Lilo and Stitch New Live-Action Cast Has Been Announced

Disney has just announced the casting of its live-action Lilo and Stitch movie, which includes Maia Kealoha as Lilo, Sydney Agudong as Nani, and Kahiau Machado as David.

Lilo and Stitch is joining the growing list of live-action remakes. Disney has been on a streak of reboots recently. Just last year, they released their live-action Pinocchio. This year, they’re set to release The Little Mermaid on May 26, where singer Halle Bailey will star. Just recently, actor Dwayne Johnson even announced that plans for a live-action Moana film are in the works at Disney.

Plans for Lilo and Stitch were announced in February 2018, according to People Magazine. However, little information was revealed until Disney released the cast list earlier Monday.

On the company’s official Instagram page, the brand teased the initial casting announcements with a cute picture of the animated film. “‘Ohana time,” read the caption.

Sydney Agudong has been in previous works, including the role of Charlize in the series On My Block. However, Maia Kealoha and Kahiau Machado are both newcomers, offering fresh faces to the industry. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, who also directed the Oscar-nominated film Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.

Still, the casting for the film does not come without its criticisms. While some have commended Disney for their casting of Hawaiian people for the Hawaiian-centric movie, others have criticized their choices, citing colorism.

The characters of Nani and David are dark-skinned in the animated film, which fans commended as having accurately represented typical Native Hawaiian people. However, some have criticized the casting of Sydney Agudong and Kahiau Machado due to the fairness of their skin. For a film that represented brown people so thoughtfully, many were disappointed in Disney’s choice to seemingly whitewash the cast.

One critic commented on how Nani’s character was not light-skinned in the original movie. Another fan expressed disappointment in that she felt she wouldn’t be thoughtfully represented in the film as a Hawaiian woman.

Colorism really fucked over Nani’s casting for the live action Lilo and Stitch. Yes the actress is a native Hawaiian, but she is also light skinned and white passing while Nani is not and never had been. She deserves better pic.twitter.com/HwIFQnK8lu

— crue (@ello_bitty) April 14, 2023

Listen she’s probably a lovely woman but I can’t help but feel disappointed. I wanted Nani to look like me 🙁 https://t.co/SKY0R50MZE pic.twitter.com/LLpNSgwN7c

— Lani M🌺 (@MotivatedUni) April 14, 2023

This comes after hype for the casting of The Little Mermaid, which was applauded for its choice to cast a Black woman as Ariel. As many have pointed out, Halle Bailey’s casting was progressive as Ariel is a fantasy mermaid whose race had no plot relevancy. Conversely, it was incredibly significant for the characters in Lilo and Stitch to be portrayed as dark-skinned Hawaiian people.

The casting of this film could be a huge step back for Disney, who has been trying to make steps towards diversity and inclusivity in recent years. However, the situation is reminiscent of the live-action Aladdin, where actress Naomi Scott was cast as Jasmine. Many fans pointed out that Scott was much lighter than the animated character, and accused the company of white-washing their cast.

Many assumed the Lilo and Stitch film had also cut the character Bubbles due to very little being shared about him. He played a significant role in the original film and also noticeably had one of the darkest skin tones. Fans of the original film were disappointed that one of the most iconic characters might be cut until it was announced that he would indeed make a return in the live-action film.

Ultimately, little else is known about the Lilo and Stitch live-action film, or if Disney can rectify their mistakes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be released on Disney+, although the release date is currently unknown.