Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that fan-favorite character Reno's screen time and role will be reduced in the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second part of the episodic FF7 remake. Fans finally got a release date for Rebirth earlier this month at the September 2023 PlayStation State of Play, along with several aspects of the upcoming remake. This includes a brief look at highly anticipated elements of the game, such as the Gold Saucer, fan favorite characters like Vincent Valentine, and the possible revised narrative that was introduced for the remake.

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In an interview with Dengeki Online and the developers, one of the questions asked was the presence of Reno in the remake, due to his former Japanese voice actor, Keiji Fujiwara. Back in 2020, shortly after the original release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Keiji Fujiwara had passed away due to his ongoing battle with cancer. Fujiwara had voiced Reno ever since Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children and had reprised the role for the remake. Nomura confirmed that Fujiwara will continue voicing the character in Rebirth using archived audio recordings from past works involving the character.

Nomura states that they had received the news regarding Fujiwara's passing before the development team started recording for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. He noted that they couldn't bring themselves to recast the character immediately, and out of respect for the late actor, rewrote the scenario to use his past recordings instead. This method, however, had the side effect of reducing Reno's role within Rebirth's story.

Nomura notes that Reno's reduced screentime will likely disappoint fans, especially those overseas. However, he promises that the third entry of the Final Fantasy 7 remake will give Reno a bigger presence after they have found a replacement.

Reno's presence in the original game past Midgar had him fighting Cloud's party outside Gongaga, along with him appearing in the optional Wutai sidequest. Rebirth, however, will not be covering the latter, as it will be saved and scaled-up for the third part of the remake trilogy, which is likely where his role would be expanded. For the time being, Reno will likely have his appearances kept to a minimum in Rebirth.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will launch on February 29, 2024 for PS5.

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Source: Dengeki Online (via Reddit)