The following is a list of characters appearing in Disney's The Lion King franchise. It includes characters from the 1994 film, its direct-to-video sequel and prequel, its two television series, printed media, and the prequel to its 2019 photorealistic remake.
Introduced in The Lion King Simba
Simba (voiced by Matthew Broderick as adult Simba in the films with Joseph Williams providing his singing voice in The Lion King; Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a cub in The Lion King with Jason Weaver and Evan Saucedo providing his cub form's singing voice; Matt Weinberg as a cub in The Lion King 1½; Cam Clarke in Timon & Pumbaa and Kingdom Hearts II, as well as his singing voice in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride; Rob Lowe in The Lion Guard; Donald Glover in the 2019 film and Mufasa: The Lion King and JD McCrary as a cub in the 2019 film) is the main protagonist of The Lion King franchise. He is the son of Mufasa and Sarabi, Scar's nephew, Nala's mate, Sarafina's son-in-law and Kiara and Kion's father as well as Rani and Kovu's father-in-law. After defeating Scar, Simba takes Mufasa's place as King of Pride Rock before marrying Nala and having Kiara and Kion with her. His name means "lion" in Swahili.
In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Simba is an overprotective father of Kiara and obtains a great hatred of the Outsiders, a group of lions led by a lioness named Zira, whom he exiled due to their reliability to Scar. He finally lets go of his hate after Kiara and Kovu stopped the battle between the Pride Lands and the Outsiders because as lions they are one.
In The Lion Guard, Simba fathers Kion, and refuses to accept Kion's decision to allow non-lion animals into the Lion Guard in the first place. However, he accepts his proposal afterwards. In the show's second season, after a failed attempt on Simba's life, orchestrated by the spirit of Scar, Simba, and Kion plot to defeat him once and for all. As of season three, Scar's ghost has been conquered and his followers have become neutral under the rule of Jasiri, who becomes the new Outlands leader. However, due to a facial wound caused by a snake bite during the battle, Kion journeys to find the Tree of Life, to get healed. Simba bids his son farewell on his trip. Afterwards, he welcomes Kion home following his journey and accepts his love to Rani of the Night Pride by accepting her as his daughter-in-law after Kion and Rani's marriage and Kion's coronation as King of the Tree of Life.
Nala
Nala (voiced by Moira Kelly in the films with Sally Dworsky providing her singing voice in The Lion King; Niketa Calame as a cub in The Lion King with Laura Williams providing her cub form's singing voice; Gabrielle Union in The Lion Guard; Beyoncé in the 2019 film and Mufasa: The Lion King and Shahadi Wright Joseph as a cub in the 2019 film) is Sarafina's daughter, Simba's best friend and later mate, Kiara and Kion's mother and Mufasa and Sarabi's daughter-in-law. She is also Rani and Kovu's mother-in-law by the end of the second film and the third season of The Lion Guard. Although she is a prominent character in The Lion King, she makes minor appearances in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, The Lion King 1½, and The Lion Guard.
In The Lion King, she is portrayed as Simba's childhood friend (whom she is betrothed to when they were born and younger infants by their parents). After helping Simba enter the elephant graveyard, she has to be rescued by her future father-in-law, Mufasa, when the hyenas attack them. Several years later, Nala encounters Simba as a young adult and develops a romantic relationship with him. After returning to Pride Rock, she helps Simba defeat Scar and take his rightful place as King of Pride Rock afterwards she becomes Simba's wife and mate as well as his Queen.
In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Nala is depicted as slightly older, calmer, and less overprotective of Kiara than her mate, Simba. She was the only lion who supported her daughter's relationship with Kovu throughout the second film. By the end of the second film, she and Simba are presented at their daughter's wedding and she accepts her son-in-law into her family as well as her new king of the Pride Lands.
During the three seasons of The Lion Guard, she has a second cub; a male lion named Kion. By the end of the series, (like Simba) she accepts her son's marriage to the Queen of the Tree of Life and leader of the Night Pride, Queen Rani while gaining her as her daughter-in-law.
Timon and Pumbaa
Timon (voiced by Nathan Lane in the films and earlier episodes of Timon & Pumbaa; Quinton Flynn in earlier episodes of Timon & Pumbaa; Kevin Schon in later episodes of Timon & Pumbaa and in The Lion Guard; Bruce Lanoil in the video games and Billy Eichner in the 2019 remake film and Mufasa: The Lion King) and Pumbaa (voiced by Ernie Sabella in most appearances; Leslie Hedger in Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure and Seth Rogen in the 2019 film, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and Mufasa: The Lion King) are a meerkat and common warthog duo. Timon being an insouciant, yet trustworthy friend, while Pumbaa is kind-hearted and courageous with occasional childlike naivety. The pair act as comedy relief, and as friend and mentor to Simba throughout the film series.
When they first meet Simba in The Lion King, they save him from a flock of vultures. They take him in and bring him to their home in an oasis. Later, after Simba grows up and returns to the Pride Lands to battle Scar, they helped Simba stop Scar's tyrannical reign and they become Simba's royal advisors.
In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Timon and Pumbaa are assigned by Simba to keep watch over his daughter Kiara when she goes to play in The Pride Lands and later on her first hunt. They later aid Simba and his pride in the fight against Scar's vengeful follower Zira and her pride the Outsiders. After the Outsiders reform and rejoin Simba's pride, Timon and Pumbaa look on as Kiara marries Zira's son Kovu.
Although they are supporting characters in the first two films, they are featured as the main characters in The Lion King 1½ as well as in the TV series Timon & Pumbaa.
In the TV series The Lion Guard, they are the adoptive uncles of the honey badger Bunga and make their home at Hakuna Matata Falls.
Scar
Scar (voiced by Jeremy Irons in The Lion King with Jim Cummings providing his singing voice; Jim Cummings in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure; James Horan in Kingdom Hearts II, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, and Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom; David Oyelowo in The Lion Guard; Chiwetel Ejiofor in the 2019 film and Kelvin Harrison Jr. in Mufasa: The Lion King.) is the main antagonist of The Lion King franchise. He is a black-maned lion who is Mufasa's younger brother, Simba's uncle, and Kovu's adoptive father. His name refers to his scarred eye. In The Lion King, by murdering Mufasa and exiling Simba, he becomes "King of the Pride Lands". However, years later, Simba returns to Pride Rock and overthrows Scar to become King of the Pride Lands. Scar survives the fall but is then attacked and killed by his hyena minions after they overheard him attempting to deceive Simba by betraying them.
As depicted in The Lion King: Six New Adventures and Mufasa: The Lion King, his birth name was Taka, but he was given the name "Scar" after he betrayed Mufasa to a rival pack.
In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, it is revealed that Scar had gained loyalty from a group of lions who were exiled from Pride Rock by Simba to the Outlands in the wake of Scar's death, with Scar's longtime mate, Zira, being their leader. Scar is mentioned several times by the characters but makes two cameos. His first appearance is during Simba's nightmare, where he morphs into his adopted son Kovu and throws Simba into the stampede that killed Mufasa, similarly to the first film. His second appearance is during Kovu's exile in which Kovu looks into his reflection and instead of his, he sees the image of his adopted father. At the end of the film, Kovu marries Kiara, Simba and Nala's daughter, and Scar's great-niece, and becomes Simba and Nala's son-in-law and successor.
As an alternate background in The Lion Guard, Scar was once the leader of the titular group and possessed the Roar of the Elders, but lost it after using it to destroy the other members of his Lion Guard when they refused to help him overthrow Mufasa as king, as the Roar is meant to be used for good and not evil. In season two, Kion, Simba's son and the leader of the new Lion Guard, unknowingly summons Scar back as a fiery spirit in a volcano after using the Roar in anger when Janja provokes him. Scar then conspires with the animals in the Outlands to take over the Pride Lands and defeat the Lion Guard and Simba, who were initially unaware of his return. Later in the season, the Lion Guard find out that Scar has returned, while they are in the Outlands getting volcanic ash needed to cure Simba of a scorpion sting. In season three's one-hour premiere "Battle for the Pride Lands", Scar continues to battle the Lion Guard, who are now adolescents. It is also revealed that Scar got his scar after being bitten by a cobra as an adolescent while befriending a rogue lion from the Outlands. Angered, Scar used the Roar to kill the lion and snake, while Mufasa teased him and nicknamed him "Scar", leading to Scar plotting to dethrone Mufasa. At the end, Kion summons the Great Kings of the Past to rain upon Scar, thus destroying him once and for all.
In the 2019 film, Scar told Zazu to get help to rescue Simba while he goes to help him. This was a cover-up so that Scar can kill Mufasa. When Mufasa is dead and Simba has fled, Scar takes over as the ruler of the Pride Lands while allowing the hyenas to work with the lions. This led to overhunting. When Sarabi refuses to become Scar's mate, Scar makes things worse by having the hyenas eat first and they do not leave much behind. By the second advancement, Scar struck down Sarabi when she mentioned Mufasa. Like the films, Scar fought Simba and tried to blame Mufasa's death on the hyenas. When Scar is thrown off of Pride Rock, he survived the fall and was confronted by the hyenas. Scar states to them that if they build an army, they will retake the Pride Lands. Kamari and Azizi state that they heard the insult towards them. Scar claims that he was trying to fool Simba and that there can still be a partnership between lions and hyenas. Shenzi states to Scar that he was right about a hyena's belly never being full. Scar strikes at some of the attacking hyenas until they swarm over him and kill him.
Shenzi, Banzai and Ed
Shenzi (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg in the animated films; Tress MacNeille in Timon & Pumbaa and Kingdom Hearts II; Jenifer Lewis in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom; Florence Kasumba in the 2019 film), Banzai (voiced by Cheech Marin in the animated films, Kingdom Hearts II, and Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom; and Rob Paulsen in Timon & Pumbaa and The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure), and Ed (voiced by Jim Cummings) are the three spotted hyenas who serve as Scar's minions and reside in the Elephant Graveyard. After Scar promises them and the rest of their fellow hyenas that they will have food in return for them helping him get rid of his brother Mufasa and nephew Simba to become King of the Pride Lands, the three hyenas trigger the wildebeest stampede which kills Mufasa and then chase Simba out of the Pride Lands on Scar's orders. When Simba returns to Pride Rock, Shenzi and Banzai are defeated by Pumbaa. The three turn on Scar when he tries to blame them for Mufasa's death and the ruin of the Pride Lands, and lead the rest of the hyenas into eating him alive during a wildfire.