by DGFone » May 6th, 2014, 8:21 am
From what I remember about pre-production of SP, they initially did plan on bringing back the hyenas, but chose not to because they felt that SP was becoming too much a recreation of the first movie than a true sequel.
And frankly, I can agree with that decision. After all, the hyenas were Scar's pals. And when Scar turned on them at the end of the first movie, it concluded their story arc. They longer had any reason to remain in the Pride Lands, and the last thing they will want to do is side with someone who hates them (Simba), or even worse, someone fanatical to the one who betrayed them (Zira). That's why you got the bit spoken by Nuka about them leaving the elephant graveyard: they had no reason to stay, so they left.
Remember that the movies are called The Lion King. Even in the first movie, the hyenas were secondary villains at best. So to say that SP is pointless because it doesn't include the hyenas, while not entirely without merit, is something much less than even a single percent of fans of the first movie think.
Many fans enjoy the hyenas as well. I know I do. But we know that their place was with the first film, and SP is about the lion civil war. It had no room for hyenas, and I don't think that it was made pointless by excluding them.
The producers tried initially to keep the hyenas, but discovered that doing so made the movie even worse. I have to say they were right on that call.