We Might Already Know Kingdom Hearts 4's Next Disney World
Cars Is Looking Incredibly Likely As A Kingdom Hearts 4 World
During last night’s Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts panel, Tetsuya Nomura mentioned that Kingdom Hearts 4 includes an idea that was nearly in KH3, which could very well be Cars.
D23 has been an absolute gold mine for Kingdom Hearts news, but last night’s Deep Dive panel was the true highlight. Not only did we get an extended world reveal for Coco and a bunch of new footage, but we also got solid confirmation that Kingdom Hearts 4 is launching in 2027 and won’t get hit with a delay like most of us assumed.
One thing that sadly wasn’t part of the Deep Dive panel was a second world reveal, which many of us hoped was happening now that marketing is finally ramping up. That being said, series creator Tetsuya Nomura did tease a world that’s going to be in Kingdom Hearts 4 that was too tough to realise in the last game, and there’s a lot of evidence pointing towards it being Cars.
I’m Willing To Bet That Cars Is In Kingdom Hearts 4
“It’s A Very Exciting Idea”
During the panel, Nomura was asked about worlds inspired by Disney and talked about the creative process that goes into them. Nomura said that creating something new based on a “certain type of concept” is especially fun since there’s no expectation and gives them freedom to incorporate “a variety of gimmicks”.
After that, Nomura teased that there was an “idea” for Kingdom Hearts 3 that wasn’t able to be realised due to “certain difficulties”. That “very exciting” idea has now been realised for Kingdom Hearts 4, which Nomura hopes we’ll look forward to seeing. That leaves a lot of options, but the direct reference to Kingdom Hearts 3 is where things get interesting.
Back in 2024, Kingdom Hearts 3’s Premium Showcase development files were leaked, which revealed that Cars was almost going to be a world in the game, as proven by "カーズ（仮)" translating to “Cars (Tentative)”. It’s the only world we know was cut from Kingdom Hearts 3, so it’s almost certainly what Nomura is referencing.
Combine that with the mention of “gimmicks” and creating a unique world that hasn’t been done before, as well as how massive Cars is as a Disney franchise, and it’s becoming very clear what one of Kingdom Hearts 4’s worlds is going to be. It’s not confirmed for sure, but I’d be willing to bet that Sora is being turned into a car.