Disney has announced an animated Kingdom Hearts series, an anime adaptation of the popular video games franchise, for release on Disney+ and Disney Channel, while Kingdom Hearts IV is set to launch in late 2027.
The announcements were made during the Disney entertainment showcase panel at D23 on Friday. The event confirmed that the anime is in development but did not reveal the studio producing the series or its release date.
Disney is developing the series in partnership with game creator Tetsuya Nomura and the creative team at Square Enix, according to Deadline. The series will reimagine the franchise with a new story designed to expand the Kingdom Hearts universe.
The same panel also confirmed that Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts IV will launch in late 2027. The game will feature a word based on Pixar’s Coco, with actor Benjamin Bratt reprising his role as Ernesto de la Cruz.
Kingdom Hearts IV will launch simultaneously on Playstation 5, Xbox One Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC through the microsoft store, steam and Epic Game Store.
The announcements come as Disney games highlight the commercial strength of the franchise. Disney games stated on Thursday the Kingdom Hearts is among nine billion-dollar game franchises for the company.
Fans had an opportunity to learn more about the franchise during the deep dive into Kingdom Hearts panel at D23 on Saturday at 4:30 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) PDT, or 7:30 pm (Eastern Daylight Time) EDT. The panel also livestreamed on the official Kingdom Hearts Youtube channel and the Game Awards Youtube channel.
Square Enix first announced Kingdom Hearts IV and Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link in April 2022. The company cancelled development of Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link in May 2025, while Kingdom Hearts IV received a new trailer in June.
The franchise has continued to expand across games and other media. Square Enix released Kingdom Hearts III in January 2019 for Playstation 4 and Xbox One, with the game becoming the fastest-selling title in the franchise after shipping more than five million copies worldwide, including digital sales, by February 2019. Its Re Mind downloadable content (DLC) followed in January 2020.
The series also includes mobile titles, rhythm-action games, manga and light novel adaptations. With the upcoming anime and Kingdom Hearts IV, the franchise is now set to enter another major phase of its long-running story.
