Nala (The Lion King) is introduced as the childhood best friend of Simba, and ultimately becomes his wife by the end of "The Lion King". Several years after Simba's uncle Scar has killed Simba's father Mufasa and usurped the throne, Nala desperately ventures into the jungle to find help. Upon unexpectedly reuniting with a grown Simba, who she had long been tricked by Scar into presuming dead, Nala encourages him to return to Pride Rock, overthrow his uncle and ultimately become king. As Simba's queen, Nala has a daughter, Kiara, whose story is explored in "The Lion King: Simba's Pride" and also has a
Simba more seasoned animators gravitated towards "Pocahontas" because "The Lion King "was deemed a "risk", while less experienced animators were assigned to work on "The Lion King". Co-director Rob Minkoff received this positively, saying that this decision "gave a lot of newer animators a chance to step up to leadership roles." The role of animating Simba was divided between Ruben A. Aquino and Mark Henn, the former of whom was the first animator to be assigned to the project. While Henn served as the supervising animator of Simba as a cub, credited as Young Simba, Aquino was placed in charge of