Birthed from a marriage between a beloved JRPG series and iconic Disney characters,Kingdom Heartsis a strange but endearing adventure byFinal Fantasy’s own Square Enix. The crossover spawned several amazing games, as well as various spinoffs on tons of different platforms, before tying it all back together with the mainline releases. Many hardcore fans waited over a decade for the series' first saga to wrap up withKingdom Hearts 3, but even then there’s been little bread crumbs left in the game about the franchise continuing afterwards.
Now, it seems theKingdom Heartsfranchise is once again branching out to another platform: television. Several rumors have come out stating that aKingdom Heartsshow is being produced for the Disney Plus streaming platform. None of these reports and rumors have been confirmed by sources, but several similar rumors are now corroborating with one another. The ending toKingdom Hearts' Xehanort Saga was a long time coming, but assuming this purported TV series intends to continue the story afterKingdom Hearts 3, it wouldn’t be necessary even if the show is either a retelling or a canon sequel to the franchise.
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The Xehanort Saga is Over
Mainly, under the presumption thataKingdom Heartsshow on Disney Plus truly is a sequel, then it absolutely wouldn’t make sense for the franchise’s continuation to occur through a TV show. If a Disney Plus show is being written as a proper sequel or even an unrelated continuation, having the next narrative leap in theKingdom Heartsfranchise have its first outing on a Disney Plus show wouldn’t make sense.Kingdom Heartshas told every major story beat or continuation, save for one exception, through a game. The only animated adaptation wasKingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, and even that was a summation of all the important events from theKingdom Hearts Union Crossmobile game.
Kingdom Hearts 3also marked the end of the Xehanort/Dark Seeker Saga, which up until now was the main story of the entireKingdom Heartsfranchises thus far. Fans didn’t even know or expect that Sora, Donald, and Goofy would be mounting up for more adventures in the near future until everyKingdom Heartsgame was unveiled as part of this first “Dark Seeker Saga” way back in 2013. Assuming this Disney Plus show was indeed a continuation of the story so far, that would mean it’d be a show produced specifically for the hardcore fans. Crafting an entire show just for hardcore fans would be ill-advised at best, and would almost certainly not makes sense business-wise and in the context ofKingdom Heartsaltogether.
Further Confusion From a Sequel
There’s also the issue of presentation and intent, again assuming this show is a sequel. Anyone who’s not a hardcore fan ofKingdom Heartsmay decide to view this Disney Plus show on a whim without any expectations. For the franchise’s first TV show to be a sequel would spawn plenty of confusion for the average viewer.The overarching plot ofKingdom Heartsis convoluted and multi-faceted, meaning anyone to stumble upon the Disney Plus show would be immediately confused and discouraged from watching further.
TheKingdom Heartsseries is already bad enough at telling a cohesive story, considering practically every spin-off game on various different gaming ecosystems like Nintendo 3DS or PlayStation Portable, has in someway been integral to the main story. Part of why theKingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5collections were released was to centralize all of the many spin-off games together into one single experience. Even then there are many pivotal character developments and plot points relegated to the spin-off games that following the main story is a disjointed effort reserved strictly for hardcore fans. Adding a television show into that mix is only going to makeKingdom Heartseven harder to follow.
Even an Adaptation is Concerning
That being said, even if this Disney PlusKingdom Heartsshow is just a retelling of the game’s story, there’s still some drawbacks there as well. Any attempt atmaking theKingdom Heartsadventure more accessible to Disney orFinal Fantasyfansis great in concept, but crafting an entire show to do this will require a lot of nuance and plenty of explaining. While the firstKingdom Heartsis relatively simple to understand, the battle of light vs. darkness, everything beyond the core conflict exacerbates the plot’s complexity tenfold.
Veterans of theKingdom Heartsgames have come to understand the different intricacies and subsidiaries of the series' plot over 18 years, spanning 10 games across the franchise (not including several remakes/remasters). Condensing that story, optimistically, into a five-to-seven season run of a TV show is going to be incredibly difficult to say the least. TV shows like anime and other adaptations tend to cut corners on plot specifics that don’t need to be glossed over in games, due to the higher time commitment and engagement. Glossing over plot details inKingdom Heartsis a recipe for disaster considering how nearly every detail is inter-connected. Whether it’s the Heartless, Nobodies,darkness itself, Xehanort’s identity, Organization XIII, or anything else, there’s just too much going on for a proper TV show to encapsulate all the little details inKingdom Hearts.
Watching how this reported Disney Plus show plays out should be interesting, depending on what part it will playwithin the world ofKingdom Hearts. A retelling/adaptation of the games makes the most sense, but despite how simplistic the main conflict of the series may be in the first game, things become a lot more convoluted and strange as the series progresses. Keeping up with the show’s story is going to be a difficult task, both on the part of the show itself and any viewers watching it who may not be fans ofKingdom Hearts.
AKingdom HeartsDisney Plus show is reportedly in development.
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