section_path: Production/Casting
section_name: Casting
paragraph_text: Casting
  
  Since the announcement of the film's development, it was speculated that the original film's co-writer/co-director, Chris Sanders, would reprise his role as the voice of Stitch in the remake. Sanders stated in a September 2022 interview that Disney had not yet approached him on reprising the role at the time, although he would be open to returning to voice his creation.
  
  It was reported in November 2022 that a casting call had been issued for the film. The initial casting call was later tweeted on November 22 by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.
  
  In February 2023, Zach Galifianakis joined the cast in a then-unspecified role. While TheWrap reported at the time that he would voice Pleakley, The Hollywood Reporter wrote in April 2023 that Galifianakis had officially signed on to be voicing Dr. Jumba Jookiba. In late March, Maia Kealoha was cast in the lead role as Lilo Pelekai.
  
  In April 2023, Billy Magnussen was cast as the voice of Agent Pleakley, and Sydney Agudong was cast as Nani Pelekai. Later that month, Kahiau Machado was cast as David Kawena, while Courtney B. Vance was cast as Cobra Bubbles, who fans initially believed was cut from the film's cast of characters. Tia Carrere and Amy Hill, who both voiced roles in the original film and its original sequel material such as Lilo & Stitch: The Series, were cast in new roles, with Sanders in final negotiations to reprise his voice role as Stitch. Sanders ultimately did five voice recording sessions late into production, with each session lasting about four hours, mentioning in a February 2025 interview that his "Stitch voice" is difficult to maintain for such a long period each time.
  
  The castings of Agudong and Machado were met with controversy on social media shortly after their announcements, with accusations of colorism and whitewashing towards Disney and the film's casting crew, as the two actors are of lighter skin tones than their characters' original animated counterparts. Sydney Agudong —the older sister of actress Siena Agudong —is a mixed-race woman born and raised on Kaua'i (where the franchise is mainly set) to a Caucasian mother and a father who is Filipino and Hawaiian. Agudong received comments on her Instagram account attacking her for accepting the role. After Internet users discovered that Machado previously used a racial slur on his Spotify and Instagram accounts, Disney recast him with Kaipo Dudoit. Machado later posted an apology for his prior use of the slur via Instagram on April 27, 2023.
  
  In June 2023, Jason Scott Lee, who voiced David Kawena in the original film and Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005), revealed on the podcast Kyle Meredith With... that he will have a cameo in the film as the manager of the luau where Nani and David work.
  
  In May 2025, it was revealed that the original film's main antagonist Gantu, the corrupt captain of the United Galactic Federation's armada, was cut from the film. Shortly after the film's release, Fleischer Camp and Eirich revealed to Entertainment Weekly that Gantu was in the original scripts of the film, but the former advocated for the character's removal and shifting the antagonist role to Jumba. Fleischer Camp believed that Gantu's arrival on Earth in the original film turned it into "a more conventional movie", while making Jumba the villain added a "personal connection" to the live-action film's story, as Fleischer Camp saw him as a "terrible delinquent father figure" for Stitch, saying, "You want your main antagonist to also be the representative of the theme of the film. It seemed like an opportunity to do that as opposed to just there's a big bad boss that comes down and is shooting lasers at everyone."
  
  On June 12, 2025, almost three weeks after the film's release, David Hekili Kenui Bell, who played the "Big Hawaiian Dude" (a bit character who drops Hawaiian shave ice after noticing alien activity and the remake's equivalent of the "Ice Cream Man" from the animated franchise), died at age 46. Lilo & Stitch was Bell's film debut; Bell previously played minor characters in the television series Hawaii Five-0 (2010–2020) and Magnum P.I. (2018–2024).
  
  Since the announcement of the film's development, it was speculated that the original film's co-writer/co-director, Chris Sanders, would reprise his role as the voice of Stitch in the remake. Sanders stated in a September 2022 interview that Disney had not yet approached him on reprising the role at the time, although he would be open to returning to voice his creation.
  
  It was reported in November 2022 that a casting call had been issued for the film. The initial casting call was later tweeted on November 22 by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.
  
  In February 2023, Zach Galifianakis joined the cast in a then-unspecified role. While TheWrap reported at the time that he would voice Pleakley, The Hollywood Reporter wrote in April 2023 that Galifianakis had officially signed on to be voicing Dr. Jumba Jookiba. In late March, Maia Kealoha was cast in the lead role as Lilo Pelekai.
  
  In April 2023, Billy Magnussen was cast as the voice of Agent Pleakley, and Sydney Agudong was cast as Nani Pelekai. Later that month, Kahiau Machado was cast as David Kawena, while Courtney B. Vance was cast as Cobra Bubbles, who fans initially believed was cut from the film's cast of characters. Tia Carrere and Amy Hill, who both voiced roles in the original film and its original sequel material such as Lilo & Stitch: The Series, were cast in new roles, with Sanders in final negotiations to reprise his voice role as Stitch. Sanders ultimately did five voice recording sessions late into production, with each session lasting about four hours, mentioning in a February 2025 interview that his "Stitch voice" is difficult to maintain for such a long period each time.
  
  The castings of Agudong and Machado were met with controversy on social media shortly after their announcements, with accusations of colorism and whitewashing towards Disney and the film's casting crew, as the two actors are of lighter skin tones than their characters' original animated counterparts. Sydney Agudong —the older sister of actress Siena Agudong —is a mixed-race woman born and raised on Kaua'i (where the franchise is mainly set) to a Caucasian mother and a father who is Filipino and Hawaiian. Agudong received comments on her Instagram account attacking her for accepting the role. After Internet users discovered that Machado previously used a racial slur on his Spotify and Instagram accounts, Disney recast him with Kaipo Dudoit. Machado later posted an apology for his prior use of the slur via Instagram on April 27, 2023.
  
  In June 2023, Jason Scott Lee, who voiced David Kawena in the original film and Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005), revealed on the podcast Kyle Meredith With... that he will have a cameo in the film as the manager of the luau where Nani and David work.
  
  In May 2025, it was revealed that the original film's main antagonist Gantu, the corrupt captain of the United Galactic Federation's armada, was cut from the film. Shortly after the film's release, Fleischer Camp and Eirich revealed to Entertainment Weekly that Gantu was in the original scripts of the film, but the former advocated for the character's removal and shifting the antagonist role to Jumba. Fleischer Camp believed that Gantu's arrival on Earth in the original film turned it into "a more conventional movie", while making Jumba the villain added a "personal connection" to the live-action film's story, as Fleischer Camp saw him as a "terrible delinquent father figure" for Stitch, saying, "You want your main antagonist to also be the representative of the theme of the film. It seemed like an opportunity to do that as opposed to just there's a big bad boss that comes down and is shooting lasers at everyone."
  
  On June 12, 2025, almost three weeks after the film's release, David Hekili Kenui Bell, who played the "Big Hawaiian Dude" (a bit character who drops Hawaiian shave ice after noticing alien activity and the remake's equivalent of the "Ice Cream Man" from the animated franchise), died at age 46. Lilo & Stitch was Bell's film debut; Bell previously played minor characters in the television series Hawaii Five-0 (2010–2020) and Magnum P.I. (2018–2024).