Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-3562042-20170809011656/@comment-4241330-20170817211141

Maybe they'll reveal where Zira and her pride were during the Simba-Scar battle. Most likely went out hunting and the cubs  (Nuka, Vitani and Kovu)   were taken with them to train.

On another note: it does sound a bit cruel that Simba would banish cubs along with the rest of Scar's followers, though when you consider what real lions do to cubs that aren't their own, he was considerably merciful leaving the cubs to their birth mother instead of some other lionesses who now despise Scar and his family.