Trivia / The Lion Guard

• Actor-Shared Background: The show takes place in Africa, and has some notable actors of African American background, including Diamond White, Khary Payton, Phil LaMarr, and Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Adored by the Network: The show was renewed for a second season only a few months after it started. One year later, it was renewed for a third season despite season 1 still airing. It also has daily repeats.
• Billing Displacement: Both movies follow this. In "Return Of The Roar", the celebrity voice actors and the movie actors appear in the first set of credits while the show's main characters are in the second set of end credits. In "The Rise Of Scar", David Oyelowo is billed sixth, right after the five main characters, even though Scar only appears in the last few minutes.
• Cash-Cow Franchise: Similar to Sofia the First, the show offers little-to-know lessons to younger children and attracts a handful of older viewers.
• Celebrity Voice Actor:
  • Besides franchise veterans like Kevin Schon, Jeff Bennett, Ernie Sabella, and James Earl Jones (briefly), the cast includes such high-profile names as Rob Lowe, Maia Mitchell, and John Rhys-Davies.
  • Heather Headley, the voice of Fikiri, originated the role of Nala in the Broadway adaptation, and also originated the title character of Aida, a musical that Disney had produced and hoped to adapt into an animated feature.
  • The Japanese dub does the same by Role Reprise, as movie actress Aiko Sato, who voiced Kiara in her debut film, returns voicing her. Oddly enough, she voices her younger version here, as in the aforementioned film, she voiced her adult self.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, adult Kovu is voiced by Ricardo Silva, a very famous singer who has sung many dubbed versions of many songs for many shows, being especially famous for singing the opening and ending themes of Dragon Ball Z^note Mainly "Cha-la Head-Cha-la", "We Gotta Power", "Boku-tachi wa Tenshi datta" and others. and Slam Dunk^note "Kimi ga Suki da to Sakebitai".
• Crossdressing Voices: In the Japanese dub, almost all the members of the titular Lion Guard, excluding Ono, are voiced by women. This is especially odd, as in previous films the male cubs were voiced by male voice actors like in the original English version and other non-English dubs.
• Dawson Casting: Kiara, who is a cub here, is voiced by Eden Riegel, who is in her thirties.
• Descended Creator:
  • Producer Ford Riley voiced the Big Baboon in his first appearance. He later voices Njano the skink and Sumu the scorpion.
  • Director Howy Parkins voices Mbeya.
  • Writer Elise Allen voices Kulinda.
• Distanced from Current Events: The episode "Never Roar Again" was inexplicably pulled before it was set to air. Speculation is that it was delayed because it prominently featured the crocodile Makuu; in June 2016 a toddler was attacked and killed by alligators at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World, causing Disney to sweep their crocodile and alligator characters under the rug for fear they would be in poor taste after the tragedy. After time passed, not only did the episode air, but Makuu and the crocodiles began to feature prominently in several subsequent episodes.
• Early-Bird Release: The entirety of season 3 was released on DisneyNOW prior to airing on linear television.
• Fandom Nod: Ford Riley admitted that he instructed the writers to make several allusions to the fans desires, especially in regards to the fans belief on who Kion might be shipped with. Jasiri and Fuli were clearly especially favorite targets in that regard, but ultimately, Kion winds up marrying Rani.
• Flip-Flop of God: At first, Word of God said that Kovu wasn't going to be in the show. But eventually this changed, and Kovu, Zira, Nuka, and Vitani were featured in "Lions Of The Outlands".
• Follow the Leader: Many people have noted that this show has many similarities to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Kion's mark being likened to a Cutie Mark, the alternation between adventure and Slice of Life episodes, etc.), to the point that the show's more cynical detractors have labeled Lion Guard as a rip-off.
• Irony as She Is Cast:
  • Played straight with Kion; he only sings occasionally in the show, despite Max Charles being quite a decent singer.
  • Both Maia Mitchell and Christian Slater voice a hyena and snake respectfully, two animals that are known for being cowardly and mischievous. They both share the same birthday as Max Charles, August 18th, which makes them all Leo's, or lions, in astrology.
• Meme Acknowledgment: The creators admit that Bunga's personality and chosen species was at least partially influenced by the "honey badger don't care" meme. It should be noted that part of what made meme so popular is how a honey badger was filmed literally yanking a rodent out of a puff adder's mouth. Wait a second. A honey badger robbing a snake of its rightful, small mammal meal? Hmmm, now why does that sound familiar?
• Non-Singing Voice:
  • Lana McKissack serves as the singing voice for Rani, despite Peyton Elizabeth Lee being the voice of the character.
  • Kion's final two songs were sung by Aaron Daniel Jacob rather than having Max Charles do the songs, despite Charles being shown to be an excellent singer.
• The Other Darrin:
  • While Mufasa was voiced by his original VA James Earl Jones in the premiere, for the series proper he is voiced by Gary Anthony Williams.
  • Rob Lowe replacing Matthew Broderick as Simba. He also replaces Cam Clarke who had voiced Simba in all extended media outside the original movie and the sequels.
  • Gabrielle Union replacing Moira Kelly as Nala. She also replaces Vanessa Marshall who had voiced Nala in a couple video games from the 2000s.
  • Khary Payton voices Rafiki, replacing Robert Guillaume, due to the latter being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Guillaume later died on October 24, 2017.
  • Kevin Schon, who voiced Timon in the bulk of Timon & Pumbaa and several other media appearances, reprises the role once more, replacing Nathan Lane.
  • Zira was originally voiced by Suzanne Pleshette, but with Pleshette having died of cancer in 2008, she was voiced by Nika Futterman in "Lions of the Outlands".
  • Scar is voiced by David Oyelowo rather than Jeremy Irons. He also replaces Jim Cummings (who had voiced him in the sequel and the 2001 video game The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure) and James Horan (who voiced him in extended media since 1999).
  • Zazu, who was played by Rowan Atkinson in the original film, Edward Hibbert in the sequels, and Michael J. Gough in Timon and Pumbaa, is voiced by Jeff Bennett, who previously played the role for the added song in the IMAX release of the original film.
  • Producer Ford Riley voices the Big Baboon only in his first appearance before Dee Bradley Baker took on the role.
  • In the Mexican Spanish dub, the only voice actors who were replaced from the returning characters are Kiara and Kovu (as their infant voice actors are too old to reprise those roles, Kiara adult voice is retired and Kovu adult voice did not return for unknown reasons), Vitani (whose infant voice actress now lives in France and her adult voice was not working for Disney at the time), Nuka and Zira (for unknown reasons), Mufasa and Scar (their voice actors already died).
    • Starting with season 3, Timon's voice actor gets replaced from Raul Aldana, who had voiced him since the very first film, to Luis Leonardo Suarez, who previously voiced him in The Lion King (2019), after the former retired from voice acting.
  • In the Brazilian Portuguese dub: Garcia Jr. (Simba) no longer works for Disney, so Simba is now voiced by Guilherme Briggs (as in Timon and Pumbaa); Alexandre Moreno (Nuka) is instead voicing Tamaa, so Nuka is now voiced by Yuri Tupper; Caio César (young Kovu) and Paulo Flores (Mufasa) are deceased; Pedro Lopes (Timon) was unavailable; and Pádua Moreira (Zazu) declined to reprise his role.
  • Most of the actors in the German dub had been replaced for various reasons. Most notably, since Mufasa, Zazu and Rafiki's voice actors have all passed away (Wolfgang Kühne, Eberhard Prüter and Joachim Kemmer), their new voice actors are Lutz Riedel (Mufasa), Stefan Krause (Zazu) and Leon Boden (Rafiki). Meanwile, Rainer Basedow has left as Pumbaa and passed the reins to Jürgen Kluckert (best known as Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants); Jaron Löwenberg replaces Frank-Lorenz Engel as Simba, and Young Kiara is voiced by Laura Eissel instead of Debby Van Dooren.
  • The sole voice actor in the Japanese dub who was replaced was Pumbaa's one, who went from theater actor Atomu Kobayashi to Hiroshi Hatanaka, who already voiced him in Timon & Pumbaa and the Kingdom Hearts games. In an odd version of this, Kiara is voiced by Aiko Sato, the voice actress who voiced her adult self in Simba's Pride, basically replacing Ayaka Takano, Kiara's original VA as a cub from the same film. Rafiki's voice actor, Ryuji Saikachi, who died in October 2017, is replaced with Masao Komaya later on.
  • Tiifu is replaced by Bailey Gambertogilo in Season 2 after "The Rise of Scar", while she was voiced by Sarah Hyland in the previous season.
• Playing Against Type: Kimiko Glenn, who voices Chuluun, one of Makucha's lieutenants who terrorizes red pandas for the fun of it, is usually cast into more heroic roles.
• Production Posse:
  • Ford Riley previously created Special Agent Oso. As such, many crew members from that show came to this series, including voice actors Cam Clarke and Gary Anthony Williams, voice director Kelly Ward, and writers Krista Tucker, John Loy, and Jack Monano.
  • The show also acts as a reunion for Star Wars Rebels , due to having writer Kevin Hopps, and recurring actors Dee Bradley Baker, Phil LaMarr, Gary Anthony Williams, and David Oyelowo.
  • From Kaijudo , we have writers Jack Monaco and Kevin Hopps, along with voice actors Andrew Kishino, Kari Wahlgren, Dee Bradley Baker, and Phil LaMarr.
  • With Kelly Ward serving as voice director for this series, many voice actors from Jake And The Neverland Pirates, The 7D and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are reunited such as Dee Bradley Baker, Russi Taylor, Maurice LaMarche, Jeff Bennett, and Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Real-Life Relative: "The Golden Zebra" has two zebra siblings voiced by real life siblings, Raini Rodriguez and Rico Rodriguez.
• Role Reprise: Kevin Schon, Ernie Sabella, Jason Marsden, Lacey Chabert, and Andy Dick reprise their respective roles as Timon, Pumbaa, Kovu, Vitani, and Nuka. Jeff Bennett also returns as Zazu after voicing him in the added song in the IMAX release of the original film and the 2003 video game Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure.
• Same Voice Their Entire Life:
  • An odd example with Kovu. He had a child's voice in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, but in this show, he's voiced by his adult actor, Jason Marsden.
  • Vitani was voiced by Lacey Chabert and Jennifer Lien as a cub and an adult, respectively, in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, but Chabert voices her at both stages of her life in this show.
• Schedule Slip:
  • When the show initially premiered, new episodes came out once a week. From "Bunga and the King" onward, it was usually one new episode a month. This was adverted for a few episodes in Season 2.
  • After the season 2 Christmas special, new episodes were burned off in bomb format, which meant longer wait times. There were four new episodes during the week of January 8, 2018, then four more during the week of April 2.
• Screwed by the Network: After "Battle For The Pride Lands" aired, all the season 3 episodes were dumped on DisneyNOW before they were burned off on linear TV starting on September 7, 2019.
• Sequel Gap: Set as an interquel for The Lion King II: Simba's Pride which was released 17 years prior. If going by the release of The Lion King 1 ½, The Lion Guard came out 11 years afterward.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise: Subverted. The plush doll line for The Lion Guard has Mtoto with a Mark of the Guard, but this is purely for merchandising purposes only.
• Star-Making Role:
  • Max Charles already had some publicity, but it was his role as Kion that really made him well known.
  • The same goes for Kion's Japanese voice actress, Yuka Takakura. It also helped a lot that the Japanese dub of the series came almost at the same time with the animated adaptation of UQ Holder!, when Takakura voiced the main character, Tota Konoe.
• Unisex Series, Gendered Merchandise: The franchise is treated as a Spear Counterpart to Sofia the First in terms of merchandising, despite the fact there's nothing "masculine" about zoology and the source franchise is traditionally unisex

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