It may take a long while before fans see Sword Art Online Season 4 on the small screen. With the recent conclusion of the third season and Sword Art Online: Unital Ring book is still in the works, there may be a long waiting game.
In September, the coming of Sword Art Online: Progressive was announced, but Monsters & Critics noted it would be a reboot and not a direct sequel to Sword Art Online: Alicization. However, with the announcements of Alicization and Unital Ring, it just gives fans some hope to see the future of Kirito, Asuna, Alice Schuberg, and other fan-favorite SAO characters.
Aniplex plans to make an anime adaptation of the entire SAO series. The third season will be all about Alicization arc, while the direct book sequel to this storyline already has the third book.
Unital Ring is expected to be shorter than Alicization, but it will be the final ending of the entire SAO story. Does this mean Sword Art Online Season 4 will adapt the Unital Ring arc?
In an interview, A-1 Pictures director Manabu Ono revealed the production company and Aniplex were planning to adapt the entire SAO series. Although he didn't mention anything about Unital Ring or the much-awaited fourth season, the series creator, Reki Kawahara, already confirmed the coming of Unital Ring.
As the future of Unital Ring is now confirmed, the only question is when Sword Art Online Season 4 will come to fruition. By the looks of it, it all depends on Kawahara himself.
Anyhow, HITC noted that with A-1 Pictures' announcement and Unital Ring's development, the fourth installment seems to surely come. So, when will fans see this on the small screen?
Sword Art Online Season 4 is yet to be confirmed, so its release date remains to be seen. However, if it does so, fans may still have to wait until 2024 before it officially drops.
The new season's release date all depends on when Kawahara can complete the light novel series. If it is also set to have ten volumes, it may take the author to finish two volumes every year.
If this happens, the whole Unital Ring will not be complete until 2023 -- the earliest. But, there are also assumptions that Sword Art Online Season 4 may be a split-cour season, like Alicization, so it may have three unique parts.
This means that fans may see "three mini-seasons" every 12 to 18 months that will adapt new volumes of the light novel series, so fans do not have to wait so long for its completion.
Are you now excited to see Sword Art Online Season 4? What do you think will happen? Share your comments below.
