A special 25th-anniversary Kingdom Hearts panel at Disney's 2026 D23 event has fans of Square Enix's RPG series wondering if major Kingdom Hearts 4 news is right around the corner.

Disney doesn't hold a D23 annually (the previous one was held in 2024), and in recent years the fan event has taken on newfound importance as a stage for the House of Mouse to make all kinds of major announcements about upcoming films, shows, and even, occasionally, video games.

This year in particular may be worth paying attention to for Kingdom Hearts fans. In an announcement detailing the programming fans can expect from D23 this year, Disney revealed an hour-long panel titled "Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts," which will celebrate 25 years of the franchise on August 15.

"Join us for a journey through light and darkness as we commemorate 25 years of Kingdom Hearts," the panel's 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."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZjagzpvHXU

Who, exactly, those "creative minds" in attendance will be remains to be seen. While voice actors and Disney employees are a given, the bigger question is whether anyone from Square Enix will be in attendance. If so, there is no bigger creative force behind Kingdom Hearts than Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura, who in addition to designing the look of the series' iconic characters has also directed every main entry in the series.

Until we know exactly who will be featured as part of the panel, it's hard to say for sure what to expect. The existence of the panel on its own isn't exactly direct confirmation that Kingdom Hearts 4 news, whether it be a new trailer, a release date, or some other announcement, will happen at D23, but it certainly wouldn't be surprising. 

It was just last month that a new Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer served as one of the June Nintendo Direct's biggest announcements, breaking years of radio silence and confirming it would launch on Switch 2. Like previous looks at Kingdom Hearts 4, the trailer showed Sora battling against Heartless in a modern day, Japan-esque setting, even as it flashed glimpses of other characters like Donald, Goofy, various hooded figures, and even lesser-known characters from various mobile spin-offs like Kingdom Hearts Union X.