Final Fantasy 16 quietly features one of beloved actor Stephen Critchlow's last performances.
Upon finishing Final Fantasy 16 earlier, I'm greeted with a metric tonne of credits. One credit, in particular, caught my eye, though: under credits for the lovable Byron Rosfield, uncle of protagonist Clive Rosfield, there are two actors attributed to the English voice of Byron.
One is the late Stephen Critchlow, who sadly passed away in 2021, while the other is fellow English actor Ewan Bailey. This raised the possibility of Critchlow having passed away during the production of Final Fantasy 16, considering motion capture and voice recording took place over three years, and Bailey is also listed as the English voice of Byron Rosfield.
If Byron was recast to Bailey after Critchlow passed away, which it certainly looks like, it seems as though Final Fantasy 16 might be one of Stephen Critchlow's last performances. As the Reddit post points out below, there's even an 'In Memoriam' section in Final Fantasy 16's credits, where Critchlow appears.
The saddest part of the game :(from r/FFXVI
Critchlow was already widely beloved in Final Fantasy circles for his brilliant performance of Count Edmont de Fortempts in Final Fantasy 14. When Critchlow passed away in 2021, players all over the world gathered at Fortemps manner to pay their respects to the charismatic actor.
We even spoke to one friend of Critchlow who spent 194 hours playing through Final Fantasy 14 to hear his voice again. The friend, fellow actor Robert Harper, performed with Critchlow in the 1990s and rallied players for a vigil in memory of Critchlow on of the one-year anniversary of his passing in September 2022.
Final Fantasy 16 could well be one of Critchlow's final performances, and it's fitting that he plays another widely-loved character in the new Square Enix game.
Read our Final Fantasy 16 review to see what we made of the latest game in Square Enix's historic franchise.
