Lunafreya was created by director Hajime Tabata to replace another character, the similarly named Stella Nox Fleuret, during story rewrites between 2012 and 2014.

[11][12] During the transition from Versus XIII to XV during 2012 to 2014, which aimed to condense the story down into a single game rather than the planned series, the developers envisioned a different type of heroine which did not fit with Stella's original role.

[5] Tabata created Lunafreya as a replacement heroine for the rewritten story, allowing the team to work without previous character constraints.

[14] While Lunafreya was superficially similar and retained a connection to divine powers,[16][17] Stella's specific magical abilities were removed as they did not fit with the new character and reworked narrative.

To achieve this, the designers focused on the shape of her eyes and mouth, blending her appearance in Final Fantasy XV with that in the film prequel Kingsglaive (2016) so she could project an air of grace and strength even when standing still.

[22] The wedding dress she is meant to wear for her marriage to Noctis was created by English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood for her 2014/15 couture collection.

[19][24] An early concept for the ending was Lunafreya appearing in a divine form modelled after the logo to lend Noctis her power during the final battle.

[28] Lunafreya was used later as a model for the design of Aera Mirus Fleuret, an ancestress introduced in media relating the main antagonist Ardyn Izunia.

She forms an early connection with Noctis when her mother, Queen Sylva, cures him of an infection of Starscourge, a magical plague which threatens Eos with eternal night.

[27][31] She appears in the second episode of Brotherhood, interacting with Prompto Argentum by letter after he helps one of her dogs Pryna and encourages him to become a friend to Noctis.

[49] During the events of Kingsglaive, Lunafreya unsuccessfully attempts to reach Noctis and his father Regis, then becomes central to Niflheim's infiltration and eventual invasion of Lucis's capital Insomnia.

[50] Lunafreya was intended to be a playable character in Dawn of the Future, a series of downloadable content episodes portraying an alternate finale to the game.

[54] She was released as a recruitable character for Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, featuring abilities based on her actions in the main game.

Tabata defended the change as the best option, allowing fans to continue liking Stella and view her replacement as a new character without preconceptions or expectations.

[62] Alexa Ray Corriea took a different view towards Lunafreya's acceptance of a traditional female gender role in another pre-release article published by GameSpot.

[68] Commenting on new scenes added in the game's finale in Royal Edition, Jenni Lada of Siliconera praised Lunafreya's summoning of the Astrals to aid Noctis as a fulfillment of earlier mentions of her role in the world.

In his review of Kingsglaive, Wired's Matt Kamen was highly critical of its portrayal of female characters, citing Lunafreya as a stereotypical damsel-in-distress despite her screen presence and Headey's performance.

[70] Polygon's Ashley Oh described Lunafreya as "a delicate, sickly-looking hindrance [seeming to] negate any progress that other characters make" despite the film's attempts to portray her otherwise.

James Beckett of Anime News Network felt that Lunafreya's story, alongside that of Noctis, was the best part of the book despite inconsistent writing.

[73] RPGFan's Peter Triezenberg was less positive, citing her particularly amongst the novel's lead characters due to her inconsistent portrayal in both the book and the Final Fantasy XV universe as a whole.

[74] Alex Fuller of RPGamer enjoyed Lunafreya's development through her interactions with supporting character Solara, saying she "get some time to shine and have her motivations brought to the fore".

[76] Following Kazakh athlete Olga Rypakova's participation at the 2020 Summer Olympics, some fans on social media have compared her appearance to that of Lunafreya's.