Kingdom Hearts at 25: Kingdom Hearts 4 Trailer Breakdown and Remembering Hayden Panettiere
So much has happened this past week regarding Kingdom Hearts including a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4. Let’s jump right in!
On August 14, 2026, Disney dropped a mintue and a half trailer of Kingdom Hearts IV. The trailer reveals Coco will be the one of the new worlds players and Sora will be exploring along with Quadratum. Along with the trailer, Disney announced Kingdom Hearts will be adapted into an animated series, Kingdom Hearts: The series, which will be featured on Disney+ and the Disney Channel. Developed in partnership between Disney and Square Enix, the series will feature a brand new story that will expand the series’ lore.
On August 16, Khleo Thomas hosted “DEEP DIVE Into KINGDOM HEARTS” in which fans celebrated the 25th anniversary of the series. The 2-part panel showcased special guests who have all played an essential role in creating Kingdom Hearts. The first half of the panel featured the series creators, Nana Gadd, Director of Product Development at Disney & Pixar Games, and Tai Yasue, Co-director of Kingdom Hearts IV. Fans were treated to a surprise with series’ creator Tetsuya Nomura appearing on stage. When asked about the trailer that dropped the day before, Nomura revealed the trailer that dropped yesterday was actually cuts from the full length 4-minute trailer that was later shown in the panel.
In the second half of the panel, Creative Director for Disney Character Voices Renée Johnson was brought onto the stage along with two very special guests, Haley Joel Osment (Sora’s ENG VA) and David Gallagher (Riku’s ENG VA). Renée gave fans insight into the process of localizing and voicing the Kingdom Hearts series from Japanese to English. Another surprise guest appeared in the middle of the panel, and it was Sora’s Japanese VA, Miyu Irino, who appeared via a recorded video message recalling his memories playing as Sora at 12 or 13 years old.
One of the craziest facts dropped during the panel was that, after 25 years of recording their lines as Sora and Riku, Haley and David never, EVER, recorded their lines together. Fans were treated to a live reading at the end of the panel of both VAs performing together, performing their lines from the end of Kingdom Hearts 2.
Kingdom Hearts IV D23 Full Trailer Breakdown
Now to break down the newest Kingdom Hearts IV trailer from D23! We’re just going to go over the new footage shown in this trailer.
The trailer opens up an extended scene of . One scene that stands out is the shot of a billboard of Ernesto de la Cruz’s “Sunrise Spectacular” event. Does this mean players will face off against villains from different movies again like in KH I and KH II? The trailor also shows off gameplay where Sora teams up with Hector and Miguel to battle Heartless.
The next scene shows a figure in a black cloak standing in a field of dandelions. This figure could be The Master of Masters, signifying this is the beginning of The Lost Master Arc.
We see Sora and Strelitzia on the street holding their phone. Sora stated “They’re calling for Dandelion Dispath.” and we are shown military ships flying over head going to face a hoard of Heartless attacking the city. Maybe in the game, Sora will be explore distorations or outbreaks throughout Quadratum alongside Vali and Strelitzia?
Next, we see King Mickey researching in a library in Scala ad Caelum. While researching, a mysterious book opens up on the shelf with ancient writing on the pages. The book releases a blinding light before magically transporting Mickey into a strange paper world. Could this mysterious book be the fabled Book of Prophecies the Master of Masters wrote ages ago?
The next scene shows Donald and Goofy meeting Hades from Hercules to ask if Sora appeared in the Underworld. However, Hades informed them that Sora was not in the underworld. The next cut shows some gameplay in which players will be able to play as Donald and Goofy exploring The Underworld and fighting Heartless together. This would be the first time in the series that the two will be fighting without Sora. The two also appear in the Land of the Dead, they will be hopping through worlds as well, trying to find any sign of Sora.
So far, it appears that KH V’s story and gameplay will be split into 3 parts: Sora in Quadratum, Donald and Goofy exploring through different worlds, and Mickey exploring Scala ad Calem. Sora sees images of Donald and Goofy before him, and he sounds confused, like he has no idea who they are. This implies Sora may have lost his memories after landing in Quadratum. This ties back to Coco being the first world introduced in which the original movie dealt with the theme of remembrance, meaning Sora will be struggling to remember his world and his friends.
Young Xehanort makes an appearance in this trailer. He is standing in the rain and is approached by another figure in a black coat, who turned out to be Xigbar (also known as Luxu), as he referred to him as “an old coot”. How he ended up in Quadratum is unclear, but it seems he still has plans for Xehanort. This also means we will see more of Xigbar performing his role as a Lost Foreteller and seeing how the ancient past will relate to the unreality of Quadratum.
We finally get the name of the mysterious man in the white and purple coat. Sora called his name out in a battle against the Heartless calling him, “Sigurd.” In Kingdom Hearts Union χ, Siguard was an inhabitant of Scala ad Caelum who meets Brain after Brain escaped to the past from the destruction of Daybreak Town. He belonged to a group that honored Ephemer, the founder of Scala ad Caelum and one of the chosen Dandelions set to embark into the new world after the Keyblade War. Sigurd actually appeared in the leaked trailer for Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link. Missing Link was supposed to serve as, well the link, to the events between Kingdom Hearts Union χ and Kingdom Hearts Dark Road in which players would have explored Scala ad Caelum. Now that the game is scrapped, it will be interesting to see how Nomura and Square Enix implement the scrapped project’s lore into KH IV‘s story.
At the end of the trailer, Riku finally appears in Quadratum and faces off against the Heartless along side Sora. However, will Sora remember him?
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention! In the panel, Nomura stated that Maleficent will be playing ” a very important role” in KH IV as she searches for the Master of Masters’ Black Box and the Book of Prophecies.
Hayden Panettiere
Amid all this exciting news, the KH community also said goodbye to someone who helped shape it. On August 16, actress and singer Hayden Panettiere tragically passed away at theage of 36. She was the original voice for Kairin in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. She also voiced Xion in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. She played in many television shows such as Claire Bennet in the NBC superhero series Heroes and Juliette Barnes in the ABC/CMT musical drama Nashville. She also starred in many films like Remember The Titans and Scream 4. Alyson Stoner, who succeded Hayden in voicing Kairi in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts III, shared an emotional video on Instagram paying tribue to the late actress.
Rest in freedom in the sky, Hayden…
