King's Quest IX

King's Quest IX is a hypothetical King's Quest sequel set somewhere between the end of King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity and the episodic King's Quest: Adventures of Graham by The Odd Gentlemen. It would take place when Graham is roughly in his 70s see KQ9 timeline (or perhaps 50s in the earlier timelines). It may roughly coincide with King's Quest Chapter V the final episode of the episodic series.

Despite this the King's Quest: Adventures of Graham episodic series is the ninth published original King's Quest adventure title (but not considered KQ9).

Background
There have been a number of attempts at making a ninth King's Quest game and/or rebooting the series. The only developer to make it so far is The Odd Gentlemen.

King's Quest IX concept ideas by Roberta Williams made around the release of KQ8 between 1998 and 1999.

Roberta Williams concepts for KQ9
King's Quest: Mask of Eternity was marginally successful for an an adventure game (though the bestselling adventure that year), but it wasn't enough for an official KQ9 to go into production under Sierra, and for the most part Roberta Williams brushed away questions about any future sequels in the series. However she did discuss an idea or two about what a future game might hold if she could have produced another game in the series... Some of these thoughts includes;

"How much of a role will the royal family play in Mask of Eternity? Will Connor marry Rosella, or is she still dating Edgar from King's Quest 7?"

"The only character from previous King's Quests will be a couple of cameo appearances by King Graham. I felt that it was time to feature a new character to the saga of King's Quest as long as we were updating the whole look and feel of the series. And--who knows? Perhaps in some future King's Quest game, Connor will at least meet Rosella! Don't worry, though. Connor is a very interesting character in his own right, and I'm sure he will win over many of the traditional King's Quest hearts."



"What if Connor met Rosella? That would be good... We got that problem with Edgar... Love triangles are always interesting." Roberta Williams -Mask of Eternity Talkspot Interview, Part 1.

While not specifically King's Quest related she has also said that the future of Adventure Gaming may have to rely on the multiplayer, and become something similar to MMORPG, but instead would be a Massively Multiplayer Online Adventure Game. In fact, she said originally there was a discussion for early on for KQ8 to have a multiplayer component, but it was something she had save for KQ9 instead (Talkspot Part I)

She has also said that perhaps fangame community is keeping the plate warm for her return.

Roberta later she would have little involvement in future King's Quests ;

"As to a King's Quest IX: Since I will never design a King;s Quest 9, it would be unfair of me to comment on any one else's endeavors in that area. However, if there were ever to be a King's Quest 9, I wish it luck and hope that it could revive interest in adventure gaming as a whole and in the original King's Quest games in general."



One of the ideas made for KQ8 that Graham was too old to go on adventures, and Alexander was now a king of another land, and less likely to go on Adventures on behalf of Daventry. Thus the need to introduce some new characters into the series. Would Roberta have kept this direction?

The official hintbook for KQ8, makes reference to King's Quest IX being the next game to be released in the future (although this never came to be).


 * King's Quest (Vivendi Studios)
 * King's Quest (Silicon Knights)
 * King's Quest (Telltale Games)
 * King's Quest: Adventures of Graham (The Odd Gentlemen)

Although King's Quest: Adventures of Graham is the ninth game developed in the series (or tenth if you count King's Questions or the King's Quest I SCI remake), its not technically King's Quest IX. It is instead seen as a sort of 'reimagining' of the entire series (but all the previous games are still considered part of its canon). However, the episodic game is neither a sequel nor a reboot, but the reimagining tells a number of stories that take place in between and after the original series.

As it was always planned that the new KQ (whoever made it) would be a reimagining they new it couldn't be the true King's Quest IX.
 * “It’s going to be hard to make a King’s Quest IX because everyone’s so attached. The directive was to do a reimagining anyway."


 * The game is completely reimagined; it’s not King’s Quest IX or anything like that,” Korba explains. “Think about it like when someone reimagines The Wizard of Oz, or Peter Pan. That’s how I see King’s Quest, [as one of] those classic fairy tales that keep being retold and reimagined.”

Behind the scenes
There have been a number of attempts to either make a King's Quest IX or series 'revival' or 'reimagining'. But most were cancelled. The Odd Gentlemen's series is the first to actually make it nearly twenty years (since 1998).

An alternative way of looking at things would be to consider Chapter I: A Knight to Remember as KQ9, ch2 as KQX, ch3, as KQXI, etc. But this might add more confusion. It's also possible to see Chapter I, as "KQ1" of the new series, etc. But to avoid confusion it will be counted as 'KQC1' instead.

King's Quest IX is not The Silver Lining.