Two decades ago, The Lion King was a huge hit for Disney and the movie has since spawned an equally successful Broadway musical and a number of direct-to-DVD spin-offs and animated shows.
Aimed at pre-schoolers, Disney Junior is now developing The Lion Guard, a sequel of sorts to the original movie which will debut next November on The Disney Channel.
It will focus on Kion, the son of the now very grown up Lion King (Simba) who assembles a group of animals to help him protect their jungle prideland. The name of this group? You guessed it! The Lion Guard.
Interestingly, Disney Junior general manager Nancy Kante described the series as, “kind of like ‘The Lion King’ meets ‘The Avengers,’” and it should be very interesting to see which other familiar fan favourite characters from The Lion King will make a return for this animated series.
Unfortunately, we’re all going to have a long wait before knowing either way as an hour-long movie will kick off the series in November 2015, while regular episodes airing until following January!
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of The Lion King, and while it’s a shame that The Lion Guard won’t coincide with that, Disney Consumer Products are already planning a wide range of toys based on the series, so expect to see Disney Store windows packed with Kion and company next Christmas!
Source: The Wall Street Journal
