Tetsuya Nomurathe creative director of Square Enixrevealed in an interview with Dengeki Online that the late voice actor Keiji Fujiwara will also give voice to the character Reno in the game Final Fantasy VII Rebirth which will be released on February 29, 2024 for PlayStation 5 .
Tetsuya Nomura stated:
Reno will still be played by Keiji Fujiwara. We learned of his death shortly before recording began on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and were unable to find a replacement immediately. So I made a request to the set team to use previous footage of Fujiwara so he could take on the role of Reno again, and they adjusted it for me. I want to apologize to all fans, especially overseas fans, as this means Reno will have a smaller role in this game. For the next game, there will be a new actor (for Reno) and Reno will have a bigger role.
Nomura also revealed that the decision to choose a new actor for Barrett was due to the decision of Masahiro Kobayashi to move away from the world of acting and that the choice fell on Mahito Funaki.
Voice actor Keiji Fujiwara (Maes Hughes) has passed away
Fujiwara had put his career on hiatus in August 2016 to undergo medical treatment for an unspecified illness, but gradually returned to work in 2017. He eventually passed away in April 2020 at the age of 55.
Born on October 5, 1964, he participated in multiple projects, was Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, Holland in Eureka 7, Maes Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist, Leorio in the 2011 anime Hunter × Hunter, Axel in Kingdom Hearts, Ardyn in Final Fantasy XV, Reno in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Final Fantasy VII Remake, AC DC in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Ladd Russo in Baccano!, Shuichi Aizawa in Death Note, Ali al-Saachez in Gundam 00, Shirō Fujimoto in Blue Exorcist, Eugene in Granblue Fantasy and was the Japanese voice of Robert Downey Jr. like Tony Stark in the Avengers.
