Square Enix and Buena Vista Games have announced many of the voice actors for the North American version of Kingdom Hearts II. The trio of main characters, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, are played by Hayley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, and Hayden Panettiere, respectively. Jesse McCartney will take over the role of Roxas, while Brittany Snow will voice the mysterious Namine.

Christopher Lee, from the Lord of the Rings films, will lend his vocals to Diz, and Steve Burton will become Cloud. The females of Final Fantasy VII, Tifa and Aerith, will be voiced by Rachael Leigh Cook and Mena Suvari.

The trio of voice actors from Final Fantasy X-2, Hedy Buress, Tara Strong, and Gwendoline Yeo, reprise their roles as Yuna, Rikku, and Paine.

A couple of big-name celebrities will return to their roles from the films. Ming-Na will be playing Mulan, James Woods will be back as the diabolical Hades, and Zack Braff will see the sky falling as Chicken Little.

Kingdom Hearts II saw release in Japan on December 22, 2005. It will ship in North America on March 28, 2006.