D23’s Kingdom Hearts Panel Will Only Be Streamed Live

It’s been two months since the surprise drop of a new Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer during a Nintendo Direct livestream, and fans have a new reason to get their hopes up for more news very soon.

Disney is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts in 2027. That celebration kicks off this weekend with a special panel at Disney’s D23 fan expo that brings together some of the key developers and voice actors behind the franchise. Anyone can watch the whole thing on YouTube — but only if they tune in live, Square Enix says.

The “Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts” panel will stream on the official Kingdom Hearts YouTube channel on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. EDT. According to Square Enix, the livestream will not be made available as a video on demand afterward. In other words, if you don’t watch it live, then you probably won’t be able to watch it at all — which seems like an odd choice considering the fact that YouTube probably makes it pretty easy to just publish livestreams automatically.

The hourlong presentation will feature Nana Gadd of Disney and Pixar Games alongside Square Enix developer Tai Yasue. Haley Joel Osment and David Gallagher, the longtime English-language voices of Sora and Riku, respectively, will also appear, as will Disney Character Voices executive Renée Johnson.

“Join us for a journey through light and darkness as we commemorate 25 years of Kingdom Hearts,” Disney’s official description reads. “Discover how this saga united Disney, Pixar, and Square Enix, with insights from the creative minds, character voices, and more behind the magic.”

The panel has officially been framed as a “behind-the-scenes look at the making of the games,” but Yasue’s presence has fans wondering whether Disney and Square Enix might also offer another look at Kingdom Hearts 4. After all, celebrating 25 years of Kingdom Hearts technically involves the trajectory of the series and its future. Neither Disney nor Square Enix has confirmed outright that Kingdom Hearts 4 will appear during the panel.

Square Enix first revealed Kingdom Hearts 4 in 2022 during a 20th anniversary panel, but updates remained virtually nonexistent until the new trailer dropped in June 2026.

The D23 anniversary panel feels a natural venue for Square Enix to share more, even if that amounts to behind-the-scenes details rather than another extended preview. Though a new English-language trailer with a release date confirmation does sound like an exciting way to end an hour-long panel like this. The June announcement did confirm a multiplatform launch across Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. Does that mean the launch is sooner rather than later?

Disney is promising that the Deep Dive livestream will “surprise and delight” Kingdom Hearts fans. That could mean news about the next game, new details about the franchise’s history, or simply the opportunity to hear Sora and Riku’s actors chat about 25 years of friendship, rivalry, and some very complicated lore about Darkness, Nobodies, and a lot of characters with X in their name. Whatever happens, fans will have to tune in live to see it.