New actors coming into sequels or new entries in games (or any media, for that matter) aren't expected to know an encyclopedia of information related to the role they're auditioning for. Obviously, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a special case for games. From a development perspective, it's difficult to translate an early 3D JRPG into a big budget, high fidelity, AAA JRPG with basically insurmountable expectations from fans of the original game. That same anxiety or apprehension can be applied to the voice cast of a game like that, as the characters of an iconic JRPG are oftentimes held to a pretty high standard of portrayal, especially for Final Fantasy 7.
Embodying one of the most iconic female leads in games, who also happens to be one of the most iconic video game characters altogether, Briana White understood these expectations quite well. In an interview with Game Rant, White talked about her experiencing auditioning, preparing, and embodying the role of Aerith in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, along with any and all challenges involved with that process. Aerith had been voiced previously, whether it was examples like Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children or Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, but none were on par with voicing the character in her purest form. White nailed it, though not without attacking a steep learning curve.
Aerith's Transformation in Final Fantasy 7 Remake
The voices and modern portrayals of Final Fantasy 7 characters had been introduced before, in examples like Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, a CGI film where many of the iconic characters were voiced for the first time. Characters like Barret Wallace and Tifa Lockhart were fully-voiced for the first time in Advent Children, as well as some characters like Cloud Strife had been voiced for the first time in other properties like Kingdom Hearts. Regardless, Advent Children was the first time proper voices were given to the iconic Final Fantasy characters, but in the context of a sequel several years after the first game. Final Fantasy 7 Remake was a completely different context.
Avoiding spoilers, multiple characters saw big changes in personality and style in the years since Final Fantasy 7 first released. Aerith Gainsborough in particular had evolved in significant ways, both directly and subtly, which is something Briana White understood very well when taking on the role.
"Without spoiling anything, Aerith has a particular legacy. There's no escaping that legacy, the second that you Google her, right?... I kind of came into the experience, the very first few recording sessions, with this version of Aerith as her character has transformed through time. Not how she was when it all began, not where her character starts."
For voice actors, writers, and even animators to some extent, there's potentially more creative leeway adapting iconic characters into future versions of themselves. Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children significantly changed the looks and, to some extent, the personalities of many of the original game's characters. Final Fantasy 7 Remake, on the other hand, certainly can and has changed several characters like Jessie Raspberry and the Avalanche crew. However, it's the main party of the original Final Fantasy 7 that's the hardest to adapt into modern gaming sensibilities.
"We actually had to pause the recording session for a little bit and have a really good conversation; me, the director, and the writer, they had to kind of explain to me that this is where Aerith's story begins... She doesn't yet know where she's going. No character does."
White Understood Aerith's Reputation More Than Anything
For Aerith, the expectations were at a fever pitch prior to Final Fantasy 7 Remake. In the wake of rumors and news that plot details, character arcs, and various other aspects of the original would change, fans were cautiously optimistic of the game prior to release. However, White's familiarity with games and the Final Fantasy community informed her deeply on her portrayal of the character.
"I never played Final Fantasy 7 when it came out. I was a Nintendo girl back in the day, and so I played a lot of the Zelda franchise, I had played Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask... Fast-forward, my first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy 14, which is obviously really different because it’s an MMO, but I obviously fell in love with it. I started playing right after Heavensward came out, and that game just struck me right in the heart, pulled me in, and sucked the life out of me. I have something like 1200 hours in that game."
Many Final Fantasy fans, as well as the more hardcore Final Fantasy 7 fans, came to enjoy and praise White's performance in Final Fantasy 7 Remake as Aerith. That much was evident with the support of her Strange Rebel Gaming content creation brand, where she's currently uploading her livestreamed playthrough of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, among her other content. Given that Aerith, and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake altogether were largely kept under tight lips, this widespread praise coming to White's portrayal has been a long time coming.
"All I can say is, it’s a good thing that I knew video games, because I’m glad I was able to know what I was auditioning for. Even the audition was under NDA, so I knew, as soon as I got that NDA and I read it over and I signed it, I knew that if I didn’t book this, I would never be able to tell anyone that I even auditioned for it. And I don’t know if that was part of my motivation for working so hard for that audition."
Briana White streams on Twitch as Strange Rebel Gaming, as well as uploads videos on YouTube.