It may or may not be a device developers intend to use, but Tekken 8's Katsuhiro Harada revealed an interesting avenue he and his team could easily use for introducing new characters into their franchise.

One of Tekken's newest characters, Reina, was previously revealed to be one of Heihachi Mishima's increasing number of offspring. With Heihachi joining Tekken 8 as DLC this week, an artistic fan drew a fun piece of art featuring a father/daughter reunion, and Harada came out of seemingly nowhere with a comment on X that has us intrigued for more.

Heihachi has been at the center of the Tekken narrative since the very beginning, starting out as a protagonist but often serving as the franchise's most threatening antagonist. The Mishima family line has been a story pillar as well as generational conflict drives the plot forward at every other turn.

Kazuya, another Tekken staple since forever, is Heihachi's son. Lars, who was introduced back in Tekken 6, is also Heihachi's son as it was revealed that Mr. Mishima shacked up with an unknown Swedish woman. What's more, the virile villain adopted Lee Chaolan so he could be a rival to Kazuya growing up.

Now the aforementioned Reina has entered the picture in Tekken 8, and has seen quite the positive reception from fans. Here's the piece of fan art with the messaging from Harada that reveals there are more unnamed Heihachi offspring to be discovered:

Just as Capcom has used M. Bison's cloning laboratories as something of a conveyor belt for new character introductions, Bandai Namco may be setting up to continue to use Heichahi's 23 and Me results to further flesh out rosters.

Tekken 8 has only seen three DLC characters thus far (Heihachi himself being the third) and so it stands to reason that Harada and his team very well may be setting up for more family drama should they wish to introduce yet another combat-savvy sibling for Lee, Reina, Kazuya, and Lars to dispute inheritance with.

What do you think of this potential? Do you want to see more Heihachi kids join into the fray, or would you hope Bandai goes with other routes to bring in newcomers? Do you feel like Harada bringing this up in a fairly unprompted way is telling at all for his plans, or just a coincidence?