Remember me
Being as I was assembled in a factory in Sverdlovsk in 1928, I am generally quite bad at identifying or following celebrities. But even I have a profound love for Kyle MacLachlan, the longtime David Lynch collaborator who starred as Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks, Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet, Paul Atreides in the Dune we don't talk about and, of course, papa Hank in the Fallout TV show.
Well, here's an additional role I didn't know he had (and likely neither did he): Jill Valentine's possibly-maybe boyfriend in the original Resident Evil 2. You see, back when RE2 first released in 1998, players found that Jill Valentine's desk in the Raccoon City Police Department had a picture on it. Inspect it and you get the message "It's a picture of a young man. There's a good chance it's her boyfriend…" Unfortunately, there were only so many pixels to go around back then, and the identity of the man in question—or, well, his model—was impossible to ascertain.
Until now, anyway. Thanks to Resident Evil fan Morio on X (via Polygon), it's clear that, yup, that sure is Kyle MacLachlan alright. Specifically it seems to be an image of MacLachlan taken from an early-'90s issue of Japan's Roadshow magazine, which often covered western media like Twin Peaks and was, indeed, quite keen on the series.
Precisely who the figure in Valentine's photo was has been a mystery since 1998. Morio said, upon revealing their discovery: "Alright, that's it then. The guy from Jill's desk is Kyle MacLachlan. Years of searching finally over." Incidentally, Morio found that a similar mag picture of Winona Ryder is used for Barry Burton's daughter.
If you're wondering, the answer is no: Capcom didn't use a 4K MacLachlan for the version of this photo in the Resident Evil 2 Remake. In fact, they didn't use a person at all. Valentine was officially un-shipped—the shot of a young man on her desk replaced by a photograph of a dog. Which would be an upgrade were we discussing literally any other man but Kyle MacLachlan.
You may like
Resident Evil Requiem's director teases more Leon Kennedy: 'We could bring him back when he's 70'
Zach Cregger's inspiration for the upcoming Resident Evil film once again proves he knows ball
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil film 'takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2' without actually engaging any of the characters