At the recent Fanime anime convention, Richard Waugh (voice actor for Albert Wesker in CODE: Veronica, 0, and 4) apparently stated that he will not be reprising his role as Albert Wesker in RE5.  He went further to explain that he had even recorded his lines for Umbrella Chronicles, but instead was replaced by D.C. Douglas.  I'm not entirely clear on why this was done, or if he even really said this (I was not at the convention myself), but is there any truth to this?

If so, I don't suppose something like an online petition would be enough to get Capcom to bring him back for RE5, would it?  It's probably already too late in the development process for a major change like this to be made, but it never hurts to ask.  Thanks in advance.

Do you have a link or source where he says all that?

EDIT: Never mind, I found the source link:

http://zentendo.com/reviews.php?articleId=367&page=1

Excerpt:

Those curious about his future as
Albert Wesker might be in for a disappointment. If you picked up last
years "The Umbrella Chronicles" you might notice something amiss about
the voice of Wesker

"It's weird because I did the voice recordings for
Wesker in Umbrella Chronicles. However Capcom has decided that they
want to hire non-union actors in California instead, so my voice was
replaced. Which became sort of funny when I heard that the replacement
tried sounding like me."

This explains the sudden and confusing cast
change for "Umbrella Chronicles" shortly after the release of "Resident
Evil 4". The voice of Albert Wesker is now being handled by D.C.
Douglass in "Resident Evil 5" instead. Richard encouraged fans to let
Capcom know how they feel about the change.

nobody answer to his question?!

After reading this topic, I was really saddened... I had always thought that Wesker's VA in Umbrella Chronicles was switched because Waugh had other things to take care of, but that seems to not be the case.

Nevertheless, Richard Waugh did a great job voicing Wesker. He brought an edge and a sense of character to the role... made him sound cool and in-control while still retaining an almost playful, irreverant quality in his voice. His replacement oftentimes sounded like he was doing an imitation of how Waugh would voice Wesker, and because of this several lines ended up sounding flat and awkward.

I truly hope that with future games in the series involving Albert Wesker, Capcom will rethink their choice of voice actors. If there is anything we can do at this point that will have any influence at all, it would be great to hear it.

Thanks!

Consistency with the actors would be nice.  Yes, this is a business but those characters maintain a certain image in fans' minds, and the ever-changing voice cast doesn't help at all.  A change after the original RE was necessary, but very few characters had the same actors afterwards (Claire and Ada). 

Waugh did a great job, as did the other actors up to CV.  Yet the RE1 remake saw a change once again and so did RE4 and so on.  It's quite jarring and somewhat hinders the overall experience.

Alas, I have no response to give because I don't know the reasons for the change.

I don't mean to be unfair, I respect D.C. Douglas' work, but Richard Waugh's voice is so much better.

That was really disappointing to play REUC and don't listen to his voice as Wesker. And even more disappointing was the fact that he's actually recorded Wesker's lines on REUC but all his work was replaced.

I totally support Richard Waugh returns as Wesker's voice actor.

If so, I don't suppose something like an online petition would be enough to get Capcom to bring him back for RE5, would it?  It's probably already too late in the development process for a major change like this to be made, but it never hurts to ask.  Thanks in advance.

Regardless of the fact it's too late for RE5 (as far as we know), there's a petition to bring him back for future games: 

http://www.petitiononline.com/Wesker/petition.html

I don't think we will see Waugh in RE5.... if he was to come back, it would probably happen in a sequel after it....
Aparently, Capcom decided to hire only non-union actors for the voice acting.... that would mean we sould say goodbye not only to Waugh, but to a lot of other actors... let's see if they hear us on this one.

It's sad to see that Weskers VA has been changed. He provided Wesker with an incredible voice, and the charachter wont be the same without him. I really hoped Capcom will bring him back...