trailer day! today it will air!

[Elton John]

I don't think that they will change the personality of timon and pumbaa much. I do wonder if his mother will be referenced as many don't consider tlk1.5 to be canon. I do hope they at least keep her canon as she was one of the few things i liked about tlk1.5.

[Timon the great]

^ That's exactly what I'm at least hoping for with my favorite meerkat person. Timon's personality being a lot like that of the films. Especially from who he is of 1 1/2. To me, I fully consider everything about Timon himself from his film, including his mother and uncle, canon.

I did see from one of the sources that talked about the upcoming Lion Guard that it was supposedly going to follow all three films. So I think it's possible and will hope that Timon's Ma and Uncle Max could make at least a brief appearance in the series or the premiere.

With everything that we know now, I'm thinking the entire series is going to be a hybrid where the premiere is going to be just like the films. Mostly pure general entertainment especially since Disney has the premiere coming out on their main channel, right next to U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, and during prime time. Then, more of the educational thing that was talked about with the media, when the regular show begins in January on Disney Junior (if that's what they're still planning on doing after the premiere).

What I'm hoping for also is Disney putting the original film trilogy back on live TV sometime after the premiere like they did for a good while after the first film was re-released in theaters back in 2011. Or, if the entire Lion Guard series ends up not fairing too well in the end. That'll be fun for me to see also on TV. But either way, things would be looking up for more people to come back to Lion King altogether. I don't think anyone in the fandom would object to seeing that happen.

[Elton John]

I can see the lion guard lasting for three seasons at least. Depending on how well the merch sells maybe 4-5.

Remember, TLG is part of a franchise that includes

-the number one traditionally animated movie of all time, boxoffice-wise at least. It has close to 800 million in 1994, second only to jurassic park at the time. Including re-releases it's close to a billion. It has the second highest grossing franchise upon theatrical re-release (the first is star wars)
-the number one selling vhs of all time
-the highest grossing broadway musical of all time
-one of the highest selling blu rays
-one of the, if not the, biggest selling direct to vhs sequels (tlk2 has sold over 17 million copies)

This show isn't going to tank in ratings. It's also a regular disney channel thing and not disney XD.

To put things into perspective, disney just renewed their 'guardians of the galaxy' animated series for a second season and that's a show which premiered a month ago on a premium channel and not the regular disney channel.

[SimbasGuard]

Just some things I've noticed (which others probably have too, but I haven't seen them brought up here, though they might have been):

- The Lair of the Lion Guard is hidden within Pride Rock. Not sure how I feel about this supposedly being there all this time.

I am O.K. with this, there was no Lion Guard when Simba was born and Pride Rock is huge. It makes sense that there are parts of it that even Simba would not know about. Also every team needs a headquarters.

- Kiara dancing along with Kion, Bunga and Pumbaa. She's cut off quickly, though.

I noticed that too. I'm really happy someone else noticed It's good to know I'm not hallucinating.

- Kiara is watching the hyenas carefully when they get too close to the antelope - I'm guessing this is how she got herself in trouble.

Good eye. I did not catch that and I have seen the preview several times.

Janja being the leader does seem a bit counter-productive. I'm secretly hoping that at the end Shenzi appears or something to that effect, with Janja being her son. Hey - Cheesier things have happened before, right?

Janja and his group all seem like pups or at least very young teens to me. So I'm guessing that this hyena clan it not a true clan, but rather a gang trying to establish themselves as a more powerful force than they actually are. Although there does sen to be a lot of them. I do not think that Shenzi being Janja's (or one of the other prominent Hyenas) mother would be cheesy at all. in fact the more The Lion Guard connects to The Lion King the better. Besides since Simba And Nala have cubs. It is only logical that The Hyenas have pups.

^ That's exactly what I'm at least hoping for with my favorite meerkat person. Timon's personality being a lot like that of the films. Especially from who he is of 1 1/2. To me, I fully consider everything about Timon himself from his film, including his mother and uncle, canon.

I did see from one of the sources that talked about the upcoming Lion Guard that it was supposedly going to follow all three films. So I think it's possible and will hope that Timon's Ma and Uncle Max could make at least a brief appearance in the series or the premiere.

I also accept Lion King 1 1/2 as canon (Albeit Timon's view of Canon). I don't think Ma and Uncle Max are in danger of being retconned out of existence. After all Timon must have had a mother. Also if she did make an appearance, it would make sense as I am sure she would view Bunga as a grandson.

[MooLion]

I can't lie, I'm not warming to TLG any further with that trailer. XD I just think so many things could have been better, and I know they could have done such things without too much trouble. Why does the original main character, Simba, have to look so odd. The hyenas are ugly shapes and I guess I'm not a big fan of these extra lion guard characters. The honeybadger is annoying. I do like the actual lions most when it comes down to it. Yes, yes, it is mostly for younger audiences and they're more likely to go for the different characters, yadda yadda. But still.

It would be really weird if they were essentially saying TLK2 didn't happen as it did. Seventeen years? (I can't count xD) of being used to Kiara, Kovu, Zira and all that, surely that's got to all still take place. It could all still fit in from what I've seen.

Despite my apparent pessimism, of course I'm still much intrigued by all the news and will watch the TV movie and at least some of the episodes, and will hopefully just get used to it. And I want some merch. :p

[SimbasGuard]

@MooLion: It has been 17 years since Lion King 2.

I realy don't think that Disney will Retcon Lion King 2 out of existence, It seems like a bad idea to me. Being that Kiara is in the series I don't think that they want people to forget Lion King 2. I have hope that they will tie Lion Guard in with Lion King to rather than have Lion Guard replace Lion King 2.

[gothprincesskiara]

that is my biggest hope, if only we can just tell Disney that we want them to somehow

[Hatari05]

You're not alone in that thought I'm a very vocal fan and supporter of Lion King and I don't want to see it retconned either I always prefer a franchise to keep it's history in tact though I also understand that writers do want creative freedom and that is understandable.

[Lauren]

After watching the trailer when it came out, I had a few things to say:

1. For the most part, I remained optimistic about the show since it was first announced because I was so excited for new Lion King content after watching Lion King 2 for the first time seven years prior (I only saw the original when I was 7 and I didn't know there was a sequel to the film and I'm so glad I came to love it as well). From time to time, I kept hearing many different kinds of rumors about different things about the show and I wanted to make sure that I didn't let anything get to me and wait for actual content/news.

I don't understand why Kiara is a cub in this show. Due to this massive change to the timeline, that means TLG is going to be acting as as midquel to The Lion King 2 (so therefore no Kovu or Vitani appearing at all --- at least for now). For a year and a half, it was heavily emphasised that Kiara was going to be Kion's older sister and to us, we obviously imagined Adult Kiara being the big sister towards her little brother and that would've been awesome to see, but nope. That's scraped out! What was the point of emphasizing that for a year and a half if Kiara is pretty much going to be about the same age as her brother? Most kids who are going to be watching the show will not know that Kiara was supposed to be grown up at this point since she actually did become an adult in the second film. What is so hard about following that aspect of the timeline? Why do basic details like that have to be massively changed all around and making the continuity much more complicated than it needs to be?

2. I do feel that I am going to like Kion very much and I hope that there are going to be differences between him, Simba, and Kiara since he will now be our third main lion protagonist in the franchise. I also hope come to love the other members of Kion's team, especially Fuli. ^^

3. I'm very excited to find out more about Tiifu and Zuri. More lion cubs to come and love soon.

4. "I don't like Simba's design nor his voice."

I can't believe that I would've ever said that sentence. I was very disappointed with the way my favorite character is designed for the show and I felt so akward watching the trailer whenever he came up. I know Rob Lowe is no Matthew Broderick, but I do hope to accept his new voice as I continue to watch the show. It's more of his design that bothers me rather than the voice. His eyes are so wide, his eyebrows are too thick, his face looks so squished and his body seems off. It's like the animators mixed his slim body from his younger years from the first movie and his thicker mane from the second movie. They could've just followed his character model from film two since he's supposed to be older during Kiara and Kion's time as a father. Simba could've been animated so much better.

5. Since the show is going to take place in the middle of Lion King 2, I am hoping that the writers will be able to show us the connection between the show and the timeline of the film so that it's not completely retconned and we can possibly see Kovu, Vitani, Zira, Nuka, and the other Outsiders as time passes.

6. The whole thing with the backstory of Scar's lion guard from the past is something I'm wanting to find out about despite it seeming questionable about his character based on how he is in the original film.

[SimbasGuard]

that is my biggest hope, if only we can just tell Disney that we want them to somehow

I think at this point, the series is too far along for us to tell Disney anything. Even if they would listen. We can only hope that what we are hoping for is what Disney had planed all along.

@Lauren: I was also disappointed to find out that The Lion Guard is set within Lion King 2 rather than after it It will be O.K. though if They don't completely retcon Lion King 2. I still have high hopes for this series.