Hayden Panettiere’s role as Kairi in Kingdom Hearts explained

Actress Hayden Panettiere is known for her work on Heroes and Nashville, but many gamers are most familiar with her from her original English voice portrayal of Kairi from the Kingdom Hearts series.

What Kingdom Hearts games has Hayden Panettiere voiced?

Panettiere voiced Kairi in the original Kingdom Hearts, then reprised her role in Kingdom Hearts II, followed by Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and later voiced Xion from the Nintendo 3DS game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Why was Hayden Panettiere replaced?

After her initial few games, other actresses began to voice Kairi, beginning with Alyson Stoner in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Stoner later took over the role of Xion from Panettiere as well.

The reasoning behind this change has yet to be officially clarified, though numerous fans speculate it could be anything from panettiere’s more successful hollywood career making it harder for her to participate to the decision of Square Enix. Panettiere herself has stated she “wasn’t asked to return” in a small social media post.

Fan Reaction

This change understandably angered many who grew up with panettiere as the original voice of kairi. A page on change.org has been created requesting disney and Square Enix bring panettiere back to voice kairi, noting her integral part in the games series from 2002-2012.

Other voice work Hayden Panettiere has done.

Apart from her work as kairi, Hayden panettiere has also been a voice for several characters, including dot from pixar’s A Bug’s Life, as well as kate from the film Alpha and Omega and sam from the game Until Dawn.