The Lion by far was the hardest character for everyone to agree on and I am sure we drove Fabien crazy. None of the executives could agree and he is the only character who is straight up just an animal. This was why I was so pro clothes, but for whatever reason, our partner company was not interested.
The first slide is what we eventually all settled on (although this was after we made the animation test which you can watch here!
I actually think the Lion is a character we got much better the second time we developed this show.
Our take on him was far less about being cowardly, and much more about anxiety disorders. I mean BIG SURPRISE coming from the guy behind that episode of Dead End with Norma. But in the books, he has a lot of pressure from the animal kingdom to defeat a giant spider. I think that mounting pressure and trying to conform to what society wants you to be, would've played into his story hugely.
Hamish Steele
2025-12-04 14:37:07 +0000 UTCTori Williams
2025-12-04 14:34:39 +0000 UTC