Two of the world's biggest entertainment franchises will make video game history next year. Disney and Star Wars have been paired since Disney's 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm, resulting in blockbuster movies and hit TV series on Disney+, loads of merchandise, theme park attractions, and more. Disney is no stranger to massive crossovers; over a decade earlier, the company teamed up with video game publisher Square Enix to launch the Kingdom Hearts franchise, which has since spawned 13 games featuring a mix of original RPG and Disney characters. With Kingdom Hearts and Star Wars under the same umbrella, it was only a matter of time before these two gargantuan franchises crossed paths.
As reported by Forbes, a massive Steam leak revealed achievements for Kingdom Hearts 4 ahead of its late 2027 release. Several of these achievements reveal the game's highly anticipated Disney-based worlds. This includes one called "Galaxy Far, Far Away" under the "Desert Do-Gooder" achievement, meaning that Sora (and hopefully Donald and Goofy, too) will likely be visiting the realm of Star Wars for the first time. This is also a historic moment for Disney and Star Wars, as it will mark the first time the two have created a unique story in a video game.
Kingdom Hearts 4 has been teased since 2019, shortly after the release of the then long-awaited Kingdom Hearts 3. These teasers came in the form of images and short updates until earlier this summer, when a full trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4 dropped during June's Nintendo Direct. Since then, it has been full steam ahead regarding news of the video game franchise's next installment.
One of the earliest looks at Kingdom Hearts 4 came in 2022, during a video celebrating the franchise's 20th anniversary. Development footage showed a brief glimpse at the 4:38 mark of a world highly resembling Endor, a Star Wars planet that debuted in 1983's Return of the Jedi, home of the Ewoks. This was the first major indication that Star Wars would finally be featured in Kingdom Hearts.
Although this will be the first time Disney and Star Wars have come together to tell an original story, the two franchises have shared the video game space before. A fondly remembered instance of this was Disney Infinity, a toy-to-video game series in which players could buy figures that would translate into in-game counterparts.
Star Wars was introduced into Infinity in 2015 and adapted the original trilogy and, later, The Force Awakens. Disney Infinity shut down in 2016, unable to incorporate content from the rest of the sequel trilogy or eventual Disney+ shows.
It wasn't long, however, before Star Wars made its way into another video game with ties to Disney. Fortnite remains a juggernaut in the gaming industry, and its first major Star Wars crossover in 2019 only cemented the battle royale's status as a pop-culture phenomenon.
Today, nearly every notable character from the galaxy far, far away has appeared in Fortnite, with heroes and villains alike becoming playable skins. Lightsabers have also periodically returned as special weapons, giving players the chance to wield the iconic weapons during select events, seasons, and limited-time modes.
Outside the gaming sphere, Disney and Star Wars have crossed paths in other media, most notably in the 2018 theatrical release Ralph Breaks the Internet. A sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, the animated film follows the titular character as he ventures into the World Wide Web, where he encounters various hubs dedicated to Disney and many of its properties.
Star Wars is among the franchises represented, with its own area and several Stormtroopers patrolling the space. While brief, this crossover offered another instance of Star Wars existing alongside Disney's other major properties in a shared universe, long before the franchise's anticipated arrival in Kingdom Hearts 4.
On the small screen, Disney and Star Wars united in the 2014 special Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars. The episode places the animated show's titular brothers within the events of A New Hope, reimagining the inaugural sci-fi story through the show's signature comedic lens.
Star Wars and Disney have also intersected in the world of Marvel Comics, also owned by the House of Mouse. Following the Lucasfilm acquisition, a self-titled Star Wars comic series launched in 2015 and continues to run today, telling an array of stories set in the galaxy far, far away.
How Will Kingdom Hearts Factor Into the World of Star Wars?
Kingdom Hearts games rarely feature entirely original interpretations of Disney stories. Rather, Sora and co. are typically inserted into plotlines players already know, with developers often working closely with the creators of the original movies to faithfully capture their stories and visual styles.
This approach allows Kingdom Hearts to put its own spin on Disney worlds in the video game space without straying too far from what made those properties memorable in the first place. In Kingdom Hearts 4, given the Endor tease, Sora may enter during the events of Return of the Jedi, potentially aiding Luke, Han, and Leia in their final battle against the Empire.
Sora's involvement would add a new perspective to Star Wars lore, with his understanding of the dark side likely different from what characters in the world of Galaxy Far, Far Away know it as. Alternatively, introducing Sora to the light side may allow him to yield a Keyblade that would be nearly guaranteed to resemble a lightsaber, if not a lightsaber outright, at some point during his time there (read more about the different color options for Sora's potential lightsaber).
