Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness.
Leon Kennedy’s first interaction with President Graham in Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness references a major event from the highly-acclaimed Resident Evil 4 videogame. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, set between the events of RE4 and RE5, sends Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield on a mission to investigate an attack on the White House. While fending off zombie intruders, Leon meets war hero Jason and tech expert Shen May, who share their own tragic stories with the infected.
As it turns out, the attack on the White House is orchestrated by Secretary Wilson, who advises President Graham to retaliate against China and encouraged the use of bioweapons, from which he intends to profit by selling the cure to the masses. In the end, Leon and Claire succeed in keeping the virus from causing mass panic, and although subtle, one of the things that help President Graham make a wiser decision is his previous experiences with Leon, which he promptly discloses as soon as he meets him, saying “I’m indebted with you for getting my daughter, Ashley, back.”
President Graham’s wish to protect his daughter Ashley convinces him to agree with Secretary Wilson at first, as evidenced by his pensive look at her portrait in the Oval Office. However, he trusts Leon more than Wilson because Leon successfully saved Ashley in Resident Evil 4, where she was abducted by the cult of “Los Iluminados”. Both Ashley — who is infamous for being extremely prone to being killed during the game’s many escort missions — and Leon are infected with a parasite known as “Las Plagas”, but they managed to escape after being double-crossed by Ada Wong.
Patrick was also essential in telling Graham that Wilson was behind the conspiracy, but it’s Leon’s determination to save Ashley in Resident Evil 4, as well as his will to find the truth about the conspiracy in Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness that are testament to the character’s honesty and heroism. Ultimately, President Graham’s stoic attitude helps him avoid radical decisions, but his trust in Leon plays a major role in keeping the United States from invading Penamstan and going to war with China. Infinite Darkness‘ place in the Resident Evil timeline makes the white house incident and the subsequent conflict with a tragically infected Jason more impactful, as the following installments would have taken a drastically different direction had President Graham let Secretary Wilson manipulate him into starting a biological war involving mutated super soldiers.
The White House incident proves how close humanity has been to experience a zombie crisis in the Resident Evil universe up until 2006. A few years later, Resident Evil 6 sends the series’ main heroes on a mission to stop a global bioterrorist attack, which they barely stop. Perhaps Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness season 2 or a similar continuation will shed light on other unexplored parts of the timeline where zombies and shady conspiracies almost changed the course of the franchise.
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