For years there have been rumblings of a serialized Kingdom Hearts project in the works at Disney. While it was never officially announced or confirmed by the House of Mouse, one director surprisingly close to the project has shed some light on the project and revealed what almost could have been.
In a video posted to his personal YouTube channel, director and animator Seth Kearsley (Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights) revealed that he was once hired to work on the pilot for a Kingdom Hearts animated series.
While he doesn’t disclose who else was working on the project, Kearsley confirms that he was given the reigns on the project, and that he got to direct the pilot episode and rewrite the script.
At first, he explains that he almost got fired because he didn’t like the original team’s approach to the series. The episode he was originally given to work on was supposed to feature Aladdin. As Kearsley puts it, “the script read like an episode of Aladdin co-starring the characters from Kingdom Hearts.”
When he openly expressed that to the producers, he was fired. After speaking with the lead producer, however, only then was he given the chance to do the episode the way he wanted, “Like an episode of Kingdom Hearts that happens to take place in the world of Aladdin.”
He reveals that his version ended up testing very well among those who saw the final product – higher than any other Kingdom Hearts episode tested.
But the series was ultimately shelved due to the company’s interest in making more games.
“They put it on the shelf,” he said. “It hurt so bad when they were like, ‘Yeah, we’re not gonna make it because we’re gonna make more games. And maybe at some point in the future, we’ll do something with it.’”
Kearsley also admitted that he was convinced the project would be a hit. “This [was] going to be the next thing,” he said. “Kingdom Hearts was going to be like, so groundbreaking and such a game changer that like it was just going to blow up.”
Obviously – and sadly – that wasn’t the case…
You can check out the full video down below!
SOURCE: Seth Kearsley
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