Geek It! Animation Newsbyte: Disney’s The Lion Guard to premiere in Jan 2016!

Following impressive ratings of Disney’s The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar movie, Disney is back with an all-new series.

Created by Ford Riley (Special Agent Oso), The Lion Guard revolves around Simba and Nala’s second-born cub, Kion (voiced by Max Charles), who sets out to assemble a team of animals that would protect the Pride Lands. To many fans’ delight, some characters from The Lion King—and its 1998 sequel The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride—will make an appearance including Kiara, Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Zazu, Simba, Nala and Mufasa.

Featuring a recurring voice cast (Blair Underwood, Ana Gasteyer and Maia Mitchell), the show will feature new characters including a cheetah named Fuli, a hippopotamus named Beshte, an egret named Ono and a badger named Bunga.

This is actually The Lion King‘s second TV series, with the other spin-off series based on the adventures of Timon and Pumbaa. Since that series was a major success in the ’90s, we’re sure it will be the same for The Lion Guard series.

The Lion Guard animated series is set to premiere in January 2016 on the Disney Channel. Let us know in the comments below what you think!