Kingdom Hearts has a big year coming up with its new animated Disney+ series and Kingdom Hearts IV finally launching in late 2027. Disney has confirmed that the franchise has made over a billion dollars since it began in 2002, and so logically you’d expect that it would want more Sora, Riku, and Kairi. However, given that Kingdom Hearts’ ongoing story has ostensibly been building up to a conclusion, is the news that Disney really wants to dive further into the series a good thing?
In an interview with 4Gamer (translated by GamesRadar+), Disney director of games Nana Gadd said that the company still has a lot it wants to do with Square Enix’s Final Fantasy and Disney crossover, and that it’s only just starting with the animated series.
“Even though Kingdom Hearts has been around for 25 years, there are so many things we want to do,” says Gadd. “The announcement of the animated series is truly just the first step.”
I love me some Kingdom Hearts, but given just how meticulously the series has been laying the tracks for its notoriously complex story to head to some kind of conclusion, the thought that Disney might see it as a well to constantly draw from makes me worry. It’s especially concerning when you consider how Disney has been running its IP into the ground with shoddy live-action remakes and the oversaturation of series like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars.
Translation:
“We butchered Star Wars beyond recognition, people are getting tired of the MCU, and no one likes our awful remakes of our beloved animated classics. Let’s see if we can mutilate Kingdom Hearts and destroy the last property of ours you hold dear.”
— 🛠️ Ⲋⲧⲅⲉⳋⲟⲛⲉ 𝖽ⲓ Ⲇⲅⲧⲉ 🛠️ (@LIOSketch) August 26, 2026
disney putting more money behind kingdom hearts? absolutely
disney having more creative control over kingdom hearts? please no
fund square, give nomura’s team the resources they need and let them cook. disney’s track record is exactly why they should have little creative input https://t.co/K8d3c2BGbJ
— cel @ ANYC 🗡️🗡️ (@celsomnus) August 26, 2026
“Kingdom Hearts the Anime, Kingdom Hearts the Movie, Kingdom Hearts the Gameshow that’s just Legends of the Hidden Temple, Kingdom Hearts the breakfast cereal, Kingdom Hearts the Coloring book, Kingdom Hearts the FLAMETHROWER,” a fan jokes on Reddit.
“Disney is about to do too much, aren’t they?” another asks.
“It’s giving me Star Wars vibes,” says a third. “Bloat ≠ good. I hope there’s more love for the franchise, but I hope it’s not exploited.”
Not all the speculation is bad, though. Could Kingdom Hearts get a proper fixed feature in a Disney park? A Sora and Riku meet-and-greet could be fun if they get actual actors to play them instead of just busting out the weird Sora costume they had someone running around in years ago.