Tetsuya Nomura Says the Key Art Is the Only Hint
Shortly after the reveal, Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura posted to the official Kingdom Hearts account, and most of the message was about how little Nomura could say. Nomura confirmed they have been in continuous, close meetings with the scenario team, that the art team is helping where needed, and that they personally drew several new character designs specifically for this project. Then they pointed to the single image Disney had released. The hint, they wrote, is that one piece of key art, and fans should turn it over in their heads while waiting for more news.
That image is the entire reveal. It shows a mysterious boy holding a Keyblade, drawn in a style that reads far closer to Japanese animation than to the game series' character models. There is no episode count, no studio, no voice cast and no premiere window attached to it. Six weeks on from the announcement, none of those blanks have been filled in.
A Disney Kids & Family and Square Enix Co-Production
The series, carrying the working title Kingdom Hearts, is being made jointly by Disney Kids & Family, a division of the Walt Disney Company, and Square Enix. According to the Walt Disney Japan release quoted in full by Japanese games outlet Famitsu, the story is not an adaptation of any existing game. It is a completely new story reconstructed for this series alone, with Nomura and Square Enix's creative team attached.
Ayo Davis, President of Disney Kids & Family, framed it as a format shift rather than a retelling. "There's something really exciting about taking a world fans have spent years exploring through the games and bringing it to life in a completely new way," said Davis, adding that the series will be "unmistakably Kingdom Hearts, while giving fans a whole new way to experience the world they love."
The announcement came out of D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026, Disney's official fan convention, held in Anaheim, California. Disney's own account put it more plainly on X, promising "an original Kingdom Hearts anime series inspired by the beloved video game franchise."
13 Games and 39 Million Copies Without an Anime
Kingdom Hearts is the role-playing series Disney and Square Enix built together, starring Sora, a boy who carries the Keyblade and travels between Disney and Pixar worlds to push back the darkness threatening them. Its throughline is the relationship between light, darkness and the heart, wrapped in a story that has kept adding mysteries for two decades. The combat sells itself on accessible action, team combo attacks and summon magic.
The first game shipped in March 2002. Since then the series has produced 13 titles, or 20 if you count the Final Mix editions, and moved more than 39 million copies worldwide as of the end of March 2026. In all that time it has never had an animated series.
Looking Ahead
Disney has not set a premiere window and has not named an animation studio or any voice talent. Disney Channel and Disney+ are the confirmed homes. That points to the series surfacing across Disney+ territories rather than through a separate international licensing deal, though Disney has not spelled out its regional rollout.
The anime was not the only thing to come out of the D23 showcase. The same event carried a Kingdom Hearts IV trailer showing the Land of the Dead from Pixar's Coco and dating the game for late 2027, and Disney followed up the next day with a livestreamed behind-the-scenes panel, DEEP DIVE into KINGDOM HEARTS, on its YouTube channel.
Fans in Japan have one concrete date on the calendar in the meantime. The KINGDOM HEARTS 25th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION runs February 5 to April 4, 2027 at the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, with lottery applications for the opening days starting October 8, 2026.