5 Final Fantasy Characters Kingdom Hearts 4 Desperately Needs To Include

Published Aug 17, 2026, 11:55 AM EDT

Austin King is the Senior Editor of Gaming at ScreenRant and has been with the site since 2020 with a focus on RPGs and tabletop games. He previously managed content for Geek to Geek Media, and has served as a writer for sites like Nintendad, Geek Fitness, and more.

In addition to his work at ScreenRant, he also hosts the Dragon Quest FM podcast and is the author of several books, including co-writing Nimbus (a #1 bestseller in 2013). His latest is the nonfiction The Dragon Quest Book, available now.

He's written about pop culture, video games, and genre studies over the course of his career. You can find him on BlueSky, X, and at Dragonquestaustin.com

Kingdom Hearts 4 got a shiny new trailer over the weekend that teased a Coco world, a playable Donald and Goofy, and showed off several new and returning characters. Along the way, the release window for Kingdom Hearts 4 and its platforms were also revealed. While it's still unconfirmed if Final Fantasy characters are once again appearing in the highly-anticipated RPG, many fans are hoping that will be the case.

Kingdom Hearts 3 launched without any Final Fantasy characters, although a number of them showed up in the Re:MIND DLC. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to see which FF characters show up in Kingdom Hearts 4, and hopefully, we won't have to wait until DLC drops this time around. Based on what we've seen from Kingdom Hearts 4 so far, however, a few Final Fantasy characters seem like great additions.

5 Noctis From Final Fantasy 15

Kingdom Heart 4's world of Quadratum looks a whole lot like Insomnia, the crown city of Lucis from Final Fantasy 15. It also doesn't help that a lot of Verum Rex characters already look like FF15's party, but it means Noctis feels like a shoo-in for Kingdom Hearts. While Final Fantasy 15 may have been a pretty divisive entry overall, Noctis and company have developed a cult following in the years since.

Quadratum looks a lot like FF15, and it'd be cool to see those similarities go a bit deeper by throwing Noctis into the mix. Even if he's more of a cameo like Vivi in Kingdom Hearts 2 than an important supporting role like Squall or Cid, Noctis and Kingdom Hearts 4 feel like they'd go well together.

4 Sephiroth From Final Fantasy 7

Sephiroth is a part of memorable battles in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2. It would be awesome to see the iconic villain from FF7 reappearing in Kingdom Hearts 4 to settle the score once again. Considering Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the end of the new FF7 Remake trilogy, arrives in Early 2027 ahead of KH4's Late 2027 release, the timing is also pretty perfect.

It's unlikely Sephiroth would be a part of the main story (he never is in Kingdom Hearts games, really), but having him be a superboss in KH4 sounds pretty awesome. Considering Sephiroth has been in Kingdom Hearts games before, it doesn't feel like too much of a stretch to see him show up in Kingdom Hearts 4.

3 Lightning From Final Fantasy 13

Other than an event in the MMO FFXIV, Lightning from Final Fantasy 13 hasn't gotten a lot of love outside the games bearing a XIII in its titles. FF13 didn't arrive until long after KH2, and long before KH3, which means its characters never really had the chance to show up in a mainline Kingdom Hearts game either. As the protagonist of Final Fantasy 13, Lightning makes a lot of sense to be included in Kingdom Hearts 4.

Honestly, her design would fit right in with the characters from Kingdom Hearts 4 we've seen so far. While FF13 doesn't have the following some entries do, it would still be pretty cool to see Lightning appear all these years later.

2 Cid From Final Fantasy 7

Kingdom Hearts 3 and its Gummi Ship didn't feel the same without Cid. Sure, everyone's favorite pilot from Final Fantasy 7 showed up in the DLC, but his absence was definitely felt in the main game. I'm assuming the Gummi Ship will still be a major element of Kingdom Hearts 4, so here's hoping CId has a bigger role this time around.

While I understand the desire to move Kingdom Hearts beyond Final Fantasy, the series are interlinked, and a lot of us have gotten attached to the iterations we've seen in KH games. Cid's absence feels more notable than some characters' because of how integral he was in giving Sora and his friends help with the Gummi Ship.

1 Squall From Final Fantasy 8

Image via Square Enix

Squall (or Leon, as he prefers to be called in Kingdom Hearts) from Final Fantasy 8 makes the most sense to return in Kingdom Hearts 4. The dude who loves to brood became a mentor for Sora in the first game, and fighting alongside him in KH2 was a highlight of that game. Like Cid, Squall was absent in Kingdom Hearts 3 before showing up in the DLC, so it'd be really nice to see him have a bigger role in KH4.

In many ways, Squall feels more like a Kingdom Hearts character than a Final Fantasy one, mostly because of how important he's been to the various KH games over the years. Having him missing in KH3 felt like a major sleight, so Square Enix could rectify this by giving him a larger role in Kingdom Hearts 4, and if he could fight alongside Sora again, that'd be even cooler.

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