Quick answer: As of 2026-09-21 there are exactly three upcoming characters HoYoverse has actually named: Roxy (S-Rank, Wind, Stun — confirmed in the Version 3.2 update announcement), Phoenix Reffaella and Severian Lowell (both revealed as Agent Records on 2026-09-12, with no version, no Attribute and no Specialty announced). Every other name on those lists is beta datamine: no other agent has an Agent Record post or an official announcement. But HoYoverse does leak its own schedule, legally: across the 26 agents that have both a dated Agent Record and a dated debut, the gap between reveal and playable splits by banner phase — Phase 1 agents: 33 to 53 days, median 41. Phase 2 agents: 58 to 73 days, median 60.5. Across those 26 measured cases the two bands have not overlapped once. Feed Phoenix and Severian into that and the window falls out at 2026-10-21 for the Phase 1 slot and around 2026-11-11 for the Phase 2 slot — the second landing on 60 days, the most repeated Phase 2 gap in the whole dataset.
This guide covers Version 3.2 "Their Secret Histories", live since 2026-09-09 (06:00, UTC+8). HoYoverse states the version length outright in the update announcement: "Version 3.2 will run for 42 days, ending on 2026/10/21 06:00 (UTC+8)." Every fact labelled confirmed below is quoted from HoYoverse's own posts, every inferred date is labelled as one, and a section at the end lists what nobody knows yet — including us.
Who are the confirmed upcoming characters in Zenless Zone Zero right now?
Three, and the list is shorter than it looks because most sites pad it with beta names.
Roxy is the only one with a confirmed rarity and kit. The Version 3.2 update announcement lists her under New Agents as "S-Rank Agent Roxy (Wind - Stun)", with the line beneath stating she can be obtained through the Cindernight Respite Signal Search. Her full name on the Agent Record is Roxy Ifrita Pryce, and her faction is the Roscaelifer Flint Workshop. Her Agent Record posted 2026-08-07.
Phoenix Reffaella and Severian Lowell were revealed on 2026-09-12 as part of the Season 3 character reveals. HoYoverse ships every Agent Record as a pair — a text post on the hour and a companion video post five minutes later — so this was four posts: Phoenix at 11:00 and Severian at 12:00, an hour apart, plus matching voice-actor announcements. Phoenix belongs to the Krampus Compliance Authority; Severian is Public Security Commissioner under the Metropolitan Order Division, and his record opens with the line HoYoverse chose to introduce him with:
"Public Security Commissioner, Severian Lowell. No need for pleasantries — what's the situation?"
— Severian Lowell, official Agent Record text post, HoYoLAB, 2026-09-12 12:00 (UTC+8)
What HoYoverse published: names, factions, art, and voice cast. What HoYoverse did not publish: rarity, Attribute, Specialty, version, or release date.
That gap is the reason this page exists. You can wait for the announcement, or date them from HoYoverse's own publishing record for every agent released since Version 2.0 — which is what the rest of this article does.
Where does Roxy fit in the upcoming list?
Roxy is Version 3.2 Phase 2, and her date is effectively already public even though no notice has said it directly. The official V3.2 Limited-Time Channels (Phase I) notice sets the Phase 1 end time at 2026/09/30 11:59 (server time), and in both Version 3.0 and Version 3.1 the Phase 2 channels opened at 12:00 server time on the same day, one minute later, with no gap. We broke the full timestamp chain down in ZZZ Roxy Release Date, and the confirmed Phase 1 side of the same schedule is in ZZZ 3.2 Banners.
One caveat up front, and it is the strongest argument against our own table: Roxy is not in the 26-agent dataset below, because her debut has not happened yet. If she opens on 2026-09-30 as the Phase I end timestamp implies, her reveal-to-release gap lands at 54 days — one day above the longest Phase 1 gap on record and four days below the current Phase 2 floor — which would pull the Phase 2 band down to 54 and narrow the space between the two clusters to a single day without making them overlap. Note the hedge. As of 2026-09-21 the V3.2 Limited-Time Channels (Phase II) notice still has not been published. HoYoverse has posted that notice exactly two days before the Phase 2 switch in nine of the last ten versions — Version 2.4 is the lone exception, at one day — which puts this one around 2026-09-28. Treat what follows as a strong regularity in HoYoverse's publishing habits, not a law.
How long does a ZZZ agent take to go from reveal to playable?
HoYoverse posts a dated Agent Record for every new agent, and debut dates are dated too. Line up every agent released since Version 2.0 — 26 agents across 12 versions — and the spread turns out not to be random at all.
Across those 26 agents, each with a dated Agent Record and a dated debut, the mean gap is 50.5 days and the median is 49.5. Both numbers are the least useful in the set, because the distribution is not one hump — it is two, and they sort by which banner phase the agent opens on (HoYoverse calls these channels Signal Searches). At 50.5 days the average sits near the top of the Phase 1 band, above 14 of the 16 Phase 1 agents and below every single Phase 2 agent, so it overstates the wait for a version-opening agent and badly understates it for a mid-version one.
| Banner phase | Agents measured | Reveal-to-release gap | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 (opens with the version) | 16 | 33 to 53 days | 41 days |
| Phase 2 (opens mid-version) | 10 | 58 to 73 days | 60.5 days |
Among those 26 there is not one observation between 54 and 57 days. The shortest Phase 1 gap is Claret at 33 days; the longest is Lucia and Komano Manato at 53. The shortest Phase 2 gap is Alice Thymefield at 58; the longest is Yidhari at 73.
The mechanism is simple. HoYoverse reveals a version's agents in a single batch, usually over one or two days, roughly six weeks before the version starts. Phase 1 agents go live on day one of that version. Phase 2 agents go live around three weeks later — the Phase 2 offset has been 19 to 26 days after version start across all ten cases, and exactly 21 days in six of them. The reveal batch is shared; the release is staggered. That stagger is the second hump.
So when do Phoenix Reffaella and Severian Lowell release?
Both Agent Records posted 2026-09-12. Now add the one other confirmed number: Version 3.2 ends 2026/10/21 06:00 (UTC+8), which is when the next version is due to start. Every ZZZ version so far has handed straight off to the next, and the last three transitions (2.8 to 3.0, 3.0 to 3.1, 3.1 to 3.2) each ran exactly 42 days, with HoYoverse stating in its own 3.2 notice that the version "will run for 42 days". Earlier 2.x versions ranged from 34 to 50 days, so treat 42 as the current cadence rather than a rule.
A 2026-10-21 Phase 1 debut is a 39-day gap. That sits comfortably inside the 33-to-53 Phase 1 band, two days under the 41-day median, and four Phase 1 agents have already shipped on a 38-to-40-day gap.
A Phase 2 slot at the usual 21-day offset lands on 2026-11-11, a 60-day gap. Sixty is the single most repeated Phase 2 value in the dataset — three of the ten cases landed on it exactly — and it sits half a day under the 60.5-day Phase 2 median.
Neither number asks the pattern to stretch: both sit at the densest part of their band rather than out on a tail. To be explicit: HoYoverse has not announced a start date, a version name or a banner schedule for whatever follows 3.2, and has not said either of these agents belongs to it. These dates are derived from 26 prior cases — a planning window, not a promise.
Which of the two comes first?
The same 26 records carry a second pattern, cleaner than the first: in all 10 versions that introduced a new Phase 2 agent, the last Agent Record posted in that version's reveal batch was the Phase 2 agent. Ten of ten. The ten are Versions 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 3.0 and 3.1 — every version since 2.0 except 2.5, which had no new Phase 2 agent to sort.
Five of the ten, including the tightest ones:
- Yixuan and Pan Yinhu on 2025-04-26, Ju Fufu the following day. Ju Fufu took Phase 2.
- Lucia 10:00 and Komano Manato 10:30, Yidhari the next day. Yidhari took Phase 2.
- Sunna, then Aria two hours later the same day. Aria took Phase 2.
- Pyrois, then Velina, then Norma thirty minutes after Velina. Norma took Phase 2.
- Remielle 10:00 and Sigrid 12:00. Sigrid took Phase 2.
The order holds whether the gap between records is a full day or thirty minutes, which is what makes it useful on a batch posted an hour apart.
Version 3.2 is outside that count of ten, because Roxy has not debuted and so is not in the measured set — but it is lining up identically. Claret's record posted 12:00 on 2026-08-07 and Roxy's at 18:00 the same evening; Claret took Phase 1, and Roxy's channel is due when Phase 1 closes on 2026-09-30.
On 2026-09-12 the Phoenix Reffaella record posted at 11:00 and the Severian Lowell record at 12:00. Every prior case points the same way: Phoenix first, Severian second.
One caveat. Version 2.5 introduced Zhao and Ye Shunguang, both Phase 1 and no new Phase 2 agent at all, and Version 3.0 shipped three agents rather than two. A two-record batch does not guarantee a one-per-phase split; it has simply never split the other way.
Is a Honkai: Star Rail character coming to ZZZ?
The most-asked question in the community right now, and the real answer is smaller than the hype around it.
What is first-party: on 2026-07-17 the official ZZZ channels posted "Zenless Zone Zero × Honkai: Star Rail Crossover Confirmed!" and stated that "the Zenless Zone Zero × Honkai: Star Rail crossover event will officially begin in Winter 2026." On 2026-08-14 the Honkai: Star Rail side posted its own confirmation, phrased as "Friends from that world will be joining the cosmic trailblazing adventure."
Read the two notices side by side and they point in opposite directions. The ZZZ-side post frames it as Star Rail content arriving in New Eridu, joking that the team is "temporarily unable to fix the bug where 'Pom-Pomboo' suddenly appeared on Sixth Street" and is launching the crossover to celebrate. The Star Rail-side post frames it the other way, as ZZZ characters joining the Trailblazing adventure.
What neither post does is announce a Honkai: Star Rail character joining the playable ZZZ roster. No ZZZ-side collaboration agent has been named, and the only Star Rail-flavoured thing placed in New Eridu so far is Pom-Pomboo on Sixth Street. We read the body of all 179 posts on the official ZZZ news feed dated 2026-07-17 to 2026-09-21: exactly one of them mentions Honkai: Star Rail at all, and it is that original announcement. Nine weeks, zero ZZZ-side names. So the crossover is real and dated to Winter 2026, and it adds nothing confirmed to this list.
What is not confirmed yet
The next version itself. No start date, no version name, no livestream date, no banner list. The 2026-10-21 figure above is an end-of-3.2 timestamp, not an announcement of what follows.
Phoenix and Severian's kits. No rarity, no Attribute, no Specialty, no faction bonus, no signature W-Engine. Anyone publishing an Electric or Ether tag on either agent today is reading a beta build, not an announcement. A lot of the reveal-thread discussion was already arguing about Attribute saturation on the current roster — that argument has nothing to measure yet either.
Whether the next version ships only two new agents. Two Agent Records does not cap a version — Version 3.0 shipped three new agents across two consecutive days.
Any collaboration agent for ZZZ. See above. Confirmed event, unconfirmed roster impact.
Every other name on the internet's upcoming list. If it has no Agent Record post and no mention in an official announcement, it is datamine. That includes names trending on social right now.
How to prepare before the next banners open
While the dates are soft, the useful move is arithmetic, not speculation. If the window above holds, a Phase 1 pull on 2026-10-21 and a Phase 2 pull on 2026-11-11 are three weeks apart — the standard spacing. Work backwards from your current pity count and your Polychrome income rather than from a hype cycle: our ZZZ Pity System guide covers the real guarantee on every channel, including the two that behave differently from the Agent channel.
Whether either unknown agent is worth saving for is unanswerable today, because no kit exists publicly. The better question is whether your current roster has a hole. Check your comp against ZZZ Best Teams and the current rankings in the ZZZ Tier List, and save for the slot you are actually missing rather than for a silhouette.
Grinding another live-service game while you bank Polychromes? Timesaver runs carries, currency and progression services across its live game catalogue.
FAQ
How many upcoming characters does ZZZ have confirmed right now? Three: Roxy, Phoenix Reffaella and Severian Lowell. Roxy is fully specced (S-Rank, Wind, Stun) in the Version 3.2 update announcement. Phoenix and Severian have names, factions, art and voice cast only.
When do Phoenix and Severian release in Zenless Zone Zero? Not announced. Derived from 26 prior agents, the likely window is 2026-10-21 for the Phase 1 slot and around 2026-11-11 for the Phase 2 slot, with Phoenix the more likely Phase 1 agent based on reveal order. HoYoverse has confirmed none of this.
What Attribute and Specialty are Phoenix and Severian? Unannounced. Any current claim is from a beta build, not from HoYoverse.
Is Severian related to Seth? They share a surname, and that much is first-party: the Agent Record names him Severian Lowell, and Seth Lowell has been playable since 2024-09-04. His faction card reads Metropolitan Order Division under the New Eridu Public Security banner, the same organisation Seth serves. HoYoverse has not published a family relationship or his species — the elder-brother detail circulating this week comes from wiki entries for an unreleased agent, not from an announcement.
How long before a new ZZZ agent is playable after the reveal? Between 33 and 53 days if the agent opens the version, median 41, and between 58 and 73 days if the agent takes the mid-version Phase 2 slot, median 60.5. Quoting a single average across both is misleading: the two bands do not overlap, and the overall 50.5-day figure sits near the top of the Phase 1 band while still falling below every Phase 2 agent, so it is wrong in both directions at once.
Is a Honkai: Star Rail unit becoming a playable ZZZ agent? Not announced. The crossover is confirmed and dated Winter 2026, and the ZZZ-side notice does describe Star Rail content arriving in New Eridu — but it names only Pom-Pomboo on Sixth Street, not a playable agent. No Honkai: Star Rail character has been announced for the ZZZ roster.
Where does HoYoverse announce new agents first? The Agent Record posts on the official HoYoLAB channel, mirrored to the official social accounts as Character Reveals. They arrive roughly six weeks before the version and are the first confirmed appearance of any new agent.
Accurate as of 2026-09-21, Version 3.2 "Their Secret Histories". All confirmed details are sourced from HoYoverse's official Version 3.2 update announcement, the V3.2 Limited-Time Channels (Phase I) notice and the Agent Record posts on HoYoLAB. Release-window estimates are derived from 26 previously released agents and are clearly labelled as estimates throughout.
