Summary

  • Actor Haley Joel Osment didn't know Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced by Square Enix two years ago.
  • Kingdom Hearts 4 will feature Sora in a new city, and will mark the beginning of the series' final narrative arc.
  • Fans can expect Osment to return as Sora in Kingdom Hearts 4, as his voice work typically happens at the end of development.

Haley Joel Osment, the actor that has voiced Sora since the original Kingdom Hearts game launched in 2002, didn't know that Kingdom Hearts 4 had already been announced by Square Enix. Square Enix first announced Kingdom Hearts 4 two years ago as part of its celebration of the franchise's 20th anniversary.

The Kingdom Hearts 4 reveal trailer shows Sora waking up in Quadratum, a realistic city that looks unlike anything that's really been featured in the franchise before. Sora then fights a giant kaiju-sized Heartless, and the trailer ends with the confirmation that classic companions Donald Duck and Goofy will be returning. A few other details about Kingdom Hearts 4's gameplay have been revealed since then, but otherwise, Square Enix hasn't revealed a ton about the new game just yet.

Kingdom Hearts featuring Sora and Elsa from Frozen
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What Kingdom Hearts 4's 'Beginning of the End' Means for the Series

Kingdom Hearts 4 is set to begin the series' final narrative arc, raising questions about how the story will wrap up and what fans can expect next.

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It seems as though Square Enix hasn't even reached out to the game's potential English voice actors yet, as Haley Joel Osment didn't even know that Kingdom Hearts 4 had been officially announced. In a recent interview with IGN, Osment said that there were "rumors" of Kingdom Hearts 4, indicating that he did not know that it had been revealed. After telling Osment that Kingdom Hearts 4 had already been announced, IGN also brought up how it was recently said that KH4 would be the beginning of the end of the franchise's story.

Kingdom Hearts Actor Haley Joel Osment Comments on KH4 Being the Beginning of the End of the Story

Osment said that he believes Kingdom Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura will be able to end the story "in a satisfying way" and that not dragging out the series"beyond where the creator wants it to go" would be "the best thing to do." However, just because Kingdom Hearts 4 is the beginning of the end of the franchise's current story, that doesn't mean that it will go away completely. Not only that, but considering how long it took to tell the story of Kingdom Hearts' first story arc, KH4 could very well be followed up by numerous other games before things finally reach their conclusion.

Fans shouldn't take Haley Joel Osment not knowing about Kingdom Hearts 4 as a sign that he's being replaced as Sora's voice actor. In the same interview with IGN, Osment said his voice work happens at the end of the development process. Considering this, and the fact that Osment has voiced Sora for over two decades at this point, it would be a shock if he wasn't brought back for Kingdom Hearts 4. Replacing Osment would likely cause an uproar, and so fans can count on him returning as Sora when the time comes.