Kingdom Hearts 4 was confirmed to be in development back in 2022, but Square Enix has been woefully silent on the project in the years since, with the most recent meaningful update being a batch of screenshots from May of last year that ended a three-year drought. Director Tetsuya Nomura recently suggested it won't be until next year that we receive another big update, so for now, fans are left desperately lapping up breadcrumbs from anyone involved. Today, those breadcrumbs come courtesy of actor James Woods, who's played antagonist Hades since the first game in 2002, and of course, the beloved Disney animated movie Hercules from 1997.
Again, temper your expectations here, because there isn't much to this new "update." There's no new trailer, screenshot, or even new information. Literally all we have to report is a tweet from Woods vaguely suggesting work is being done on Kingdom Hearts 4, which has already been heavily implied by the fact that it was announced four years ago.
Woods recently shared an image of him in a recording booth with the caption "we just finished recording the new one," and although the tweet is in reference to a follow-up to Woods' Tombstone Opera album, someone confused it for a Kingdom Hearts 4 tease. Woods responded to this confusion by saying he "can't comment" on Square Enix's upcoming sequel. "I wish I could!" he added.
I can’t comment, but I wish I could! https://t.co/CZTMDSSinyApril 19, 2026
I did tell you not to get your hopes up. Still, many fans are taking this non-comment as a suggestion that Woods is under NDA and, if that were the case, recording the English voice lines for Kingdom Hearts 4. It's a big 'if', but if that's indeed the case, the game could be further along than one might expect after so many months of silence from Square Enix. That's it. That's the tweet.
I will remind my fellow Kingdom Hearts fans that, well, we've been here before. Remember back in November when a single image from Sora actor Haley Joel Osment sent the entire fandom into a tizzy? And remember how nothing happened after that? I'm getting similar vibes here. If I were you, I'd take Nomura's advice and just check in next year.
Need something to do in the meantime? Pick something from our list of the best JRPGs to play in 2026.
