Anime may not return until 2024, but why?

Fans of the hit anime franchise ‘Sword Art Online’ should prepare themselves for a long wait for season 4, with the Unital Ring manga being slowly released.

Anime fans are used to waiting a long time for their favourite shows to return…The phrase ‘good things come to those who wait’ springs to mind, but no one really enjoys that time away.

We waited nearly four years for Sword Art Online season 3 to premiere and that felt like an eternity. Unfortunately, it looks like we are in for another similarly-exhausting break before season 4 will return to our screens.

Here is everything we know so far about the renewal status and potential release date for the fourth season of SAO, as well as the recent announcements about the upcoming movie.

Has Sword Art Online been renewed for season 4?

At the time of writing, season 4 of Sword Art Online has not been officially confirmed by A-1 Pictures; however, we are expecting a fourth adventure to be produced.

The reason for our optimism is a rather simple one; the franchise remains extremely popular with fans and the original manga series has not yet been entirely adapted.

The third season of Sword Art Online adapted everything between the ninth and eighteenth volumes of the light novel series. Following the conclusion of ‘Alicization’ author Reki Kawahara then revealed that he would be writing “one more big arc” called ‘Sword Art Online: Unital Ring’.

This new story arc, Unital Ring, is a direct sequel to the Alicization narrative and will most likely be the focus for the fourth season.

A-1 Pictures director Manabu Ono has already said that the studio is “planning to adapt the entire Sword Art Online series” – suggesting that all canon material will eventually be adapted.

So, with the view that A-1 Pictures want to adapt the entire series and another story arc currently being written, Sword Art Online is almost guaranteed to return for a fourth season.

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96 episodes will be the grand total for #SwordArtOnline after that season finale tomorrow morning.
Darn I was hoping to hit that 100 mark this year.
Oh well…. please let there be another season.
— Victor Monjaras (@Journeyman15) September 19, 2020

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Sword Art Online season 4: Potential release date…

As the anime has now been renewed, a release date for Sword Art Online season 4 has not been revealed; however, we are expecting that the ‘Unital Ring’ arc won’t premiere until at least 2024.

The problem with predicting a potential release date for Sword Art Online ‘Unital Ring’ is that it all depends on when Kawahara can complete the light novels.

At the time of writing, five volumes have been published in Japan, with the third volume scheduled to release in English in April 2022.Under the assumption that this arc will also have 10 volumes total and that Kawahara can produce at least two every year, the series still won’t be completed until Q4 2023 – and that’s at the earliest.

However, there is hope for fans that the fourth instalment could be produced as another split-cour season, similar to Alicization, with possibly three unique parts.

This would mean that we essentially get three ‘mini-seasons’ every 12-18 months that will continuously adapt new volumes of the light novels until the series is completed.

Unfortunately, production on a fourth potential television season could be demoted down the priority list, with A-1 Pictures focusing on the Progressive film series, see below.

I need Sword Art Online season 4…. I need to know what happens next! Ahhhh why did they end season 3 like that?!
— Lassharleymarie1 (@Lassharleymari1) September 23, 2021

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Sword Art Online: Progressive movies

On November 8th 2020, it was announced that there would be an anime movie adaption of Aincard, the first arc from the series, was in production.

The movie is an adaptation of the six-volume light novel series and would be titled ‘Aria of a Starless Night’.

Sword Art Online: Progress movie ‘Aria of a Starless Night’ premiered on October 30th in Japan, on December 3rd in North America, and December 9th in Europe.

The bad news for fans of the television series is that a second feature film in the Progressive series has already been announced, which will now be the focus for the A-1 team.

The movie will be titled ‘Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of a Dark Dust and is set to debut in Japan at some point in 2022, a specific date has not been revealed.

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Moon Cradle OVA or movie?

Whist the ‘Unital Ring’ arc may be the final instalment in the series, there have already been two side-story volumes published since the end of Alicization called ‘Moon Cradle’.

It is possible that these two volumes could be adapted into their own anime movie or several OVA episodes whilst season 4 is still being produced.

However, Monsters & Critics make an interesting point where “another option would be to adapt Moon Cradle as a single-cour Sword Art Online Season 4.”

This would push back the Unital Ring arc into the fifth season, but it would “fill in the long gap between the third season’s finale and the completion of Unital Ring.”