As many of you know, November of 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of The Lion Guard’s premiere via its pilot film, Return of the Roar. Barring that, January of 2026, roughly a year from now will mark the 10th anniversary of the series proper.
With Mufasa: The Lion King having released in theaters and making a lot of money at the box office, Disney is more than likely going to do more with the Lion King franchise in future. And between the Disney Jr. musical short last year, the YouTube upload of Return of the Roar in light of the new film’s release, as well as several social media posts, it’s clear that The Lion Guard in some way will be recognized or acknowledged for its anniversary.
Here are some ways that I think they could lay tribute to this show. And keep in mind, I am taking these as hypotheticals with a grain of salt, just so I won’t set myself up for disappointment.
Reruns:
A lot of shows that end get reruns. Sometimes after they end, mainly to allow viewers to keep enjoying the show after it's done, other times as special occasions such as holidays or anniversaries. The Lion Guard did not do particularly well in this department. Because of the viewership decline during the show’s run (primarily the fault of the Disney Jr’s poor scheduling and distribution of the episodes), reruns of the show on television were pulled after only 5 weeks: The show couldn’t last two months on the air following its finale during the winter break when kids and parents were off work and school. Which isn’t a good sign, and is a large part of why the show just lost relevancy/went unacknowledged by the company up until recently.
The Lion Guard (at least in the United States where I am in) has not had any reruns for the past 5 years since it ended. Multiple shows have filled its time slot so under very few circumstances would reruns be convenient to have. But I think the anniversary would be a special occasion to pay tribute by this way. Reruns would allow the show to get the mainstream attention it deserved, to introduce the new generation to The Lion King franchise, as well as allowing now adult fans of the show who grew up with it during its original run to revisit the series 10 years later. I find this the easiest approach they can take, as it’s a common practice (for example, Sofia the First got reruns on Disney Jr for its decennial). Wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t take this route, especially with how prevalent streaming is nowadays.
2. Series-Bible:
Several series bibles and art books exist for multiple shows that delve into the development of said shows, featuring concept art, character models, unused plot elements, ect. Many Disney Television Animation shows were leaked earlier this year in terms of lost pilots and art books, with the exception of The Lion Guard. But it made me realize an officially released Lion Guard series bible would be interesting, and once again, would bring attention to the show at the most appropriate moment.
The two flaws I find in this that make it less likely than reruns. One an art book would more likely be catered towards older fans and not the kids in the show’s target demographic. Two, with how many leaks of Disney content there has been this year, there’s a good chance Disney would probably never choose to release an art book for the series if it even exists, which is fair.
3. New Shorts:
Much like Once Upon a Studio and the Disney Junior Wonderful World of Songs, shorts that were done in honor of Disney’s centennial, they could release new Lion Guard related shorts to celebrate the series’ decennial, maybe ones in the art style of the Wonderful World of Songs short. What these shorts could be or consist of would be up for debate, but it would still entertain kids in the show’s target audience. I think this would be the easiest way they could celebrate the anniversary in the form of new Lion-Guard related content. A fourth season would be impossible with how many writers, animators, and actors have moved on, same with a sequel series, it would be too early for a reboot, and a photorealistic movie adaptation would take too long to develop.
Plus, in my opinion, short pieces of fluff would be a good way to add to the show rather than new seasons that could potentially risk bringing the show’s quality down and would take up a lot of production time. These little things could air during commercial breaks of Disney Jr. airings (or heck, combine this option with Option 1 where we could see these during rerun marathons) with subliminals of it being the 10th anniversary of the show. I wouldn’t hold my breath over this because once again, I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but this is one that I think is highly probable otherwise.
Any thoughts?