It would be hard to name a game with more iconic moments, characters, and plot beats thanResident Evil 4. Withrumors of anRE4remakegradually growing, plenty of fans have been revisiting the classic title in all its glory. As theResident Evilfranchise has continued growing since the release of the game in 2005, many of its unresolved plot elements have had payoffs in the later installments. However, one thread has been left hanging ever since the game came out: what happened to Ashley Graham after the credits rolled?
Among the most iconic characters ofResident Evil 4are Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham. After all, the pair spend most of the game’s runtime together, however, Leon has gone on to star in other games in the franchise, but Ashley hasn’t made another on-screen appearance since riding off into the sunset on a jetski with Leon at the end ofRE4. Unfortunately for those looking for concrete answers about Ashley following her time in Spain, Capcom hasn’t provided many.
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What Happened to Ashley?
As stated above, Ashley never makes another on-screen appearance in any of theResident Evilgames followingRE4. She’s mentioned in bothResident Evil 5andResident Evil 6, but only briefly in a pair of collectible documents that don’t provide any further information on what might have happened to her. There were hopes that she might make an appearance in this year’sResident Evil Village, but while there is some pretty major connective tissue that bindsVillageto the rest of theREuniverse, Ashley isn’t a part of it.
The unfortunate and perhaps unsatisfying answer is that no one really knows where she officially ended up. There are hopes that she’s meant to make another appearance in a futureREgame, but it seems like if aResident Evil 4remake truly is in the works, that might be the only time she reappears. Capcom could throw a bone to the Ashley fans in the form of adding her as a playable character in theupcoming multiplayer shooterResident Evil Re:Verse, but since she never wields a weapon duringRE4, it seems unlikely that she’d be added to the roster.
Where Could Have Ashley Ended Up?
Because Capcom hasn’t provided any substantial answers about Ashley’s fate, fans have tried putting the pieces together on their own. She was a 20-year-old college student when the plot ofResident Evil 4happened so it’s likely that, after taking some time off to recover from the horrors she witnessed, she returned back to school to finish her degree.
Additionally, the entire reason she was kidnapped by Los Iluminados was because of her status as the president’s daughter. However, once his term ended, she likely moved with her family out of the immediate political spotlight. Some have speculated that the zombified president that Leon is forced to kill at the start of his campaign inResident Evil 6is Ashley’s father, though this is unlikely.RE4is set in 2004 andLeon’s section ofRE6is set in 2013, so there’s really no way that he would still be in office if the presidential term restrictions that the real U.S. government uses were still in place.
Because she hasn’t gotten any sort of major spotlight in the rest of theResident Evilseries, it’s likely that Ashley’s life just wasn’t very interesting followingResident Evil 4. Despite the city-destroyingzombie outbreaks featured in games likeResident Evil 2,5, and6,it seems like the world has settled into some sort of general normalcy by the timeResident Evil 7starts. Assuming she survived the various outbreaks and chaos, Ashley is likely living a simple life as the daughter of the retired president.
