Final Fantasy 9 Sequel Officially Releasing In 2028

Published Oct 24, 2026, 5:14 AM EDT

James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he's not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC.

The Final Fantasy series has been all over the place across the last few decades, with hundreds of story threads, narrative arcs and characters to keep track of. The real strength on show is that you can basically boot up any of the games to date as a new fan and have a great time, even without prior knowledge of everything that's going on in its wider universe.

Though there has undoubtedly been plenty of fan service over the years for those who have stuck with every entry in the series, everyone finding their own entry point is one of its real joys. That said, there are certain entries that could have seen fascinating direct sequels, even if it wasn't the best thing for the franchise as a whole.

One of those is Final Fantasy IX which, although it's a brilliant game in its own right, introduced plenty of elements that could easily have been explored further. Happily, that's about to become a reality, though perhaps not in the medium that you might have expected.

As first reported by Game Daily, the animated series Final Fantasy IX: The Black Mages' Legacy is officially back in production over at French animation studio EuroVisual. The project had seemingly gone away after Cyber Group Studios, who had been working directly in partnership with Square Enix, entered financial difficulties.

From there, EuroVisual stepped in, acquiring the project along with 80% of Cyber Group Studios' assets. That seemingly resurrected the animated series, which has since been listed on the new company's website as an upcoming project. The first season is set to include ten 22-minute episodes, with a tentative release date planned for 2028.

While we don't know a ton about what the show has planned for us as viewers, it's clear that a lot of familiar faces will be returning. According to the official Wikipedia page for the show, the premise is as follows: "The children of Vivi Ornitier—Mel, Koln, Luciola, Théa, Fala, and Doc—are the last black mages in the four continents. Living in the city of Alexandria, the children live a peaceful life, until, one day, Koln discovers Mel frozen like a statue—could the tragic legacy of their father be finally catching up to them?"

Heading into that next generation beyond the events of the game is certainly an interesting approach, and it will be cool to see if older faces show up throughout the narrative to guide the young adventurers. As mentioned before, the only sad news is that it likely won't be coming out until 2028, so you will have to sit tight for a little while to hear more.

Outside of that, fans of the franchise have several releases to look forward to before then, most notably Final Fantasy VII Revelation, which concludes the epic retelling of the original. That's not to mention the excellent Resonance, which just dropped for all platforms, and is well worth trying out, particularly if you're a fan that's a little longer in the tooth these days.