a little bit of game lore on his social media.

Kamiya reflected back to when he and Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami were discussing what to call Capcom's then-Raccoon City newcomer. Here's the brief full story:

"Back when we were developing the game, I'd asked Mr Mikami for his opinion on the protagonist's name. After a few suggestions were rejected, I said, 'Right then, shall we take it from that film I saw the other day?' and proposed Leon, to which he replied, 'That's fine, I suppose'…" Kamiya shared via X (translated via DeepL), and the rest is history.

Of course, it has long been speculated that Leon Kennedy was named after Léon in the film, and there are other references to Besson's work throughout Resident Evil - the games have a pretty punishing 'Professional' difficulty setting, and there is also a handgun called Matilda.

Kamiya doesn't personally take credit for naming this weapon, though, and said it was christened Matilda by someone else at Capcom. We can probably speculate that whoever it was had made the connection between the film and Leon's name though, and decided to keep up the tradition.

Image credit: Gaumont Buena Vista International

As for the here and now, Leon Kennedy's latest foray into the world of mutations and chaos comes in the form of Resident Evil Requiem, a "legendary horror at an all-time high", with the character now in his early 50s but still with biceps simply desperate to burst out from his form fitting shirts.

Resident Evil Requiem has been a huge success for Capcom, becoming the fastest selling game in the series. A story DLC is currently in the works, while a new minigame is expected to release in May.