Kingdom Hearts has captured the imagination of fans for both Disney and Square Enix for many years. The game series has appeared on various video game consoles, including the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PSP, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 3DS, and Mobile platforms. It has also been converted into a manga comic book series.
However, it seems as though we can expect a whole new medium for Kingdom Hearts in the future.
Television.
Rumors are swirling that Disney is hard at work developing a television series on its most successful video game franchise.
Sources with inside knowledge have reported that Disney is interested in a Kingdom Hearts series for its Disney+ streaming service. Before you dismiss this unnamed source, it should be noted that it was the same source which reported that Disney was developing a She-Hulk series and a live-action remake of Robin Hood. Both of these reports ended up being true.
Obviously, there is not a lot of information out there yet about this project, and neither Disney nor Square Enix have confirmed anything. Rumors indicate that the series would follow the same formula as the games. Sora, Donald, and Goofy would explore various worlds, fighting the Heartless. Each world would be a different Disney movie or property. It is unknown if the show would follow the plotline of the games or go in a completely different direction, plot-wise.
Kingdom Hearts is famous for having a sometimes difficult to follow story arc, so it would be interesting to see how Disney’s story tellers would adapt it for a television audience.
It is not clear how involved Square Enix and game director Tetsuya Nomura would be in the development of this series. They might not be involved at all. Of course, without Square, it is unlikely that Final Fantasy characters like Cloud, Squall, Aerith, Cid, and Auron would be involved in the story. These characters all played a major part in both Kingdom Hearts and its first numbered sequel game, Kingdom Hearts 2.
If Nomura is involved, the show would likely fall somewhere in the official canon of the games, rather than simply retelling their story. This is similar to the Netflix series based on The Witcher, which appears in canon aside both the books and games for the franchise.
It is likely that any Kingdom Hearts property would be an animated series. It would be interesting to see Disney attempt to duplicate the Japanese anime style, which worked well for Nickelodeon when creating the series Avatar: The Last Airbender and its follow up Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
