Disney has released a new Lion Guard clip, that also ties in with their Disney Channel movie Descendants.
In this clip Simba is shown to still be worried about the safety of his cub(s). It seems that in the clip Rafiki has told Simba, Kion's role in the Circle of Life. Simba's reply is to nervously say, "He can't possibly be ready, he's still a cub."
As we know in Lion King 2, Simba was overprotective of Kiara.
Today marks the anniversary of the 1998 release of The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride! Coincidentally, it was a Tuesday in 1998 when it was released.
Here at Simba's Pride News, I'm excited, as this is my favorite movie of all time if you couldn't tell.
In honor of this event, here's the history of The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride:
According to Wikipedia, Disney considered a sequel before the movie was released, and eventually predicted a release in 1995, which then went to 1996, and then 1997.
Lion King 2 was a bit different than it is now. It still had a Romeo and Juliet plot, but one of the differences is Kovu was Scar's son, Nunka (Voiced by Andy Dick, who instead voiced Kovu's brother,Nuka).:
Source: Lionking.wikia.com
In case you're confused, Kovu is not Scar's son in the final film.
He was changed to be Scar's heir after it was realized he and Kiara would be cousins.
Kiara was named Aisha, but was later renamed Shani when it turned out Aisha was the name of the yellow Power Ranger. Eventually they settled on Kiara for her name. She had a hair tuft like cub Simba did. (She was rumored to be voiced by either Sarah Jessica Parker, or Jennifer Aniston, but instead was voiced by Neve Campbell).
Source: Lionking.wikia.com
Speaking of different names, some characters got new names, but had minor appearance changes. Zira was rumored to have been named Bianca which means white. Her current name Zira is more fitting as it means Hate. In production her eyes were green and blue, and sometimes merchandising kept her eyes blue. Vitani's name was Shetani which meant Devil, but was changed, and now means War.
Source: Lionking.wikia.com
Some characters weren't so lucky and were cut from the film all together.
Lets start with some characters who we recognize from The Lion King: The Hyenas.
Source: Lionking.wikia.com
The hyenas were meant to be Zira's minions, and Cheech Marin signed on to reprise his role as Banzai! However it was realized that the hyenas were actually the ones who killed Scar, so they were replaced with a group of lionesses called The Outsiders (Contrary to popular belief, they were never referred to as Outlanders in the film, only some merchandise did.)
Source: Lionking.wikia.com
Kiara also had an older brother named Chaka, who was meant to be the cub shown at the end of the first film. However to simplify things, they just made that cub Kiara.
Source: Mylionking
Many years later, Kiara now has a brother.
Source: Lion Guard Wikia
There was also going to be a hornbill named Binti who would have served as Zazu's girlfriend, and had many designs before being scrapped.
Source: Lion King Wikia
Some concepts and scenes were deleted as well.
One took place after "He Lives in You" and had Rafiki painting Kiara's picture on his tree next to Simba's. However Mufasa's wind alerts him of an upcoming danger, another cub named Kovu in The Outlands.
The next two scenes take place after this and was to introduce The Outlands.
Kovu is playing and catches a termite, then releases it. However, his mother Zira scolds him for showing weakness and reminds him how Scar accepted him like a son.
The scene directly after this has Vitani and Nuka racing back to the Outlands to alert Zira of Kiara's birth.
The next scene is an extended version of the most emotional death scene in a film I've ever seen: Nuka's death. It gives him a few more lines other than, "I'm sorry mother...I t-r-r-ied."
The last deleted scene is another extended death. It showed that instead of Zira slipping and falling to her death, she instead let go and committed suicide.
There was also a concept of The Outsiders living in a diamond cave, which Shani\Aisha would discover and meet Nunka. Not much is known about this place, besides concept art.
Images below from Lion King Wikia
Then October 27th 1998 it was released direct to VHS and a new Circle of Life began.
Yesterday was exactly one month away from Return of the Roar's premiere, now today is exactly one month away from DisneyJunior.com/TheLionGuard 's launch and the ability to watch the movie on the WATCH Disney Junior app.
Perhaps from the website we'll see Kiara. The first games on the site are going to be about each guard member and their strengths. However, I assume as time goes on it will develop into a site like the other Disney Junior shows, with Kiara and all.
So I decided to analysis some of the other Disney Junior websites and make predictions of what might also happen on The Lion Guard sight (With a bit of focus on Kiara, naturally.)
The shows all seem to have some very creative and unique games. Disney.com 's games tend to rehash some concepts in their games, but these each have their own special games.
So I ended up having some fun:
Here's a human!Kiara as a pirate. From the game Pirate Me.
As stated above, there are some confirmed games dealing with the Lion Guard's strengths. Maybe there will be more games similar to the ones above. There could be a lion maker game, where you make your own guard member. A drawing game is almost certain, as that's common fare among toddler games. There's bound to be a game that features Kiara in some way, maybe one focusing on her.
There's also a video section on most pages. Depending on the videos they choose there might be some that feature Kiara. Two of the preview clips already have her in them.
The finally activity and coloring sheets. These are also common and could feature Kiara as well.
We'll just have to wait and see what the website will give us.
It's exactly one month until The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar premieres, which marks the official return of Kiara. I'm excited for this film, not only for Kiara and The Outlands, but because I've wanted a new Lion King for such a long time. I still remember being a little girl and getting excited for The Lion King 1 1\2, and I loved that movie dearly. Kion and his friends seem like great characters, and even though undoubtedly Kiara will be my favorite character, my favorite Guard member so far is Bunga.
However, there are two things happening leading up to The Lion Guard's premiere.
This book is based on the upcoming film, and is described as being beautifully illustrated. Given that it's based on the movie, we might get to see Kiara. Perhaps she'll be shown in the stampede like the trailer:
November 18th
In Toronto, Canada, The Lion Guard will be discussed at the 2015 Child, Youth & Media Conference. It's an hour long from 2:15 to 3:15. While it's not clear what will be discussed, there could be reports after the conference.
For now it's a waiting game for The Lion Guard, but don't worry, time will pass quickly, and soon we will see Kion roaring proudly, Kiara learning to be queen, and a brand new era of The Lion King beginning.
I'll go in chronological order of the preview and discuss the Simba's Pride elements.
First we get more pictures of The Outlands and their hyena residents.It looks like Janja has his own vulture Majordomo.
In fear of the new Lion Guard, they try to kill as many animals as possible.
However, Kiara stumbles upon them.
Then here's another shot of the hyenas in The Outlands.
Then it turns out, poor Kiara gets stuck in the gazelle stampede. Simba calls her name
and she yelps out, "Help!" Simba might be reliving the stampede he was in as a cub in his mind at this point too.
Then finally, an epic fight scene between the guard and the hyenas.
Simba's Pride news is excited for the premiere of The Lion Guard, and will keep you updated on any news regarding Kiara or The Outlands. (Although, I'm also excited to meet the new characters and experience the story as well.)
Disney has made this time line outlining the time line of The Lion King franchise. Naturally Simba's Pride has it's own little section. Interestingly they use the 2004 special edition cover to represent it:
Source: Amazon.com
Also let's not forget the other Lion King projects that Kiara has had cameos in. Since she's officially the cub at the end of The Lion King, she has a cameo in almost all retellings of The Lion King.
Here we have Simba and Nala excitedly watching from the distance as Rafiki holds up their daughter, Kiara.
The Lion King on Broadway
Here's the time Kiara was her dad. Well...Kinda. They use the same puppet for baby Simba and Kiara. This puppet can be moved by the Rafiki actress so it looks like the cub is wiggling.
She may not be a baby in this, but this one is special. This marks her official return to The Lion King. Disney still considers the cub at the end to be Kiara, and in Lion King storybooks refer to her as "princess" and "daughter", but they rarely use her name anymore. However, The Lion Guard could change the tides.
The Lion Guard has an official site up now, and has some new pictures. Three are of interest for this blog, although all of them are good.
We got two of Kiara and one of the hyenas in The Outlands.
This one is captioned: "Janja and the hyenas of the Outlands"
We get our first look at the head hancho hyena himself, who was previous only mentioned in the extended clip: "Fun's over! Janja needs his lunch!" His surrounding hyenas seem worried about something, perhaps Janja is planning a horrible scheme to stop The Lion Guard.
This one is captioned: "Kiara and Simba looking at the sunrise on top of Pride Rock."
This mirrors the scene in The Lion King where Mufasa took Simba to the tip of Pride Rock. I can just imagine Simba saying, "Kiara, everything the light touches is our kingdom!" Even though it's their kingdom, Simba sure did limit Kiara's exploration of said kingdom in Simba's Pride. This is a lovely image that perfectly shows the bond Kiara and Simba share.
This one is captioned: ""Tifu, Kiara, Nala, Simba and Rafiki"
In this image we get our first look at Kion's friend Tifu, who is sitting next to Kiara. Maybe Kiara finally got a Pride Land friend. When watching Simba's Pride she seemed so lonely, and Kovu was the only cub her own age she had to play with, but of course wasn't allowed to. They all seem observant and worried, Maybe the hyenas are attacking the Pride Lands and Kion's heading off to stop them.
The other screenshots are worth looking at too, as they show The Guard, Kion, and even Mufasa!
Disney has a released a new trailer that confirms November 22nd as the release of The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar. Not only that, but we get some footage of Kiara on Pride rock with her dad!
In the words of Scar, "Now this looks familiar...Oh yes, I remember." :
Source: LionKing.org
It does seem Kiara is taking her role as queen more seriously. She's going to star in a book called "Can't Wait to be Queen." While in Simba's Pride she uttered, "What if I don't wanna be queen!? It's no fun..."
Well, I just can't wait to see her in The Lion Guard!
