Square Enix and Disney surprised fans at the D23 Expo with a batch of new news for the Kingdom Hearts franchise.
First up, a major reveal for confirming an all-new world inspired by Disney and Pixar’s beloved animated feature, Coco. The reveal trailer showcased the sprawling, vibrant world of the Land of the Dead, complete with glowing marigold bridges and towering skeleton-filled backdrops.
In this newly revealed world, Sora finds himself crossing the into the afterlife, where he quickly crosses paths with the film’s two leads, Miguel and Héctor. His form has changed to suit the world with a skeletal Day of the Dead. Sora joins Miguel on his quest to prove his musical heritage while helping Héctor secure his final remembrance. Combat was also shown off with Sora incorporating Miguel’s guitar-powered sonic bursts and Héctor’s nimble bone-tossing antics into vibrant team attacks. We also get the first new Keyblade form with a flower and guitar build perfectly suitable in the world of Coco.
Meanwhile, the trailer established a parallel story thread featuring Donald Duck and Goofy on their desperate cross world search to locate Sora following his sacrifice at the end of Kingdom Hearts III. The duo ventures deep into Olympus’s Underworld to confront Hades, suspecting that Sora may have crossed over into the realm of departed souls. Hades grumpily consults his Underworld ledger and confirms the vital news: Sora is not dead. Hades makes it abundantly clear that Sora’s soul never entered his realm, allowing them to find him elsewhere.
We also see more of the ‘realistic’ world teased at the previous Kingdom Hearts IV trailer at the Nintendo Director earlier this year and the allies he makes there as he fights the emerging Heartless in that world. Though is appears his memories of Goofy and Donald are jumbled as he faints when he sees them.
The trailer closes with a promise of a Late 2027 release date, though Kingdom Hearts is infamous for delays so I’ll hold off booking time off just yet.
TV Series In Development
Capping off the presentation, Disney also revealed that Kingdom Hearts is officially making the jump to television as an original anime series heading to Disney+ and Disney Channel. Developed in close collaboration with franchise creator Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix, the adaptation aims to reimagine Sora’s sprawling journey with fresh take while translating the series’ distinct blend of Disney magic and Japanese role-playing style to the small screen.
Not much else was revealed beyond the teaser image of a young man holding a keyblade, a world apart from the way Sora was depicted in the games.
