Forest Speyer was not originally planned to appear in Resident Evil. The original cast, consisting of Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Gelzer and Dewey (with earlier names), were a cybernetically-enhanced special forces unit. Forest and the rest of Bravo Team were later added later on when planner Kenichi Iwao took over scenario writing. Due to time limitations, Forest's role was limited to being found already dead rather than being a more fleshed-out character. A fan of Alfred Hitchcock films, Iwao decided he was pecked to death by crows as a reference to The Birds.[1]
