Director Seth Kearsley reveals new details on the canceled Kingdom Hearts pilot. First released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, the Kingdom Hearts franchise has become one of the most prolific video game series by Sony. Made in collaboration between the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix, the franchise surrounds a boy named Sora who lives on an island with his best friends. When a sinister dark force is unleashed, taking away his friends and destroying his home, Sora finds himself teaming up with Disney characters Donald Duck and Goofy as they travel from world to world, based on Disney film franchises.The Kingdom Hearts series has expanded into several spin-off titles, some of which have graduated from Sony exclusive consoles to Nintendo, that help expand the story and develop the characters. The series has also been marketed with toys and figures as well as a manga adaptation by Shiro Amano. In 2014, Seth Kearsley (Eight Crazy Nights) posted storyboard material online revealing that an animated television series based on the video game franchise had entered development shortly after the game's release. However, it was canceled by both Disney and Square Enix.Kearsley, via Twitter, has revealed more details recently that shed some light on the project. Kearsley unveiled a page from the script from the eleven-minute pilot titled "Agrabah". The page details a conversation between the franchise's three leads, Sora, Riku and Kairi. Later, Kearsley revealed a VHS tape that is dated August 28, 2003, that supposedly contains the animatic for the pilot that was developed, paired with the message "Who knows an easy way to import VHS to digital?" This was followed sometime later with a cast list that revealed that the majority of actors from the video game returned except Haley Joel Osment as Sora, who was to be replaced by Bobby Edner. Check out his Tweets below:
What The Posts Revealed About Canceled Kingdom Hearts Show
Seth Kearsley is a veteran animator who worked on projects such as Timon & Pumbaa and Mummies Alive! He got his big break directing the animated Adam Sandler vehicle Eight Crazy Nights which ended up being a critical and commercial failure. Shortly after, he was asked to develop the Kingdom Hearts animated pilot which was to be entirely American produced, yet feature an anime-style design to it. Various reasons for the cancelation have been given with Kearsley saying that they thought the pilot was too dark, though other sources state that Square Enix and Disney did not want the show to accidentally contradict the game's lore.
While it is not uncommon for video games to be adapted to television or film, it certainly would have been interesting for something that features the different worlds Kingdom Hearts appearing as a weekly series on Disney Channel. A television show could have pushed the franchise to new heights, but it would have understandably undermined the video game series from which it was based on. The latest installment, Kingdom Hearts IV, is expected to be released in the future, while a new animated series is rumored for Disney+, it currently seems unlikely.
Source: Seth Kearsley/Twitter