Highlights From The ‘Final Fantasy VII: Revelation’ Panel At NYCC 2026
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New York Comic Con 2026 is in full swing, and the announcements are just getting started. One of these announcements happened during the Final Fantasy VII panel, which bid farewell to the remake and featured the entire English voice cast, including Travis Willingham, who took over the role of Sephiroth. The panel was emotional and full of love for the game from the wonderful cast.
One of the announcements that came out of the panel was that the role of Shiva was being played by Marisha Ray. We got to see a behind-the-scenes video too of her voicing the role, and even having some lines with Vincent Valentine, who is played by her real-life husband, Matthew Mercer. Mercer mentioned that he was worried people would think it was a form of nepotism, but as it turns out, nobody knew the two were married.
The panel was very emotional, as it was the last time the cast might be together. It was in celebration of the final game in the remake, which releases in April 2027. Some other highlights included Matt and J. Michael Tatum discussing how their process changed, since their characters are now playable. Matt says he’s louder now, and Tatum admits that it’s a bit therapeutic.
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Travis Willingham joins the final game as Sephiroth, and took the role over from Tyler Hochelin, who was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. Travis says he's honored to have joined such a great cast. He admits to stalking all of their social media and videos to get a sense of who they are. He says he likes how Sephiroth can be light and alluring, and then sometimes very dangerous and menacing, and there’s so much that’s unclear about Sephiroth. Travis says that their voice director said, “There’s nothing more dangerous than a villain in a room who doesn’t need to scream to be heard,” when talking about Sephiroth. Later, some of the cast even admit to being afraid of him, because of how well he brought Sephiroth to life.
Cody Christian (Cloud Strife) says that some of his favorite scenes in this game are between him and Aerith (Briana White). And this is because of the subject matter, where the characters get to go, and that they have some scenes that are heavy with each other. At the start of the panel, he admits that it’s bittersweet because he has spent 7 ½ years of his life as this character, and now it’s over.
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Britt Baron (Tifa Lockhart) talks about how important the role has been to her, especially as a woman in video games. She gets to play a character that is really strong, an amazing fighter, brave, and gets to be at the helm of the massive fight. But at the same time, she’s also kind, soft-spoken, and thoughtful. She says it’s such a great opportunity, and you don’t ever know if a role like this will come up again. It’s been such a joy, and that’s the hardest part about saying goodbye. John Eric Bentley (Barret Wallace) adds that he hopes she's set the standard for a role like that. There’s no more objectifying
This panel was the perfect way to wrap up such an important remake. The cast has done such a great job doing the game justice, and have put all of their love into it. It’s hard to know that the journey is finally over, and it’s an emotional goodbye. They each shared a word to describe how they felt at the end of the panel: gratitude, grateful legacy, and Cloud.
Final Fantasy VII: Revelation releases April 8th, 2027.
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