In all the babbles of disapproval, ‘Sword Art Online’ has risen above and beyond all the hate surrounding it. With the end of its ‘Alicization’ arc, the anime has yet again blown us away with its stellar production value, impressive art, and never-seen-before action sequences. The good news is that the best of the series is yet to come. As fans, we’ll just have to be a little patient for its upcoming season, OVAs, and even potential side-story movies to come out. On that note, if you’re eagerly anticipating the next installment of the series, here’s everything you need to know about the future of ‘Sword Art Online.’
Sword Art Online Season 4 Release Date: When will it premiere?
‘Sword Art Online: Alicization’ (‘Sword Art Online’ Season 3), premiered on October 7, 2018, and finished airing on March 31, 2018. Soon after this, a sequel of this, titled ‘Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld,’ released on October 13, 2019, and went on till December 29, 2019. This was then followed by ‘Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld’ Part 2, which aired from on July 11, 2020, to September 21, 2020.
When it comes to the fourth season of ‘Sword Art Online,’ no official announcements have been made yet. Neither the cast nor A-1 Pictures Studio has commented on whether or not it’ll be renewed for another season. Now, if we look at the source material of the anime, its “Unital Ring” arc comes next in line. Although this new arc promises many new fascinating plot points and characters, it recently went into publication. So, for obvious reasons, it will take Kawahara several years to conceive enough content for a whole season. Considering that it’ll take him at least another two years to reach the 10-volume mark of the light novels series, we can expect ‘Sword Art Online’ Season 4 to release sometime in 2023 or later.
In a tweet, Kawahara mentioned that the title “Unital Ring” is a mathematical term very similar to the Ordinal Scale. Check it out below:
ユナイタル・リングというタイトルは、オーディナル・スケールに引き続き数学用語から頂きました。意味はまったくリンクしてません! いままで作中に出てきたVRMMOは、SAOもALOもGGOも誰か詳しい人がいる状態で進行しましたが、今回の舞台は全員ゼロから手探りでWikiも攻略本もありません。
— 川原礫;SAOP7巻3月発売 (@kunori) December 9, 2017
Other than the ‘Alicization’ arc and the upcoming final ‘Unital Ring’ arc, two side-story volumes called ‘Moon Cradle’ have also been published. Although the creators of the anime might consider creating a single-cour season out of the ‘Moon Cradle’ volumes, it seems more likely that they’ll turn them into stand-alone movies or OVAs.
It was also recently confirmed that the six-volume light novel series ‘Sword Art Online: Progressive’ will be adapted into a separate season. ‘Sword Art Online: Progressive’ only retells the story of the Aincard, and that’s probably the reason why A-1 Pictures has not (yet) labeled it as the fourth season. Nonetheless, it very well fills the long gap between ‘Alicization’ and ‘Unital Ring.’ Its release window has not been announced, but we expect ‘Sword Art Online: Progressive’ to release sometime in 2022.
Check out its official announcement video below:
《アリシゼーション》編の最終話放送直後に公開となった「ソードアート・オンライン プログレッシブ」アニメプロジェクト告知映像はこちら!
YouTube:https://t.co/Ci62vkSWRE
公式サイト:https://t.co/rivYvY6aHD#sao_anime pic.twitter.com/kMT4SPxio1
— アニメ ソードアート・オンライン 公式 (@sao_anime) September 19, 2020
Where to Watch Sword Art Online English Dub Online?
The English dub for the first two seasons of ‘Sword Art Online’ is available on Crunchyroll. You can stream both the parts of ‘Sword Art Online Alicization’ with their original Japanese audio and English subtitles on Crunchyroll, HiDive, VRV, Hulu, and AnimeLab.
Read More: Best Sword Art Online Episodes Ranked