Ernie Sabella talks about his role as Pumbaa over the years.

[Elton John]

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... -quot.aspx

He sees Seth Rogen as just borrowing the role for the remake and hopes he does something new with it.

[DGFone]

Nice find, EJ. It was a great read!

I really like seeing how Sabella sees Pumbaa as "his" character in a way, in that he's been "the" voice actor for Pumbaa for so long, that anyone else taking the same role is due to needing to fill in a slot that Sabella can't make it to, and not because it's perfectly all right to have the same character be voiced by the same actors for an entire franchise's career.

When you think about it, why don't the other characters stick with the same voice actors as much as possible?

[Elton John]

The honest answer is, I really don’t know.

I can only speculate as to why most of the living tlk cast didnt return for kingdom hearts 2 or the lion guard. Maybe it was scheduling conflicts? Maybe it was that they didn’t get enough money to reprise the role?

[Gaze]

awww.... this made me emotional.... I'm so happy he loves the character so much and loves voicing him

[SimbasGuard]

Ernie Sabella has the attitude toward voicing Pumbaa and the genuine love for the character that I wish all of The Lion King cast had This article was a great read and It will give me an even greater appreciation for The Lion King Franchise. I thought that was impossible

Great find Elton John. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[TheLionPrince]

That was great read and nice find. As for the other actors not reprising their roles as much as possible, I believe it has to do with some of the actors not being asked to do given some of the continuation projects have been less high-profile a la television and the budgets for the television series (Timon and Pumbaa series, The Lion Guard) couldn't afford a high-profile star as some of the original actors were. There's also the issue of the lack of availability which is why Rowan Atkinson didn't return to voice Zazu for the sequels. I still, for the life of me, don't understand why the producers couldn't get Moira Kelly back for Nala. I assume they wanted more star power so they got Gabrielle Union, who is just as good in the role as Moira was.

[SimbasGuard]

Anytime an original actor does not return to voice a character I always assume it is because of money. I'm glad to know that there are other reasons as well.

[quote="TheLionPrince"]Moira Kelly back for Nala. I assume they wanted more star power so they got Gabrielle Union, who is just as good in the role as Moira was.[/quote]

Gabrielle Union does a great job as Nala. I am just partial to Moira Kelly because she is the original Nala. I would have liked to get her back for that reason alone.