Wait, did Disney actually just give Simba a second kid? That was the collective gasp from the Lion King fandom back in 2015 when The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar first premiered on Disney Channel. Most people saw the TV movie as a simple bridge to a preschool show. It’s not. Honestly, if you grew up on the 1994 original, this film feels like a weird, high-stakes fever dream that somehow manages to fix a lot of the plot holes left by The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.
It’s about Kion. He's the son of Simba and Nala, the younger brother to Kiara, and the leader of a ragtag group of animals tasked with protecting the Pride Lands. But here’s the kicker: he has a superpower. It’s called the Roar of the Elders. When he lets it rip, the spirits of great lions from the past roar along with him in the clouds. It sounds ridiculous on paper. In practice, it’s a massive expansion of the lore that Disney hadn't touched in decades.
Why The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar Messed With Our Heads
For years, the "official" sequel was the 1998 direct-to-video movie. We all knew Kiara. We knew Kovu. But where was Kion? The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar takes place right in the middle of the timeline of the second movie. Specifically, it happens during the gap between Kiara’s first meeting with Kovu as a cub and her first hunt as a young adult.
Ford Riley, the creator, didn't just throw a new character into the mix for the sake of toy sales. Well, maybe a little. But he actually sat down and thought about how a monarchy functions when there are two siblings and only one throne. Kion isn't the heir; he’s the muscle. The film establishes the "Lion Guard" as a tradition that goes back generations. It turns out Scar used to be the leader of his own Guard. That’s a heavy piece of backstory. The movie reveals that Scar lost his "Roar" because he used it for evil, murdering his own team when they wouldn't help him overthrow Mufasa. That single detail recontextualizes Scar's entire motivation in the original 1994 film. He wasn't just jealous; he was a disgraced captain of the guard.
The Team Nobody Expected
Usually, a Lion Guard is made up of five lions. Kion ignores that. He picks his best friends instead.
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- Bunga: A honey badger who is "Brave." He’s basically Timon and Pumbaa’s adopted nephew. He’s gross, loud, and completely fearless.
- Fuli: A cheetah who is "Fast." She’s the only one who actually seems to have a functioning brain half the time.
- Beshte: A hippo who is "Strong."
- Ono: An egret who is "Keen of Sight."
Simba hates this. He’s incredibly overprotective in this movie, bordering on paranoid. You can see the trauma from Mufasa’s death dripping off him. He doesn't trust a honey badger and a bird to protect his kingdom. The tension between Simba’s traditionalism and Kion’s modern approach to friendship drives the entire 44-minute runtime. It’s a classic generational clash, but with more teeth.
The Visuals and That "Disney Television" Look
Let’s be real for a second. This isn't the 1994 hand-drawn masterpiece. It’s Flash animation, or at least a very high-end version of it. Mercury Filmworks handled the production, and while it doesn't have the sweeping, cinematic depth of the theatrical films, it’s vibrant. The colors pop. The character designs for the hyenas—specifically Janja and his clan—are sharp and distinct from the bumbling trio of Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed.
Janja is actually a credible threat here. He’s smart. He realizes that if the Lion Guard is back, the "free-for-all" buffet in the Pride Lands is over. The movie culminates in a battle at the Outlands border that, while geared toward kids, has some surprisingly tense moments. When Kion finally unleashes the Roar, the screen fills with these ethereal, glowing lion heads. It’s a total departure from the grounded nature of the first film, but it fits the "Circle of Life" spiritualism that Disney loves to lean into.
Music That Actually Slaps
Beau Black did the music for this, and "Sisi Ni Sawa" (We Are the Same) is a genuine earworm. It’s a duet between Kion and Jasiri, a female hyena who actually respects the Circle of Life. This was a huge deal for the franchise. Up until The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, hyenas were always the villains. Period. This movie introduced the idea that not all hyenas are scavengers looking to destroy the world. Some are just trying to get by. It added a layer of nuance to the Pride Lands' ecosystem that we hadn't seen before.
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The Impact on the Lion King Timeline
If you're a lore nerd, this movie is the gateway to some dark stuff. It eventually leads to Kion leaving the Pride Lands entirely to seek healing at the Tree of Life because he gets a scar over his eye—just like his uncle. It explores the idea of whether evil is hereditary.
Simba’s character arc across the Lion Guard series, starting with this film, shows him grappling with his failures as a father and a king. He's not the perfect hero we saw at the end of the first movie. He’s a guy trying to keep a fragile peace while his son is out there fighting shadow wars with the ghost of Scar. Yeah, Scar comes back as a fire demon later in the series. The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar is the relatively "safe" starting point for a story that gets progressively weirder and more epic.
Addressing the "Kopa" Rumors
We have to talk about Kopa. For years, fans of the Lion King books (specifically Six New Adventures) insisted that Simba had a son named Kopa who was killed or chased away by Zira. When this movie came out, it effectively nuked Kopa from the canon. Disney has been very clear: the books weren't theirs, but the show is. Kion is the official son. This caused a massive rift in the fandom, but honestly, Kion is a much more developed character than Kopa ever was in those 90s novellas.
Practical Takeaways for Fans and Parents
If you're planning on diving into this with your kids, or if you're just a nostalgic millennial looking for a fix, here is how to approach it.
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- Watch it as a "Mid-quel": Don't expect a prequel or a direct sequel. This lives in the "empty space" of Simba's Pride.
- Focus on the Lore: Pay attention to the paintings in the Guard's lair. They tell the history of the Pride Lands that the movies skipped.
- Prepare for the Tonal Shift: It’s more "superhero team" than "Shakespearean tragedy." If you go in expecting Hamlet, you'll be disappointed. If you go in expecting The Avengers with paws, you'll love it.
- Check the Voice Cast: Rob Lowe voices Simba. It’s a bit jarring at first if you’re used to Matthew Broderick, but he grows on you. Max Charles (Kion) carries the emotional weight surprisingly well for a kid.
The real legacy of The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar isn't just that it launched a successful show. It’s that it proved The Lion King universe was big enough to handle magic, diverse teams, and complex morality beyond just "lions good, hyenas bad." It’s a solid, fun entry that respects the source material while daring to do something wildly different.
Actionable Next Steps
To get the most out of the Lion Guard experience, start by watching the film on Disney+ and then jump straight into Season 1, Episode 1 ("The Rise of Makuu") to see how the team dynamics evolve. For those interested in the deeper canon, compare the depiction of the "Outlands" in this film to its appearance in Simba's Pride—the continuity is surprisingly tight. Finally, if you're a collector, look for the "Battle for the Pride Lands" play sets which are modeled directly after the locations introduced in this movie, as they remain the most accurate physical representations of the new lore.