We’ve got another treat for gaming fans, as the cast of ‘Resident Evil’ took to the stage at MCM London Comic Con 2026 for a fantastic panel packed with behind-the-scenes stories, revelations about Resident Evil Requiem, and some wonderfully ridiculous moments! We were there to film the whole thing, and we’ve now split it into three videos covering the cast discussion, a chaotic game of Existential Chicken, and a fan Q&A featuring everything from Leon Kennedy’s evolution to the bizarre world of Resident Evil mods!
The panel brought together Nick Apostolides (Leon S. Kennedy), Eden Riegel (Sherry Birkin), Stephanie Panisello (Claire Redfield), Nicole Tompkins (Jill Valentine), Lily Gao (Ada Wong) and Genevieve Buechner (Ashley Graham), with the always-entertaining WeeClaire hosting.
And what a panel it was! There were fascinating insights into performance capture, emotional stories about how the games have affected fans, and a surprising amount of discussion about stationery. Plus, we discovered that one of the cast didn’t actually know what an NPC was. Which is quite impressive when you’re appearing in one of gaming’s biggest franchises!
We’ve divided the panel into three parts, all of which you can watch below.
Part 1: Resident Evil Requiem, Leon, Sherry & Behind-The-Scenes Secrets
The first video kicks off with Nick Apostolides marvelling at the enormous crowd, explaining that this was one of the biggest UK audiences the cast had ever appeared in front of, and that it was the first UK convention for several of them.
After some discussion about their adventures in London, including Nicole’s hunt for fountain pens and Nick’s appreciation of British fish and chips, the conversation turns to the remarkable longevity of Resident Evil and the passionate community that has grown around it.
The actors discuss how meeting fans at conventions has changed their relationship with the characters they portray. Nicole explains that while working on a game, the cast are focused on the story and the production, but it’s only when they meet players afterwards that they discover how personally meaningful those characters have become.
One of the most interesting parts of the discussion comes from Eden Riegel, who talks about returning as Sherry Birkin in Resident Evil Requiem. Eden explains how much performance-capture technology has changed since she worked on Resident Evil 6. Back then, the voice, facial capture and physical performances were recorded separately, meaning she often had to imagine the other characters while performing. For Requiem, however, she was able to work directly alongside Nick Apostolides on the performance-capture stage, rehearsing scenes together and developing the relationship between Sherry and Leon.
As someone who has been a fan of the games for years, Nick was particularly keen to make sure the characters’ shared history was reflected in their performances, and Eden discusses how that collaboration helped shape their scenes.
Elsewhere, Lily Gao reveals how surprised she’s been to discover entire families playing Resident Evil together, particularly given how terrifying she finds the games herself! She also shares some lovely thoughts about the courage of Ada Wong fans and the stories people have told her about how the character has helped them through difficult periods in their lives.
Meanwhile, Genevieve Buechner explains why Ashley Graham’s terrified reactions to the horrors around her are probably the most realistic responses in the entire franchise. Frankly, we’re with Ashley. If we found ourselves trapped in a village full of monsters and people trying to kill us, we’d probably be screaming for Leon to rescue us too.
Part 2: The Resident Evil Cast Plays Existential Chicken!
Things take a decidedly sillier turn in our second video, as WeeClaire introduces the cast to Gilbert the rubber chicken for a game of Existential Chicken!
If you haven’t encountered Gilbert before, the concept is simple. Each guest puts their hand inside a rubber chicken, pulls out a question, and attempts to answer it. Of course, these being actors, the answers range from surprisingly thoughtful to completely ridiculous.
Stephanie Panisello starts things off with a rather deep question about what she’d ask her future self, leading to a thoughtful discussion about happiness, fulfilment and finding a sense of belonging. Genevieve Buechner is asked what difficulty setting she’d currently give her life, while Eden Riegel has to come up with the title of a horror game based on her own existence. Her answer? A terrifying nightmare about not being allowed to sleep!
Nick Apostolides then reveals a rather painful experience involving a bicycle, an icy hill and a pedestrian he was desperately trying not to hit. Nick believes the incident taught him the importance of slowing down occasionally. Stephanie, however, has a rather different interpretation of what he should have done, which is probably not advice anyone should follow! Nicole Tompkins, meanwhile, reveals her latest real-life achievement: building an increasingly impressive collection of fountain pen inks. Yes, apparently stationery collecting can be just as addictive as collecting video game achievements.
But perhaps the funniest moment comes from Lily Gao, who pulls a question asking what her one line of dialogue would be if she were a video game NPC.
There’s just one small problem… She doesn’t know what an NPC is.
Apparently, while Stephanie was giving her heartfelt answer earlier in the game, Lily was quietly panicking and asking Nicole to explain the term. Naturally, this leads to some hilarious banter between the cast, particularly when Lily attempts to establish some basic rules about not interrupting women while they’re speaking. Nick immediately manages to get himself into trouble, and things only get sillier from there.
It’s a wonderfully chaotic segment, and a brilliant opportunity to see the performers having fun away from the zombies, monsters and general horrors of Raccoon City.
Part 3: Leon’s Evolution, Resident Evil Mods & Fan Questions!
For our third and final video, the cast turn things over to the audience, who have plenty of questions about the characters, the games and the actors’ experiences.
One of the most interesting answers comes from Nick Apostolides, who discusses how his approach to playing Leon S. Kennedy has changed over the years. With Resident Evil Requiem taking place considerably later in Leon’s life, Nick explains how he wanted to reflect everything the character has experienced, not just through his voice, but also through his movements, attitude and the way he sees the world. It’s a fascinating insight into portraying a character who has spent decades surviving the sort of situations that would probably send the rest of us into early retirement.
Eden Riegel also shares one of the loveliest stories of the entire panel when she’s asked about her proudest moments as an actor. She talks about playing Resident Evil Requiem with her children, including her son, who has now reached an age where he can handle the game’s more frightening moments. In fact, he’s become quite good at rescuing his mum when she gets into trouble! But the really special moment came when he heard her voice coming out of the controller and realised that his mum was actually part of the game he was playing. It’s a wonderful story, although there must be something rather surreal about needing your child to save you in a game where you’re one of the characters!
Naturally, the audience also has some rather less serious questions.
The cast discuss their favourite Resident Evil monsters, with Nick showing his appreciation for the original Nemesis and Nicole revealing a fondness for Lickers. There’s also a hilarious discussion about the increasingly bizarre world of Resident Evil mods. From Lady Dimitrescu’s ever-expanding hat to some rather questionable Leon Kennedy outfits, it’s clear that the modding community has been having an enormous amount of fun with Capcom’s survival horror series. Nick also reveals his appreciation for the Krabby Patty Mobile, because apparently even Resident Evil isn’t safe from SpongeBob SquarePants!
Fans ask about favourite Leon Kennedy one-liners, the actors who previously portrayed the characters, and the games that originally inspired the cast to get involved in the industry.
Genevieve talks about discovering The Witcher 3 and realising how powerful video game storytelling could be, while Stephanie reveals how Tomb Raider helped inspire her interest in archaeology and rock climbing.
And, just to finish things off, there’s a particularly entertaining question about how many steps Leon Kennedy would manage to rack up on a Fitbit. Given the amount of running, fighting and roundhouse kicking that man does, we’re fairly sure he’d be breaking a few fitness records.
More From MCM London Comic Con 2026!
These three videos are just part of our coverage from MCM London Comic Con 2026, where we also filmed panels featuring the cast of ‘Daredevil’, the stars of Grand Theft Auto, Percy Jackson creator Rick Riordan, One Piece star Mackenyu, and plenty of other familiar faces from the worlds of gaming and entertainment.
You can hear some of our favourite moments from across the weekend in Geektown Radio Episode 507, our MCM London Comic Con Special.
And don’t forget to subscribe to the Geektown YouTube channel for more convention panels, interviews and other geeky goodness!
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