Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will be the follow up to Final Fantasy 7 Remake, in a planned trilogy, and its producer Yoshinori Kitase and creative director Tetsuya Nomura have been giving rounds of interviews revealing more details that we're still gathering.
One of them is about Red XIII, who is one of the more memorable characters in the Final Fantasy series, since he is the only playable quadrupedal character so far. Although Final Fantasy 10's Kimahri Ronso shares a passing resemblance, Red XIII is a more beastly creation and Nomura is credited as his designer. In an interview with Japanese publication Dengeki Online, it's been confirmed that Red XIII will make a playable return in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
In the article, the interviewer says, "In FFVII Rebirth, Red XIII is also expected to be a playable character, so expectations are high for this as well." To which Nomura replies: "Please look forward to it" and thus confirming the character's playable status and inclusion in the forthcoming Rebirth. Thanks to Google translate for the English.
Elsewhere, Nomura is asked whether the 3D models of main characters such as Cloud and Barrett have changed from Remake to Rebirth. Nomura says he doesn't think anything has changed (for Cloud or Barrett), but a character from a DLC has been. "Yuffie's model has been tweaked from 'FFVII Remake Intergrade', and some of the characters have been adjusted," Nomura said, suggesting some others could have new 3D models in this follow up.
Red XIII, whose real name is Nanaki, is a red leonine character although he does resemble a wolf as well except the end of his tail is alight with fire. While his species is never named, it is known that he belongs to a long-lived race, and he is aged 48 in the original FF7 but which is only equivalent to a human teenager by the standards of his species.
He appears in Final Fantasy 7 Remake as a non-playable character, fairly late in the game. But now players can look forward to controlling the lion-wolf-like creature in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Elsewhere, we've learned that the follow up's development is going "astonishingly" fast thanks to the PS5.