Tears of the Kingdom director reportedly "already has plans" for the next Zelda

gamesradar.com:

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi is apparently already thinking about the next game in the storied franchise. 

That's according to Zachary Small, a New York Times writer who recently published an interview with Fujibayashi as well as series producer Eiji Aonuma. The NYT story (opens in new tab) itself focuses more on the design challenges Tears of the Kingdom faced during development, but in a tweet (opens in new tab), Small added that: "It seems likely that Fujibayashi already has plans for the next Zelda game — though he hasn't even told Aonuma about it yet." 

While the future of the franchise doesn't come up much in the interview, Aonuma did hint at potential story themes around Ganondorf: "It’s very possible from here on out that we will be able to see further character development and changes to his personality as the series continues. Ganondorf is an ingredient that we use to supplement gameplay."

In a separate interview with Polygon (opens in new tab), Fujibayashi discussed ideas that didn't make it into Tears of the Kingdom for one reason or another. "I have a few in mind, but I'm not sure if I can share them here," he joked, adding that he "wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for people." 

Aonuma was quick to note that, "Yeah, no, that would cause trouble for me. So please don't." 

Fujibayashi also touched on the changes Tears of the Kingdom makes to Breath of the Wild's formula in another interview straight from Nintendo. He and Aonuma acknowledged that the sequel felt similar to the original game even deep into development, to the point that many leads and designers experienced "strong deja vu." Aonuma also commented on what deliberately wasn't changed, even if the team had alternate