Kingdom Hearts: The Series Is The "First Step" In A New Direction

Despite Kingdom Hearts 4 Setting Up The End Of Sora's Story, Disney Clearly Has Long-Term Plans For The Series Key art provided by Disney. Published Aug 21, 2026, 7:29 AM EDT George is the Lead News Editor for TheGamer, and has been working in the industry since 2021 after graduating from the University of South Wales with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He has also previously written for RPG Site, WhatCulture, and PlayStation Lifestyle. George is an expert on platformers, action games, and fighters, but tends to play as many releases as possible. This hands-on experience lets him dive into gaming communities and follow the latest trends. Some of the games George has extensively covered first-hand include Dead Rising, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Ninja Gaiden 4. Sign in to your TheGamer account Nana Gadd, director of games at Disney Japan's Disney & Pixar Games, has revealed that Kingdom Hearts: The Series is the “first step” in a new direction for the franchise after Kingdom Hearts 4. Last year, Kingdom Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura shared some bittersweet news, as he revealed that Kingdom Hearts 4 was made with the intent to start working towards the end of the series, hopefully in time for him to retire. This worried a lot of fans, who took his words to mean that Kingdom Hearts as a whole was ending. While I think it was always clear that Nomura was referring to Sora’s story and the current arc spanning more than 10 games, it was still a little sad to think of any kind of end to Kingdom Hearts. Well, it seems like we don’t have to worry about that quite as much, as Disney and Nomura clearly have a lot in store for the future of the series. Disney & Pixar Games Lead Has “Many Things” To Achieve With Kingdom Hearts Yet The Animated Series Is Just The Start Last week at D23’s Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts panel, Tetsuya Nomura mentioned that, while he’s happy about the series’ 25th anniversary next year, he’s already looking ahead to the 30th anniversary in 2032. That hinted at more long-term plans for Kingdom Hearts past the fourth game next year, and that’s been doubled down on in a recent interview. If Kingdom Hearts 4 is the beginning of the end of Sora's story, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next game after it is aiming for the 30th anniversary. As translated by Kingdom Hearts Insider, 4Gamer had the chance to chat with the director of games at Disney Japan's Disney & Pixar Games, Nana Gadd, after the D23 showcase. Alongside sharing that Coco’s reveal was purposefully done to surprise fans as the Heartless popped up to confirm it was Kingdom Hearts, Gadd talked about the future of the series as a whole. When asked about Kingdom Hearts: The Series, Gadd noted that even after 25 years of Kingdom Hearts, there are still “many things we want to achieve”, and that the animated series is the “first step in that direction”. This suggests that the Kingdom Hearts “ecosystem” is a priority for Disney and is already being planned out beyond Kingdom Hearts 4 and the animated series. The specific mention of “direction” calls to mind a comment Nomura made at the Kingdom Hearts Second Breath concert in 2023, where he said something had “determined the direction” of the series, which now seems as if he was referring to the anime. Whatever the case, Kingdom Hearts clearly isn’t going anywhere any time soon.