Screenwriter Linda Woolverton conceived Nala "as part of a gradual progression ... which have driven recent public conversation about what young girls should be able to expect from their cinematic role models." In early versions of the screenplay, Nala has a younger brother named Mheetu, who enjoys accompanying her and her best friend Simba on their adventures. Pronounced "me too", the character's name is a reference to this personality trait. Simba was intended to save the cub from a wildebeest stampede, and Nala would eventually become responsible for protecting Mheetu from Simba's tyrannical uncle Scar. Nala also had a fox friend named Bhati. According to Woolverton, Mheetu and Bhati were eventually written out of the film because their stories were beginning to distract from Simba's, in addition to the Mheetu-Scar subplot making the film too dark when combined with the death of Simba's father Mufasa. At one point, Nala also had a named father; the character was similarly abandoned. In addition, in another script, Sarafina (then named Naanda) was Sarabi's younger sister, and Mufasa was implied to be her mate, and thus Nala's Father. This implication was censored in the final draft as it would lead to incest between Simba and Nala as half siblings as well as first cousins.