At New York City Comic-Con, the cast of Final Fantasy VII Revelation gathered for a panel looking back at a decade of playing one of the most iconic RPG casts of all-time. Most of the actors on stage have been part of Square Enix’s Remake trilogy for years, but one person is joining the series at the tail end: Sephiroth voice actor Travis Willingham.
Willingham, known for his performances across video games and anime, and for being CEO of tabletop franchise Critical Role, is taking on the role of Final Fantasy VII’s big bad Sephiroth after Tyler Hoechlin had to step down due to scheduling conflicts. Those are big shoes to fill, both because Hoechlin killed the role and because there have been several actors who have played Sephiroth over the course of Final Fantasy VII’s long history. At the panel, Willingham said that long-time Japanese voice actor Toshiyuki Morikawa, who has voiced Sephiroth in Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games, was the “North Star” he followed in trying to channel Sephiroth in the final chapter of the trilogy.
Well, first and foremost, I have to say what an honor and a privilege it is to join not just this storied game and franchise, but this incredible cast of talented actors. It’s been amazing studying their work over the past three games and stalking all of their videos and interviews and getting an idea of who they were, but you know, for me the North Star of the voice of Sephiroth is always gonna be Morikawa-san, the incredible Japanese [actor]. I love how he is able to be light and alluring and then sometimes very dangerous and menacing, and there’s so much that’s unclear about Sephiroth. He’s so ambiguous. Our amazing voice director, Kirk Thornton, was the one that said, “He always feels like he’s in control of every situation. There’s nothing that’s gonna confuse him or surprise him.” There is always, to me, nothing more dangerous than the villain in the room that doesn’t need to shout to be heard.
Willingham isn’t the only Critical Role cast member joining the Remake trilogy in Revelation, as Marisha Ray was confirmed during the panel to be joining her husband, Matt Mercer, in the game as Polydroid Shiva, an NPC the party will meet on their journeys when Revelation launches on April 8.
