Summary
Capcom has been riding the crest ofResident Evil’sresurgence for over 5 years now. Ever sinceRE7kicked off the survival horror franchise’s modern-era reboot and returned to its roots in 2017, the series has seen a string of successful releases that were both critically praised and highly commercially profitable. Along withRE7andRE Village,theremakes ofResident Evil2,3, and4have contributed greatly to its rise and ongoing popularity, and fans have been waiting with bated breath to see how the studio will continue capitalizing on its achievement.
LongtimeResident Evilprotagonist Jill Valentine was last seen in the 2020Resident Evil 3remake. During the game’s events, Jill encounters an Umbrella Co. special operative and mercenary, Sergeant Nicholai Zinoviev (Ginovaef in some versions.) Serving as something of a secondary/side villain, Nicholaibutted heads with Jill and eventually showed his true colors by turning on both her and his own platoon members in the name of old-fashioned greed and selfishness. Given the dynamic on display between them in the remake, and with the updated plot leaving open the possibility of his return, whenever Jill appears next in anREgame, Nicholai should also be included as an antagonist in some way again.
Though Capcom has not released any information about thenextResident Eviltitleyet, it is largely assumed one is currently in development, and more updates regarding it could possibly be announced sometime this year.
When Jill Valentine Comes Back In Resident Evil, Nicholai Zinoviev Should Too
Nicholai’s Part in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and RE3 Remake
Nicholai is an Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (UBSC) member assigned to Captain Mikhail Vikto’s squad that was sent to Raccoon City to contain the outbreak. He is also secretly a Monitor for the company, making him essentially a mole for the corporation inside its own forces. When Jill first crosses paths with him, he immediately comes off as suspect with his gruff and dismissive attitude and is clearly hiding something. It’s revealed that Nicholai’s ulterior motives (among others) included destroying evidence of Umbrella’s involvement in the T-Virus research program, and observing and capturing footage of the performance capabilities ofResident Evil 3’s Nemesisas it hunts down Jill and the other former S.T.A.R.S. members.
Nicholai is a mercenary to the core, driven solely by personal gain and monetary rewards above any other ostensible duties and responsibilities. While his betrayal could be said to be fairly predictable, very much par for the course inResident Evilstories, his screen presence and interactions with Jill and fellow squadmates add a nice narrative layer to the main story of Jill’s attempts to assist with the evacuation and escape Nemesis and the city before it’s destroyed in a firebombing.
Nicholai Could Return in Resident Evil to Confront Jill Again
Depictions of Nicholai’s ultimate fate at the end ofRE3are somewhat conflicting even in canon material, with some variations stating he was killed in the final moments, while others seem to contradict this. TheResident Evil 3remake does seem to lean towards implying he may have possibly survived the events, making a slippery getaway at the last minute and escaping any consequences for the time being. In light of this, he could be primed for another appearance, as it wouldn’t be the first time Capcom has the chance to include orreintroduce previousResident Evilside charactersin the future. Even if it may be in a reduced role or simply as a cameo, it would still make a lot of narrative sense in anREstory involving Jill, and one could easily see Nicholai returning to reignite the spark of rivalry between them.
