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 of inspiration. Before "The Lion King", Henn's experience as a supervising animator was limited to predominantly female characters; he had just recently completed work on Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" (1989), Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) and Jasmine from "Aladdin" (1992). When he became involved with "The Lion King", Henn initially expressed interest in animating the film's villain, Scar, because he wanted to do "something different." However, producer Don Hahn felt that he was better suited for animating Simba. Henn approaches animating new characters by "put[ting himself] into the character’s situation." Simba proved to be a challenge because