At the moment, the Kingdom Hearts franchise is in a lull. It’s almost fully cleared out its slate of known releases, with only the final update for Kingdom Hearts Dark Road still outstanding. With that, the Dark Seeker Saga, or the Xehanort Saga, will be finished for good. More games could take place within the series' overarching timeline, but its core conflict has been resolved. Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s battles against Xehanort and his counterparts are over, and the Kingdom Hearts franchise is ready to move on to new things.
There's no problem with this, and it's probably for the best. Kingdom Hearts is infamous for its abundance of story details spread across many games, and a saga transition marks a soft reset. Players new and old can approach future Kingdom Hearts titles and spin-offs with a fresh lens. The only part of this that feels off is that it's not clear where the next saga is going. Kingdom Hearts 3, Kingdom Hearts Union Cross, and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory dropped several hints as to what will be relevant in future titles, but it still feels like fans barely know anything about them.
Discussing the questions that have been raised will require bringing up spoilers for recent Kingdom Hearts games.
Where and With Whom the Next Kingdom Hearts Will Take Place
One of the most uncertain things about the next Kingdom Hearts installment is its premise. Fans know that Sora has been trapped in Quadratum; an alternate reality that is a “fictional” counterpart to the normal worlds of light or darkness featured in prior games. It’s not clear if Quadratum is made up of a single unbroken world or many, but what is likely its primary setting is a modern city that resembles Japan’s Shibuya prefecture.
Riku has followed Sora in, but like at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2, he may be free to wander while Sora is not. The “bad” ending to Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMind’s secret boss implies that Sora’s abuse of the Power of Waking has immobilized him, so the old protagonist could be taking a back seat for a while — assuming the secret movie of Sora walking a city’s streets doesn’t imply something else.
There is also the matter of said secret boss, Yozora. This realistic Riku-lookalike could be positioned as the protagonist of Kingdom Hearts’ new saga, though it’s too soon to say for sure. He will be important, but as he notes that even his appearance may not be the same as it is in his home world, getting a solid read on him is difficult. His appearance in the Verum Rex video game complicates matters further, with a couple of unnamed friends joining him in fighting the Gigas mechs to save a damsel.
These characters are all subject to change or erasure, which makes the Final Fantasy Versus 13 trailer parallel in ReMind’s secret ending feel appropriate. That reference only raises more questions about what the next game is going to be like, however. It couldn't be more unclear how close it will relate to Kingdom Hearts itself.
Kingdom Hearts Is Full of Uncertainty and Loose Ends
Fans have a lot of other questions about the future of Kingdom Hearts, and no one can say when they’ll be answered. The many characters still around from Kingdom Hearts’ old games seem to be largely irrelevant to the next game’s events. This opens the door to more spin-offs covering their adventures, but that is subject to Square Enix and Disney’s intentions for the franchise.
The Foretellers, Luxu, and the Master of Masters will probably serve as a new Organization XIII in the upcoming saga, but their place in Quadratum is still unclear. There are also no clues on where Ava is, what Demyx and Luxord’s current situations are, and whether the girl Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, was looking for and the star in the Final World are the same people. Even the Black Box remains shut after Maleficent and Pete raised such a fuss about it. Kingdom Hearts has an enormous number of loose ends to be addressed in future titles.
The true nature of the next Kingdom Hearts game is unknown. It is expected to be revealed at the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Event running from April 9 to 10, though nothing has been confirmed. Aside from the final Dark Road update, Kingdom Hearts’ future is a bigger mystery than even its reputation would suggest. Even the balance of Disney, Square Enix, and original content going forward is currently up in the air. Even in the middle of a year packed with Square Enix news and games, a firm statement on their series’ future is all Kingdom Hearts fans need.
