Humans in The Lion King's universe

[moonsugar33]

I like the idea of the Maasai people existing in the TLK universe, even if they're never visited! A nice piece of something to think about.

Weren't there some horrendous Caucasian zookeepers or something in the Timon + Pumbaa cartoon?

[Elton John]

I really despise the idea of humans in the franchise.

I just view the earth in tlk as existing pre-humanity or where humans didn't exist period.

[DGFone]

There was a point during production where during the beginning of a scene, where they show Pride Rock, there would also be a caption saying "Kenya - Present Day". Well, not so sure about the present day part, but I do recall the Pride Lands being specifically being in Kenya.

Remember that a small group of the production team was sent to Serengeti National Park before production of the movie really took off. While the park is in Tanzania, Kenya is much more well known for "African wildlife", and the Serengeti is right on the border as well - so it would only make sense for the movie to be set in the same location as the research was done.

As for are there humans? The answer is not a "yes" or a "no". The answer is simply: they are not needed, so they don't show up.

[Squeely]

I've always kinda figured humans exist within the TLKverse. The hyenas making jokes like "make mine a cub sandwich" doesn't make much sense otherwise. I do, however, feel that The Timon and Pumbaa Show handled humans very poorly. Should any canon TLK thing attempt to tackle humans, I think it should be along the lines of the animation for Lebo M's "One By One".

[moonsugar33]

One by One was exactly the thing I had in mind when I considered the topic. Good stuff.

[FireAndSun]

I never thought about whether or not there were humans in The Lion King universe. It just never felt relevant. Personally, I'd prefer there to be no acknowledgement of humans or lack thereof. It's not necessary, and it just would add pointless plot elements.

[SimbasGuard]

I guess humans could exist in The Lion King Universe, but the fact that there are no humans shown or mentioned thus far. Is a good thing, a human presence in The Pride Lands would be of no use to the story.

I suppose The Lion Guard could encounter a human, but I think giving The Lion Guard an enemy that they can not reason with, or have a chance of actually defeating would be a very bad idea.

Another post I read on another (now defunct I believe) forum made the point that introducing Humans into the Lion King franchise would make The Lion King very much like Kimba The White Lion.

[Panpardus]

I don't know how canon you want to treat this, but there are clearly houses and cattle in some of Rafiki's cave drawings for this little segment...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cinX1ciNFI

[zerodix]

the animals are anthro, meaning they act like humans. having a majordomo as a king marks where they are in time.. otherwise we have rafiki who is like a shaman..those still exist. i see the lions as equivalent of humans in tlk. if there were humans it would conflict the talking animal monarchy thing.

[simbathehedgehog]

i have a fanfiction that i'm working on with people in the pride lands and there this man that falls in lvoe with zazu and sonic the hedgehog. it's really good, and i will post it when i'm done

so yes humans are in the pride lands