Sora, Goofy, Donald, and the rest of the Kingdom Hearts gang could be appearing back on our screens in just a few short weeks, if you can believe it or not.
Disney’s yearly convention, D23, is returning to Anaheim, California from Aug. 14 to 16, and Kingdom Hearts has been confirmed to appear in the form of a special panel called “DEEP DIVE into KINGDOM HEARTS.”
“Join us for a journey through light and darkness as we commemorate 25 years of KINGDOM HEARTS,” Disney announced today. “Discover how this saga united Disney, Pixar, and Square Enix, with insights from the creative minds, character voices, and more behind the magic.”
That’s…not much to go off of, but official confirmation that the franchise will be featured as part of Disney’s big, yearly expo is awesome nonetheless, especially since the series loves to take long hiatuses without any new information to get excited about. It will be appearing alongside other massive IP such as Marvel, Star Wars, The Simpsons, The Muppets, Bluey, and all sorts of other iconic entities that Disney has started or bought up over the years.
Kingdom Hearts 4 was originally confirmed as part of the franchise’s 20th anniversary back in 2022, but it went quiet for about four years up until last month’s Nintendo Direct showcase where it popped up alongside news of the other games in the series coming to Switch 2.
It’s now been over seven years since the launch of Kingdom Hearts 3, and I have to admit something: although I loved the first few games in the series (Birth By Sleep on the PSP is my personal favorite), I never quite got around to starting KH3. I really don’t know why, either. But if KH4 continues to look and sound exciting, I may have no choice but to fire it up.
To be honest, though, I wouldn’t expect too much from the D23 panel. Maybe some concept art or something will be shown off, or a short teaser, but I think the focus will be on the franchise’s history in the past rather than what’s coming next. Still, there’s reason to be excited, especially compared to the complete lack of info the fans have had this decade.
