The rumors are true. Matt Mercer will play Vincent in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. This past weekend, the veteran voice actor hosted a panel at New York Comic Con. He revealed his casting as the moody vampire appearing in the second part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. But he also shared that he only found out after months of waiting, and in a humorous way.
“I’m happy to make it official that I am the voice of Vincent,” Mercer confirmed. But he then shared the story of how he heard he got the part.
The Critical Role host auditioned for the part of Vincent early on. Previously, he had done some background voices for Final Fantasy VII Remake. For the sequel, Square Enix brought him in for more background characters. Nine months after his audition, he came in to voice a young boy with a Japanese voice reference who was “like twelve years old.”
“I’m super nervous. Sweating in the booth. Like, why did they bring me in to embarrass me?” Mercer related to the New York Comic Con crowd on Saturday. “And then suddenly the screen starts glitching out, and there are popups happening.”
After the crew apologized for the glitches, a text box appeared. It asked a new question: “Or how about you play a different character?” Following this, a picture of Vincent appeared. And Mercer realized he had landed the role after all. “They pranked me,” he explained, laughing. “And I will never let any of you see that video!”
Once receiving the news, Matt Mercer even reached out to Steve Blum, the previous voice of Vincent, to get his blessing. As such, Mercer gave a shoutout to Blum at the panel.
Joining Mercer were a few of his fellow castmates, Cody Christian (Cloud), John Eric Bentley (Barrett), Britt Baron (Tifa), Max Mittelman (Red XII), and Suzie Yeung (Yuffie). Later on, director Naoki Hamaguchi joined as well. Producer Yoshinori Kitase and Aerith actor Briana White sent in video messages.
Yeung explained that she heard back that she got her role after only three months. However, she elaborated that it was likely due to the quick turnover for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intermission, DLC introducing Yuffie.
In the original Final Fantasy VII, both Yuffie and Vincent were optional party characters. For Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, both will join the player’s party naturally through the story.
The panel also touched on the image of Red XIII riding a Chocobo. Hamaguchi related via translator that the idea originated as a file that creative director Tetsuya Nomura saw and decided to include.
Players will be able to hear Matt Mercer as Vincent (in addition to the rest of the fantastic cast) once Final Fantasy VII Rebirth comes out on February 29th, 2024, for PS5.
