Disney made an amazing movie (and the world’s most difficult video game) with The Lion King. They also made a series and a few mediocre (at best) sequels that luckily most fans have not seen. Now, they are going back to the well to tell the story of the next generation in the line of Mufasa, Simba, and now Kion with The Lion Guard, a Made for TV movie and follow up series set to air on Disney XD early next year.

Here’s what a Disney exec had to say to Variety about the project:

We were really trying to make sure, from a production value, that we could get as close to the feel of the movie as we possibly can. I think people will be sort of amazed at just how beautiful it really looks. Some of the artists on the series have in fact worked on the original movies.

If you are looking for some returning voice talent, you are in luck…at least partially. Here’s the voice cast so far:
– James Earl Jones – Mufasa
– Ernie Sabella – Pumbaa
– Rob Lowe – Simba
– Gabrielle Union – Nala
– Max Charles – Kion
– Joshua Rush – Bunga, a fearless honey badger
– Atticus Shaffer – Ono, an intellectual egret
– Diamond White – Fuli, a confident cheetah.
– Dusan Brown – Beshte, a good-spirited hippo.

in the new series, Kion breaks tradition by forming“The Lion Guard” out of a varied group of animal friends he thinks are heroic. Typically, only the bravest, strongest lions in the African savanna can be members. In the movie and the TV episodes that follow, the crew will learn how to use unique abilities to solve problems while introducing young viewers to new kinds of fauna.

Source: Variety