•Resident Evil has always been a favorite among gamers, but according to IGN, its newest installment, Resident Evil Requiem, is now the biggest-selling game in the franchise. Ahead of Fall Fan Fest 2026, IGN spoke with the actors behind Grace Ashcroft and Leon S. Kennedy—Angela Sant’Albano and Nick Apostolides—about bringing their characters to life and responding to fans’ enthusiastic reactions since launch.
“Nick has been wonderful. He’s been like a big brother in a way, kind of guiding me through it all,” said Sant’Albano about stepping into the world of Resident Evil.
Apostolides, who starred in the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 as well as Netflix’s Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, said he understood what his fellow actors were getting into.
“I knew because of my history with the franchise. I’d already done three projects with it, and I had an intimate understanding of the fanbase and how excited and passionate they are. So I was just secretly excited for these guys,” he said. “I think I just tried to help everyone understand the grim universe that they were stepping into… but they also have such grounded reality to them. They center around real human stories, and so: not psyching them out, but getting them prepared for what they’re about to experience.”
Apostolides pointed to a scene in which Leon sits with Grace at the garbage dump area as one that captures his character’s essence.
“When he’s in the garbage dump area with Grace. Grace is sitting by his side, and then he gets up, and Grace asks him, ‘You’re so sick; why do you keep going? You’re not going to make it.’ And he just says a few select keywords here: ‘I couldn’t make a difference back then. But I’m here now, and this is my chance to make a difference,'” Apostolides said. “That’s what he’s all about. That’s his spine, that’s his DNA; he just wants to do the right thing and help those who can’t help themselves.”
For Sant’Albano, two scenes shaped her understanding of Grace: her reaction to her mother’s death, which she said “exacerbated all everything” about Grace’s introversion, and the death of Emily.
“There’s a line where she literally says again, ‘This is how I’ve done this again. This is all my fault.’ And you understand this burden and this guilt that she’s carried her whole life,” Sant’Albano said. “She has to stand up for someone else, and even though she’s not good at standing up for herself, she has to find that bravery.”
The game’s more mature, grizzled version of Leon prompted a wave of online enthusiasm, including Instagram posts. Apostolides said he hadn’t anticipated the reaction.
“It was a whole different level of… What’s the word I’m looking for?” he recalled. “Fever,” Sant’Albano suggested. “‘Okay, it was a whole different level of Leon fever that I was not expecting. It was dialed up to, like, a 12. And I thought it was going to be, like, a nine.'”
Fans have also fixated on the fact that Leon wears a wedding ring in the game without revealing his wife’s identity.
“They’re asking me as if I know,” Apostolides said of being asked about it. “I usually just say he’s married to you, the fans.”
Apostolides credited Capcom’s longevity in the genre to listening to fans and its talent.
“That’s what separates the franchises from the ones that survive all these years and the ones that kind of flutter out,” he said. He added that human stories help players feel attached, creating “a beautiful… metaphor to life of just getting through adversity.”
Sant’Albano agreed, saying the human story is what made the game addictive.
“Creating complex characters like Grace, that’s just so delicious for a gamer or for anyone, frankly, in any medium,” she said.
When asked what advice they’d give to Bryan, the hero of horror director Zach Cregger’s new Resident Evil movie, Sant’Albano suggested finding “your version of Leon” and trying to find more than one bullet. Apostolides added: “Find a huge gun.”
Sant’Albano is currently playing Hermia in an updated production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Chichester Festival Theatre, while also voicing Gwendolyn in the action-RPG Tides of Annihilation. Apostolides recently did his first anime dub for Ghost in the Shell, is working on the indie RPG Emberville, and is developing a zombie beat ’em up game with his brother. During the interview, he told Sant’Albano: “You might have to play a zombie animal.”
Fall Fan Fest features 90 exclusive reveals across games, movies, TV, comics, and collectibles. It can be streamed on IGN.
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