We need to come to terms with the fact the big 4 aren't immortal and can and will die or retire one day.

My theory is that, no matter how mad I would be considering my first game was 4 remake, and it's both my first RE game and game in general I ever beat. Not because I'm dumb but because of being gate kept by my younger siblings, of which I'm the oldest at almost 19, this is what happens as follows:

From what I saw of Chris, which I quit 8 due to hardcore mode one save slot only was a bad idea from the get-go, I see him as doing one or two things:

The lesser of the two that won't get me in trouble with the fandom: Chris retires and disappears off the face of the earth dealing with his trauma in unconventional means​ with no one to lean onto, completely shutting Claire out of his life because he thinks if he reunited with his other partners, to become the big 4 plus 5 backup members, than he'd one day lose them. And to aupport this chris would be delusional, which might not hold up to the rest of the og S.T.A.R.S. Bravo and Alpha Team members, but in chris' mind, whatever works, works.

Chris would realize he needs to leave and go in hiding and this fans could accept but initially won't.

And i didnt want to put this ​into words, but Option B, or the "blue pill," is that Chris writes letters for Jill, Bary, Leon, and Claire, saying goodbye to them and literally does disappear off the face of this earth saying he cannot handle losing another team, cannot handle more bio weapons, knows for a fact if he keeps this up one day his body will fail him and he would be immobilized or worse so he chose what he thought was the better of the two options for his mental health and sanity.

Since I am close to finishing RE5, I know for a fact Jill is never gonna die, because Wesker made it so her aging is slowed. By how much, only time will tell. But we need to be realistic about this: they wont live forever. Just cuz they make money, which is great and all, doesn't mean they'd exist by RE13, RE14, RE15, whatever. Jill I got no doubt will return until Capcom says screw it, cut the plug on Reaident Evil, which hopefully won't be for quite some time. But would it matter? Not really as I only played a quarter of the franchise. I got a lot to catch up on. But point being, RE5 did something good: gurantee Jill's survival almost indefinitely.

Claire is another one I got no doubt will be alive by RE15. So not much to talk about there. She is quite young and hasn't had much trauma concerning the fact she was in RE2, RECV, RER2.

Barry is a mixed bag, to be honest. He's 50 something, but Barry was only seen in a few games only and he isn't in limbo like Billy or albeit Claire's partner in RECV. So it's a 50/50 gurantee but also no gurantee. Capcom can swing either way here.

With Leon, I think his ring (unfortunately couldn't avoid spoilers but there's nothing to spoil anyways from that scene alone) isn't meant for anything else but for the sole fact that the purpose of said ring is for the government to see Leon finally said "Fuck you" and retired. Just cuz he got a home to go back to doesn't necessarily mean he settled down. To be blunt about it, and I know I'll get hate, but hear me out: sure, the man is "so fine" or whatever, he's too traumatized to settle down.

Leon probably will go into retirement and go to a nursing home or somewhere he can be truly alone, with little to no contact for the few exceptions that might have to be made. Leon won't "disappear," per sé, as what with Chris might do, in either context or meaning or definition of the word "disappear," "gone," "disposed of," whatever floats your boat. But I think he will want a quiet life, and hope to God nobody wants to send him on another mission, and I think with Leon in particular, that is completely and utterly understandable.

But if anything, we still got Sheva, Ashley, Moira, Claire, Jill, Rebecca, maybeeee Helena but again. She might be too traumatized to return so again, a big if. But not a definite when. Anyways, point being is the big 4 will get replaced, but maybe just the men. Jill and Claire might have their reasons not to go on past a certain point with the Umbrella adjacent bullshit in the near future, but they may will continue. Jill might abuse the fact she can't die technically and if so, good for her. She can if she wants to. But everyone eventually will die, and there will be other characters to introduce and give a second chance in the near future.

And we shouldn't be hung up on the fact that theyre the big 4, how dare anyone suggest this. But from a legitimate writer's perspective, I say this: pick your poison.

As long as there are lesser known or criminally underused or absent characters left to tell their stories, Resident Evil won't die, but characters might, can, and will and i know its a cold hard pill to swallow, but that's what i think. Im sorry if i piss any fan off for saying my piece of mind. So put that in your pipe and smoke it; because "the day will come where you don't be."