Haley Joel Osment, who you may have seen on screen in Spielberg's The Sixth Sense and Artificial Intelligence, is best known around these parts as the voice behind Kingdom Hearts' endlessly optimistic protagonist Sora. But after playing the beloved character in 12 different games, Osment finds that sometimes it's best to hang up the gloves.
Speaking with Agency, Osment wasn't actually aware that Kingdom Hearts 4 had been officially revealed. “I hope we hear something about it soon,” he said, “I guess it's rumored there will be another one. I'm always the last to know, because I'm the last step in the process.” Hopefully I'll be back in the studio soon and find out what happened to everyone.”
Agency then informed him that Square Enix announced the fourth sequel some time ago, and also asked him about series creator Tetsuya Nomura's recent comments about taking the story toward its final conclusion. Sora's butler said he's sure Nomura “has big plans to finish it in a satisfying way” and, perhaps, “that's the best thing you can do, even if you have something you love and feel like you want to play it.” forever.”
Osment believes it's better to say goodbye to a beloved series rather than let it drag on “beyond where the creator wants it to go. I think that's the best way to do it.” And, hey, if you miss out on a version of Donald Duck that's canonically stronger than any other black wizard in Final Fantasy history, then there are still “many, many hours of gameplay for people to come back and revisit.”
Tetsuya Nomura acknowledges that Kingdom Hearts 4 is more like Kingdom Hearts 13, but the story has been “rebooted” for newcomers.