I don’t think you can compare capcom killing Ethan Winters to killing off a legacy character.
Until 8, the closest they ever got to killing off a fan favorite was Jill but as we all know she’s fine and she got better.
Death was reserved for side characters who were introduced in the game they die in. Maybe they get popular after the game but you can’t deny they were made with the explicit purpose of killing them. Maybe they already planned on killing Ethan from his introduction. Not a fan of him so never dug too much into their decision process but someone can fill me in if they actually did.
He has virtually no merch, he’s popular but he’s also extremely divisive with the average man and average gamer. Most agree he’s boring. You can disagree and like the character but from just looking at the average reaction (not by mega fans who enjoy evaluating the games and fan theories and fanfic) they enjoyed 7 so much because he was a dude who could die.
So while it’s possible they can kill off Leon, it’s just as possible some shenanigans could happen where in some side project down the line he’s fine! Look he’s fine! He was alive the whole time!
I don’t think capcom has the balls to kill off a character who has starred in their most financially profitable games and has that much merch. Not to mention they make him the star of every single animated film to draw in more people.
But if they do, I also suspect he won’t be dead for long. It’s like killing Batman for real this time guys, you just don’t do that cause more people will care.