- Originally, Zira's name was gonna be "Bianca", but her name was changed in order to sound more African. Zira means "hate" in Swahili.
- Originally, Vitani's name was gonna be "Shetani", which means "demon", but this was changed because the meaning was too obscure. "Vita" means "war" in Swahili, and the "ni" at the end makes it "war demon".
- Nuka means "pestilent" in Swahili.
- Kovu is the word for "scar" in Swahili.
- In the original script, there was a scene where Nuka and Vitani informed Zira that Simba's child was actually a female. In this same scene, Zira revealed that she had been Scar's mate, and also that she was training Kovu already so he wouldn't have compassion for anyone.
- In the original script, Zira actually committed suicide; when Kiara offered her help to climb the stone wall, Zira said "No, never!" and jumped off. Even in the final version, Zira smiles as she is falling down.
- In the original script, Timon said "Pumbaa, this is a sequel, we need a new motto!". This was changed for "Pumbaa, stop living in the past, we need a new motto".
- Originally, Kiara was going to have a brother named Kopa.
- In the scene where Kiara and Kovu are attacked by alligators, Kovu originally said "Take care of yourself!" instead of "I'll distract them, run!".
- Originally, the scene of Nuka's death was larger, and he said to Zira "Well, I finally got your attention" before dying.
- One of the characteristics that define Zira is the dark stripe on her head and the back of her neck. This stripe can be found in all lionesses in real life, but in the movies, only Zira seems to have it.
- All the "evil" lions in this movie and Scar in "The Lion King" can be distinguished for showing their claws at all times. This would actually cause their claws to not be very sharp, for lions retract them precisely so that doesn't happen. However, all evil lions in "The Lion King" seem to have very sharp claws, especially Zira.
What do you think?
