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It's not often that we're lucky enough to hear from the cast of actors behind the voices of the beloved characters in the Kingdom Hearts series. These opportunities are few and far between, and it appears that the folks over at Zap2it have taken the chance in their recent interview with none other than Haley Joel Osment, the voice of Sora.
Zap2it were able to discuss the highly anticipated title, Kingdom Hearts 3, with him briefly. As the game is still in its very early stages, he hasn't been given much information at this point in time. Despite this, shortly after its official announcement at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013, he was able to discuss it with some of the staff and looks forward to reprising his role as the iconic Keyblade-wielding hero if given the opportunity.
Osment reminisces about his first time voicing Sora for the first game in 2001, as well as the many titles that have followed over the past decade. He's played the character at various stages in his life and sometimes even in other forms, or other individuals connected to him, so although he's not entirely certain that it's the same Sora he'll play, he'll welcome the chance to return with open arms.
And why shouldn't he? He's grown up with the series just as we all have, having been 13 when he recorded for the first title and playing the games as they've been released. Despite his busy work schedule, he's known for being very enthusiastic about Kingdom Hearts, if you couldn't already tell from his expression in the video the second the interviewer mentioned those words. His sister, Emily, has commented in the past saying that he would always be playing the games and rarely surrendered the controller or system to her.
It is worth noting that voice recording for the western release is one of the final processes in development, unlike the Japanese voice recording that is completed much more early on in order to properly direct and animate the scenes within the game and sync them accordingly. It's hard to judge at thie point in time but Osment believes that he could be going into the studio by Summer 2014 or later.
Now, voice recording for the Kingdom Hearts series in regards to the English dub has generally been done around the time the game is set to be released in Japan. It is possible that Kingdom Hearts 3, having as much weight and popularity as it does, may be reason enough to do things concurrently between East and West, so Osment's estimate may not be entirely off the mark.
Kingdom Hearts 3 will be released on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
Source: Zap2it
A complete transcript has been provided below:
Zap2it: Now, one last question - I'm going to nerd out a little on you but - you've been involved in the Kingdom Hearts franchise for a really long time, and people are excited about Kingdom Hearts 3 finally coming out.
HJO: Right.
Zap2it: Can you talk a little bit about that? Have you seen the script or anything?
HJO: I saw the announcement and then talked a little bit with them on the phone, because the process is, I started doing Kingdom Hearts in 2001, and there's the main series and there's the Gameboy one... I feel like I've done seven or eight installments, which is awesome. But with this, they're making it now and the recording of the dialogue is one of the last parts of the process, so probably this summer or later is the soonest.
Zap2it: But we're happy to have you back for Sora.
HJO: Oh sure! That's what I hear. Sometimes Sora goes back to being a child or goes to another universe or changes into somebody else so you can never say for sure, but hopefully I'll be back.
