Lilo & Stitch director explains why they turned Jumba into the villain amid fan criticism

27 May 2025, 14:38

What did they make Jumba the villain in live-action Lilo & Stitch? Picture: Disney

By Katie Louise Smith

Lilo & Stitch fans have been left completely baffled by the decision to make Dr. Jumba Jookiba the main villain in the live-action remake. Here's why they did it.

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Live-action Lilo & Stitch has been hailed as the best live-action Disney adaptation yet, but some of the major changes are proving to be too much for fans of the original.

In case you haven't heard, Captain Gantu does not appear in the live-action remake at all. As a result, another character takes his place as the film's main villain – Jumba.

Yep, in the live-action Lilo & Stitch, Dr. Jumba Jookiba is revealed to be the Big Bad, completely changing the original ending and removing the character's redemption arc. Instead of Gantu, it's Jumba who kidnaps Lilo and Stitch as he plots his own galactic domination.

The change has left fans in an absolute shambles online, with one viral TikTok video reading: "Not my Jumba!"

Now, director Dean Fleischer Camp and producer Jonathan Eirich have explained why they've changed Jumba's character.

Read more: Lilo & Stitch's Zach Galifianakis explains why live-action Jumba doesn't have an accent

Live-action Lilo & Stitch turns Jumba into the main villain. Picture: Alamy

Jumba was turned into the villain because they removed Gantu from the remake and needed someone with a 'personal connection' to Stitch to fill that spot.

Explaining why he thought Jumba was the right character to replace Gantu as the film's main antagonist, Fleischer Camp explained to Entertainment Weekly: "One of the things I loved about the original is that up until Gantu arrives, there is no villain that is just a villain."

"Gantu arrives and it turns into a more conventional movie," he added. "I thought there was a nice opportunity here for [Jumba] to turn and become the villain in the third act."

Watch the live-action Lilo & Stitch trailer

Eirich continued: "In part because you're following certain aspects of the original movie and you're like, 'Oh, well of course Gantu has to be in this. It was really to Dean's credit that he challenged the idea of, 'Well, does he have to? Could it be somebody else who has a more personal connection?'"

It was then decided that Jumba would take up that role to amplify the film's themes of family and community.

"Jumba is a father figure," he said. "A terrible delinquent father figure, but father figure nonetheless to Stitch. So, it did feel like, 'Oh, maybe that could actually give even more resonance to the third act.'"

"We started down the path with no Gantu, just seeing where it was going to lead. If it didn't lead anywhere, we would've probably come back and put it back in the movie, but it did feel really fertile from a story perspective."

Jumba has been changed in a major way for the live-action Lilo & Stitch film. Picture: Alamy

Of course, with Jumba now acting as the story's villain, his dynamic with Pleakley is completely different. He also doesn't become part of the extended ohana at the end of the film.

Not only that, but fans have also been left disappointed by the fact that a) he appears as a human for most of the film and b) that he no longer has his distinctive accent.

In an interview with Cinema Blend, Zach Galifianakis explained Jumba's new voice with a laugh: "Listen, I told them, 'Tell me what to do'. I think, these days, accents are tricky. Maybe that's– I don't know what happens."

"So I think they, maybe they wanted to stay away from that kind of thing but, yeah, or maybe I did do a Russian accent and they were like, 'That sounds like he's Chinese'."

"I can't really do voices anyway so maybe that was what it was."