Chris Redfield

Chris was introduced as one of the two playable protagonists, alongside his partner Jill Valentine, in Capcom's 1996 survival horror video game Resident Evil. He was created by director Shinji Mikami and designer Isao Ohishi. Designer Hideki Kamiya described Chris as a "blunt, tough-guy type", admitting that he was a fan of this archetype. According to the writer Kenichi Iwao, when Kamiya first proposed naming Chris "Beam", Iwao objected and suggested an alternative name for Chris. Beam reminds him of a beam cannon used by a robot in a Japanese animation, and he finds it a rather unusual name for the Japanese people. He went on to say that unusual titles, locations, or looks are inappropriate for horror video games. In horror, amazing things are caused by outside forces, and terror is lessened if the hero is concerned. From his point of view, it was a mistake.

Of white American descent, Chris joined the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) special operations unit after demonstrating exceptional skills in hand-to-hand combat, helicopters, planes, and shooting during his training with the United States Air Force. Although their storylines progress in "the same general direction," the gameplay differs for Jill and Chris; Chris can't carry as many goods in his inventory, but he can run quicker, aim more precisely, and withstand more damage.

Resident Evil 5 features Chris as a protagonist; designers opted to focus on how the character had aged since the original game. Chris' increased muscle mass was to show that he had trained heavily in order to fight the series' powerful villain, Albert Wesker, bare-handed. Modeler Yosuke Yamagata added that they "made a new design that retained their signature color—green for Chris, blue for Jill—to carry over the same look from the past. The facial structures are mainly based on the visuals of the GameCube version, and we added various details to these in order to develop a realistic structure." Resident Evil 5's producer Jun Takeuchi said that the series' fans "would really love" a video game featuring both Leon S. Kennedy and Chris as the protagonists due to their popularity, and at the same time, it would be "pretty dramatic" if the two characters never met before the series would end; this eventually occurred in Resident Evil 6. In Resident Evil 6, Chris has a slightly disheveled look due to his alcoholism and post-traumatic amnesia.

In Resident Evil 7, Chris was given an entirely new design as the producers wanted to give him a more realistic look. The character's new design made him completely "unrecognizable", as stated by commentators and players. Director Kōshi Nakanishi stated that Resident Evil 6's Chris model "was just not suitable for Resident Evil 7's game engine or aesthetic". He further said that "[a]lthough it is a fairly realistic impression, even if it mixes with the character of "7", it seems that a sense of incongruity will come out." Takeuchi, the executive producer, added that they had been thinking about Chris as the primary character at the time and that, as it was the first time we had seen him in a long time, he needed to be shown as a hero. In retrospect, he also understood that creating Chris into a hero was not the same as creating a Resident Evil game. In Resident Evil Village, Chris is once again redesigned, but his look closer resembles that in Resident Evil 6, due to fan backlash against his look in Resident Evil 7. According to the director of Resident Evil Village DLC, Kento Kinoshita, the production team behind the DLC for the horror sequel initially had a completely different plan in mind. "At the time of the project," he says, referencing the DLC's early days of planning, "there were some ideas that focused on Chris. But we wanted to focus on Rose Winters," disclosing that the crew had a preference for a DLC that starred Rose as the main character rather than having Chris rejoin the action.

Voice-over and live-action actors

In the original Resident Evil, which uses live-action cinematics, Chris is played by Charlie Kraslavsky. He is the first actor to have portrayed the character. In English, Scott McCulloch voiced Chris in the original Resident Evil; Michael Filipowich voiced him in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica; Joe Whyte voiced him in Resident Evil (2002); Kevin Dorman voiced him in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil: Vendetta, and Resident Evil: Death Island; and Roger Craig Smith voiced him in Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. Smith stated that he has absolutely no influence over what is done to this character by anybody. He explained that before he steps into a booth to voice a part, a lot of different individuals make a lot of different judgments for a variety of reasons. He is an actor paid to execute a job. He has no influence over who gets to voice Chris, despite the fact that he is incredibly happy with the job he has done and feels privileged to have had all the opportunities with the character. He went on to say that his job is to answer the phone when it rings and, ideally, to stay on the line. David Vaughn voiced him in Resident Evil 7, Jeff Schine voiced him in Resident Evil: Village, and Gerard Vachon voiced him in Dead by Daylight. In Japanese, Hiroki Tōchi voiced him in Resident Evil: Afterlife, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Resident Evil: Revelations, Project X Zone, Project X Zone 2, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 7, 2002 Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Vendetta, Resident Evil: Village, and Resident Evil: Death Island, while Subaru Kimura voiced him in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.

Reuben Langdon did Chris' motion capture for several Resident Evil games, while Geordie Dandy did it in Resident Evil 7 and Village. Wentworth Miller portrayed him in Resident Evil: Afterlife. Miller said that he had seen the series and recalled in particular the third film's trailer, which included a shot above Vegas and was buried in the sand. He described it as "iconic and arresting". He requested that the filmmakers put together a montage of noteworthy video game scenes that related to or clarified the mythology or history of his character, as "[t]hat was part of my research." Miller also conducted research to learn what the character meant to the audience. He claimed that in order to prepare for the part, he felt compelled to honor the existing mythology around video games. To that end, he conducted online research by visiting fan sites and blogs to learn about the discussions surrounding this character and what kinds of expectations people could have. However, he had to strike a balance between it and his acting identity, his natural talents, and the Chris Redfield that Paul W.S. Anderson creates for this film. Rather than the games, he was quite particular about the Resident Evil feature film adaptation. Robbie Amell portrayed him in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Amell described playing Chris as a "dream come true". Amell revealed that they tried to incorporate a scene of Chris punching a boulder, as in Resident Evil 5, but it did not fit the movie's tone. According to Amell, Johannes had discussed Resident Evil 4 or Code Veronica as possible games that could be adapted as the film's sequel and that he would be open to reprising his role.

In Resident Evil series

Every game in the series is set in the fictional American metropolitan area of Raccoon City until its destruction at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Subsequent games featuring Chris take place on an international scale, namely in Russia, Antarctica, China, Louisiana, Romania, Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea. The original game is set in July 1998 in a mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City, which Chris and his team enter while searching for colleagues. Working with fellow survivor Rebecca Chambers, he discovers the property is a façade for a biological warfare laboratory operated by the Umbrella Corporation, and its undead occupants are the scientists who developed the T-virus mutagen. His commander, Albert Wesker, is revealed to be a double agent for Umbrella. Chris and Jill are among the five survivors of the incident who form a strong friendship and become passionate opponents of bioterrorism.

Chris did not appear in Resident Evil 2 (1998), as the production team used new protagonists (Leon and Claire Redfield) to preserve the original game's horror elements. Mikami believed Chris and Jill would be too experienced to be scared by the events in the sequel. Set five months later, Resident Evil - Code: Veronica (2000) sees Chris return as the protagonist of the second half of the game. He attempts to rescue his younger sister, Claire, from the Umbrella Corporation's research facilities on the fictional Rockfort Island, in the Pacific Ocean, and in Antarctica. Upon discovering she is in Antarctica, Chris is briefly confronted by Wesker, who is revealed to have survived the events of the "Mansion Incident" and now has enhanced strength and speed and is seeking revenge on Chris for having destroyed his plans. Eventually, he confronts Alexia Ashford, the creator of the T-Veronica virus. At the end of the game, he fights with Wesker shortly after killing Alexia. He is no match for him, and their fight is cut short because of the imminent destruction of the base. They vow to finish things another time.

The Umbrella Chronicles occurs in 2003, when Jill and Chris join a private organization with the goal of exposing Umbrella's biological warfare activities, leading a group to destroy their only remaining research facility. After the fall of the corporation, the pair become founding members of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). In Revelations – set two years later – Jill and her new partner Parker Luciani are sent on a mission to rescue Chris, who is allegedly being held hostage on a ghost ship in the Mediterranean. Jill and Chris then unravel a political conspiracy involving an earlier mutagenic outbreak and a botched investigation by a rival agency.

Resident Evil 5 takes place in 2009 in the fictional African town of Kijuju, where terrorists are turning local residents into zombies. Chris is the protagonist of the game and one of the founding members of the UN paramilitary group Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). In the game, he investigates in Africa, while looking for Jill, who is missing and declared dead. In fact, she was injured by the fall and taken hostage by Wesker, who then used her as a test subject in his biological experiments. Accompanying him is his new partner, Sheva Alomar. Eventually, Chris and Sheva manage to find and free Jill and ultimately defeat and destroy Wesker, who was planning to spread the Uroboros virus across the world.

Resident Evil 6 (2012) sees Chris return as one of the four protagonists alongside Leon, Ada Wong, and Jake Muller, the illegitimate son of Albert Wesker. In the game, Chris leads a squad of BSAA soldiers to investigate a bio-terror attack in Europe. Ambushed by Carla Radames, posing as Ada, they suffer severe casualties. Only Chris and Piers Nivans survive the assault, with the rest of his team being turned into monsters by Carla. Chris is overwhelmed with guilt and resigns from the BSAA., but Piers later convinces Chris to return to avenge their fallen comrades. They travel to China to investigate bio-terror activity and find themselves in another C-virus outbreak. While attempting to rescue Jake, who possesses the antibodies needed to stop the outbreak, Chris and Piers encounter Haos, a powerful BOW. Piers is grievously injured during the battle and injects himself with the C-virus to gain superhuman powers. He saves Chris, but sacrifices himself to ensure Haos is destroyed. Chris continues to serve the BSAA in Piers' memory.

At the end of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), a man identifying himself as "Redfield" arrives to rescue Ethan Winters. While the credits refer to the character as Chris Redfield, the helicopter he arrives in is branded with the Umbrella Corporation logo, which is now blue instead of red, initially causing people to question the person's identity. Capcom later confirmed this character to be Chris, in spite of the noticeable change in his appearance due to a different actor portraying him. Additionally, this new iteration of Umbrella opposes its predecessor's B.O.W. research and instead works closely with the BSAA. Chris appeared in the downloadable content campaign Not a Hero, which was released on December 12, 2017. This subchapter focuses on Chris attempting to apprehend Lucas Baker, and although he fails to save his men, he confronts and kills Lucas. He also appears at the conclusion of the End of Zoe downloadable content.

Chris returned for the eighth main installment in the series, titled Resident Evil Village (2021). During the three-year gap between Resident Evil 7 and Village, Chris has been running an off-the-books covert operation investigating an unidentified village suspected to have biohazards in Transylvania, Romania, managed by Mother Miranda. During the events of Village, Chris and his Hound Wolf squad learn that Miranda was capable of shape-shifting and posed as Mia, and they promptly shoot her in order to protect Ethan and Mia, only for his efforts to be foiled in the process. After revealing the nature of his mission to Ethan, Chris saves the real Mia, learns Miranda's connection to the late Oswell E. Spencer (who was killed by Wesker in Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares), and helps plant a bomb on a megamycete in order to destroy the village. During extraction, a dying Ethan gives a recently rescued Rosemary to Chris before sacrificing himself to ensure the village's destruction. With Mia and Rosemary rescued, Chris and his team head to BSAA's European headquarters to demand explanations over their use of BOWs as frontline soldiers.

Other appearances

Chris appears in several of the Resident Evil films. In the rejected Resident Evil film script written by George A. Romero in 1998, Chris is a Native American civilian and ultimately one of the few survivors. In 2000, Capcom fired Romero and replaced him with Paul W. S. Anderson, who wrote a new script. Chris appears in the 2010 live-action film Resident Evil: Afterlife, portrayed by Wentworth Miller. In the film, Chris is found trapped in a maximum security cell after his unit's attempt to control the T-virus in Los Angeles goes haywire; the survivors who find him believe him to be a prisoner. He is reunited with his sister Claire, who cannot remember him because of memory damage caused by an Umbrella mind control device. He, Alice, and Claire eventually defeat Albert Wesker and rescue imprisoned survivors being used for Umbrella's experiments. Miller said he prepared for the role by searching for images and videos of Chris on the Internet, as well as doing cardio for endurance. He appears in the reboot film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). Chris was one of the main characters in the computer-animated film Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017), alongside Leon and Rebecca. Unlike the live-action films, the animated films are in the same continuity as the games. He returned in the sequel, Resident Evil: Death Island (2023).

Chris is a playable character in several non-canonical Resident Evil games. He features in the Resident Evil mobile game Resident Evil: Mercenaries Vs. (2011). He appears in three games in the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise and the crossover tactical role-playing games Project X Zone and Project X Zone 2. He also made a cameo appearance in the Nintendo crossover video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), Dead by Daylight (2016) as an alternate skin, Fortnite Battle Royale (2017), Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (2019), State of Survival (2019), digital collectible card game Teppen (2019), Astro's Playroom (2020), and Dying Light 2 (2022) as an easter egg.

Chris features in novelizations of the films and games. Several comic books based on the games were released, and he is a character in Bandai's Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game (2011). The character was featured in a Resident Evil-themed attraction at Universal Studios Japan's Halloween Horror Nights. Merchandise featuring Chris includes outfits, perfumes, gun replicas, watches, and figurines.

Chris Redfield has received mostly negative reviews from critics. Several game publications have noted the character's lack of consistent visual design for his appearances throughout the Resident Evil franchise. Polygon's Cass Marshall noted his variations in body mass throughout the games by repeatedly changing from lean to muscular and back again, while Ian Walker from Kotaku compared his appearances in Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village as "transition[ing] from global bio-terrorism agent to [...] someone's henchman in a British crime comedy written and directed by Guy Ritchie." According to PC Gamer's Andy Kelly, Chris is "finally a person". He claimed that in Village, it has "a very different Chris than we've ever seen before. For the first time, he feels like a human." Several Kotaku employees have also referred to Chris as the worst of the Resident Evil heroes, calling him "bland" and "boring" and critiquing the majority of his redesigns. Ravi Sinha of GamingBolt considered the character's design in Resident Evil 7 among the worst in video games, noting that "the overly buff, borderline steroid-abusing macho man" was replaced by a "normal looking guy". Jonathan Beach of Vice stated that Chris is "one of the blandest video game characters ever to have made it through a Capcom brainstorm". On the other hand, while Matt Cundy of GamesRadar+ compared his Code Veronica and Resident Evil 5 designs while trying to evaluate which would fit better for a zombie apocalypse, they found the latter provided a better chance to survive a zombie attack. It also judged Chris from the original game as "horribly ill-prepared". GameSpy called his new design in Resident Evil 5 "a cross between Colin Farrell and Hugh Jackman" in particular, and it became a source of controversy and was often ridiculed. Jesse Schedeen of IGN described him as one of the most overrated video game characters, with the suggestion that he should "ditch the 'roids and concentrate on getting the job done", while Alexander Sliwinski of Engadget commented that during The Umbrella Chronicles, Chris possibly started his "steroid abuse".

Near the climax of Resident Evil 5, Chris and Sheva engage in a final confrontation against a heavily mutated Wesker inside a volcano, but the duo become separated. In order for them to reunite, the player controlling Chris must engage in a button-mashing sequence where Chris pushes and punches a large boulder until it falls into the lava. The scene became recognized as one of the most memorable within the Resident Evil series, largely due to its ridiculousness. It became the subject of Internet memes, with fans using it to demonstrate Chris' masculinity. Wes Fenlon of PC Gamer said that Chris punching a boulder inside an active volcano "gave us what is truly one of the greatest moments in the history of videogames" and "as a quicktime event. It is perfect." In Resident Evil Village, during the boss fight with Karl Heisenberg, Karl calls Chris a "boulder-punching asshole," a reference to the aforementioned scene in Resident Evil 5.

Chris has also been recognized often for his sex appeal since his appearance in Resident Evil 5. Some critics have described him as one of the sexiest video game characters. Sikh media and video game critic Veerender Singh Jubbal stated in a Kotaku interview that Chris, as he appears in Resident Evil 5, "allowed [him] to understand [his] bisexuality" better; Jubbal noted that Chris' "design was so different than previous iterations, and that large muscle-bound hunk was something I was attracted to". Natalie Romano of GameZone included Chris in their top "gaming gods" for his new look, describing him as "one gorgeous hunk" with "a killer body and dreamy good-looks". Ed Nightingale of PinkNews, an online newspaper marketed to the LGBT community, described Chris as "burly" and having arms "to thirst over". Eurogamer's Matt Wales, in reviewing Resident Evil Revelations, described Chris as the "supreme beefcake". Trace Thurman of Bloody Disgusting found Chris' sailor outfit to be one of the "silliest" in the franchise, while recognizing that "never before has Chris looked sexier", further highlighting his shirtless warrior outfit from Resident Evil 5. Conversely, Matt Liebl of GameZone said that seeing Chris' "skimpy" sailor outfit in Resident Evil: Revelations is "weird to see".

• Kamen, Matt (May 17, 2021). "Resident Evil Village modders are horny for Chris Redfield". Gayming Magazine. Retrieved April 2, 2024.

  Media related to Chris Redfield at Wikimedia Commons