A New World Was Almost Added to the Kingdom Hearts TV Series

[Chaser]

Back in 2014 we learnt that, Seth Kearsley, a former director at Disney Animation Studios, was hired to work on a test pilot for a new Kingdom Hearts series that would air on Television. This series would unfortunately not be picked up by the network and unfortunately died off without much fanfare until Kearsley posted storyboards from pre-production.

Yesterday, we shared on social media some information from the Official Playstation Magazine in regards to the Kingdom Hearts TV series that was commissioned by Disney but ultimately it was never picked up for broadcast. The information was that one of the directors for the upcoming Ratchet and Clank movie was, once upon a time, the director for an episode of the Kingdom Hearts Television Series.

Today the director, Kevin Munroe, has shared with us the cover of the script from one of the episodes, titled "MAN'S RED FIRE" was going to take place in a world based off of The Jungle Book. Yes, that's right, the same Jungle Book that has been cut from Kingdom Hearts (the game) and Birth by Sleep.

Would you have enjoyed seeing the world of The Jungle Book come to life in the Television Series? Why do you believe the series was never picked up by Disney?

 

[BlackOsprey]

Huh. Neat bit of trivia to fill some space in my head, I guess. Third time's the charm with III, maybe.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

At this point, The Jungle Book is practically guaranteed!

I'm still so sad that this never became a thing: It could have been like The Legend of Aang!

 

[Squood!]

Huh. That was a nice little bit of info. It's pretty funny how The Jungle Book wasn't put into KH twice.

 

[Muke]

At this point, The Jungle Book is practically guaranteed!

Umm.. not really...?

 

[Chaser]

Huh. That was a nice little bit of info. It's pretty funny how The Jungle Book wasn't put into KH twice.

Three times.... It's kind of sad to know this though, that poor movie can't catch a break.

 

[gosoxtim]

well since jungle book coming out this year there no way it not going to be in kh3

 

[Muke]

Jungle Book.. the real World That Never Was.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

well since jungle book coming out this year there no way it not going to be in kh3

I don't think that really means anything. Who knows what they have planned for KH3, but we can't assume anything like that.

 

[gosoxtim]

that true yeah who know what world will be in kh3

 

[OathkeeperRoxas XIII]

That's a hard question, I mean verses of worlds not too similar in one game, maybe they couldn't get a perfect scenario for Sora and company, or maybe it wasn't a world ready for this saga we are in. I would like to see this world have a rep to the series, a full world, minigame world, even a summon, it's still a world of potential. Besides, who doesn't want to see how a snake is animated in 3D?

Wouldn't give up hope, even if I wait.

 

[Chaser]

No doubt this was meant to replace Deep Jungle since the contract for Tarzan seems to be contained to just the first games media rather than any other media products from that game. Still a shame though, a Kingdom Hearts series on Saturday Disney would have been fantastic.

 

[LightUpTheSky452]

According to Seth Kearsley's interview two years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaO92mBdJNM),
it actually sounded like the pilot tested really well (even better than some other pilots being attempted around that same time), but apparently they were pitching the idea of the game right after KH1 had just come out--before they knew just how well it would end up doing, even beyond their wildest dreams--so when that became apparent, and that they could make sequels with Square Enix, Disney didn't want to step on Tetsuya Nomua's toes or anything like that, so the show was cancelled.

It's still such a shame, though! I would've loved seeing Disney's take on KH1. I wouldn't have even minded the changes, either. And now knowing that they were going to include a world that wasn't even in the original game, has me really curious on what they were planning with it all. Alas, it looks like we'll never truly know

Still, learning about things like this is probably the next best thing, though!

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

Man, The Jungle Book just can't catch a break. Poor thing...

 

[Anagram]

The more I know we missed, the more I get sad.

 

[Muke]

Probably not the right Thread for this, but I am really sad that this didn't happen. Kairi was planned to kick Heartless. Literally.
There ya go, I found this recently:

Spoiler Show

EDIT: It seems Sora was supposed to have the Keyblade before the Heartless "arrived".
Everything is so different lol

 

[Zettaflare]

I`m not sure how successful an American animated adaptation of the KH series would if been. Honestly I think it would have worked better as an anime.

It`s a shame for Jungle Book, but I`d say it`s one of the likelier worlds for KH3 due to almost making it for BBS and TWO upcoming live action films

 

[BlackOsprey]

We all know that even if the show had become a thing, it would've been prematurely cancelled by some corporate nincompoop because it didn't sell enough action figures.

On a more serious note, I'm actually fine that the show never happened. Yeah, maybe it could've been awesome, but my gut keeps telling me that it could've been horribly mishandled. ... Okay, that plus the fact that the art style kinda rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Chaser]

We all know that even if the show had become a thing, it would've been prematurely cancelled by some corporate nincompoop because it didn't sell enough action figures.

On a more serious note, I'm actually fine that the show never happened. Yeah, maybe it could've been awesome, but my gut keeps telling me that it could've been horribly mishandled. ... Okay, that plus the fact that the art style kinda rubs me the wrong way.

It was only storyboards, that art style wouldn't be the one used by the animators with the final version.

 

[kingsoraful]

I would kill for a Kingdom Hearts anime.