Resident Evil Village is a direct sequel to Resident Evil 7, once again featuring protagonist Ethan Winters and continuing where the story left off in the previous game. By the end of Resident Evil Village, it's clear that Capcom plans on continuing the story it started in RE7 with the next main series entry in the franchise, as there are numerous plot threads that could potentially be picked up.

In order to discuss how Resident Evil Village sets up the story for Resident Evil 9, it's necessary to dive deep into SPOILER territory. Anyone that doesn't want to know how Resident Evil Village ends should come back after they've finished the game for themselves.

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Here is how the events of Resident Evil Village set up the story of the inevitable Resident Evil 9.

Chris Redfield and the BSAA

The Resident Evil Village ending sees Chris Redfield rescue Ethan's daughter Rose and wife Mia Winters. As Ethan blows up the Megamycete (which is where the black mold from Resident Evil 7 came from), Chris, Rose, Mia, and the surviving members of Chris's team manage to escape on a helicopter. On the helicopter ride, however, Chris comes to a rather startling realization.

When Chris Redfield and his team attacked the village to take out Mother Miranda, they noticed that the BSAA had arrived on the scene as well. For those who may be unfamiliar, the BSAA is the organization in the Resident Evil universe that has traditionally fought back against bioweapons, and Chris himself used to be a part of it. However, it is revealed that the soldiers that the BSAA sent in to deal with the Mother Miranda situation were actually bioweapons themselves.

As one might imagine, this angers Chris, and so he asks the helicopter pilot to make a beeline straight to the BSAA headquarters in Europe. It's quite possible that the inevitable Resident Evil 9 will show fans what happened when Chris arrived at the BSAA headquarters, as well as provide some further explanation as to why the organization dedicated to eradicating bioweapons are now using them for their own gain.

Rosemary Winters

mysterious figure re8

Resident Evil Village has an after credits scene that creates some other interesting threads for Resident Evil 9 to follow up on. In the Resident Evil Village after credits scene, fans see a teenaged version of Ethan's daughter Rose visiting his grave. She is then picked up by a handler, who explains that Chris needs to send her on a mission of some kind. This heavily suggests that in the years since Resident Evil Village, Chris has taken Rose under his wing, and that her powers have been utilized to continue the fight against bioweapons.

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What's unclear about this ending is exactly where it puts Resident Evil 9 in the series timeline. While it's possible that Rose ages like a normal human, her exposure to the mold means that she could very well have aged at a much faster rate than other humans. So while it's possible that there was a time jump between the events of Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 9, it's also possible that a ton of time hasn't passed between the two games.

Regardless of Rose's age, this does seem to imply that Rose could be the protagonist of the next Resident Evil game. And if Rose is indeed the new main playable character in the next game, then one has to wonder how her powers will come into play.

Ethan Winters?

Another possibility is that Resident Evil 9 will swerve players and once again feature Ethan Winters in the starring role. While Ethan Winters seemingly died at the end of Resident Evil Village, there is some evidence that Capcom may be planning on bringing him back, though it seems highly unlikely. Basically, a Resident Evil Village photo mode mod has allowed users to zoom in on a mysterious figure that approaches Rose at the very end of the game, and that figure looks exactly like Ethan Winters' character model.

The more likely explanation is that Capcom didn't want to create a brand new character model for such a small moment and so it just reused Ethan's. However, Ethan has been shown to have incredible regenerative abilities, and there is a tendency for Resident Evil characters to not stay dead. Even so, Resident Evil Village claimed that "The father's story is done," and so fans shouldn't get their hopes up that Ethan will somehow come back for the next game.

Before Resident Evil 9

While Resident Evil 9 will likely continue the story from where Resident Evil Village left off, it's likely that there will be other Resident Evil games released between now and then. Reputable leakers have suggested that a Resident Evil Switch exclusive game is in development, possibly for release this year, and beyond that, the Resident Evil 4 remake is also expected to launch within the next couple of years.

Resident Evil Village is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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