No one is getting left behind at San Diego Comic-Con!
The cast of Disney’s live-action remake Lilo & Stitch joined convention fans on Friday, July 26, for a fun discussion of their favorite memories making the hit film, unveiling fun facts and behind-the-scenes footage. Chris Sanders, creator of the 2002 Lilo & Stitch animated film and the voice of Stitch, also gave an update on the upcoming sequel, which is planned to hit theaters in 2026.
Sanders was joined by Maia Kealoha (Lilo in the live-action film), Tia Carrere (the original voice of Nani, now playing Mrs. Kekoa), and Sydney Agudong (Nani in the live-action film) to also reflect on the franchise’s legacy that began with Disney’s 2002 animated classic.
Matt Kennedy
Maia Kealoha as Lilo and Sydney Agudong as Nani in ‘Lilo & Stitch.’
Lilo & Stitch reached a major box-office milestone in July, with the film surpassing $1 billion in global ticket sales, making it the first Hollywood film to do so in 2025. Per a release from the Walt Disney Company, it marks their fourth $1 billion-plus effort over the past 13 months, after 2024’s Moana 2, Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2. Read on for the tidbits the cast revealed following the movie’s success.
Stitch was envisioned years before and quite differently
Sanders, 63, revealed that everyone’s favorite extraterrestrial chaos agent was originally green rather than blue, and a forest dweller. The figure of Stitch first came to life when Sanders was in art school via illustrations, around 15 years before he and Dean DeBlois began creating the 2002 animated film.
Around the time Disney was developing the animated hit Mulan, Sanders explained they began toying with a twist on typical tropes: ” ‘What if one of our villains became a hero?’ That was the engine that started the whole thing.”
Stitch redeemed himself from menacing to merely mischievous in early drafts, but it wasn’t until Sanders and DeBlois considered why that the character clicked into place: family — or ʻohana, as it’s known in the Hawaiian language — was what Stitch was missing.
The 2025 version, added Sanders, further explored the idea of ʻohana, expanding Lilo’s world to include her found family of neighbors, friends and — eventually — aliens.
Casting the part of live-action Nani came down to two sisters
“I don’t know if this is known to a lot of people, but it was down to my sister and I for Nani,” revealed Agudong, 24, on the panel.
Calling her sister Siena “the first person I wanted to go and hug” when she learned she had booked the part of Lilo’s sister, the Kauai-born actress added that the film reminded her of an important fact: “My relationship to my sisters is everything to me. I hold them so, so dear and I would do anything for them.”
Kealoha, of course, became Agudong’s offscreen sister as well as onscreen. The eight-year-old star called the connection between the two actresses “love at first hugs.”
Frazer Harrison/Getty
(Left-right:) Tia Carrere, Maia Kealoha and Sydney Agudong at San Diego Comic-Con on July 25
Kealoha was an irreverent rascal on set
Everyone on the panel — and several other Lilo & Stitch team members in behind-the-scenes footage — agreed that Kealoha was a force to be reckoned with on set. The fact that she appeared to be dragging her family to auditions, rather than the other way around, is part of what booked her the part of Lilo.
Kealoha’s favorite activity between takes, she admitted, was pulling pranks on everyone from director Dean Fleischer Camp to her own mother.
“She would greet me with, ‘Hello dummy!’ ” recalled Zach Galifianakis in a behind-the-scenes video. “And I thought, ‘I really like this kid.’ “
Kealoha bonded with her puppet costar
The panelists recalled working with their costar Stitch despite him being rendered in CGI. “We would use a eye mark or maybe just a piece tape or the mechanic of this puppet,” explained Kealoha before fans saw a behind-the-scenes video showing her introduction to that puppet.
That day on set, Kealoha began an adorable tradition: greeting the furry toy Stitch with a smooch, sometimes blackening her own lips on the puppet’s paint in the process. “Every day I would kiss his nose,” she said — which ended up becoming a special moment in the movie between Lilo and Stitch.
The sequel is underway
As a result of Lilo & Stitch‘s box-office success, Disney announced on June 26 — a reference to the alien’s moniker, Experiment 626 — that the movie would be getting a sequel.
In an Instagram post, Disney shared a video of Stitch driving a mini pink convertible (with a license plate that read “2 FAST”). “Should’ve known he couldn’t keep a secret,” the caption read. “A 626 day surprise: #LiloAndStitch 2 is now in development!”
“I have begun writing it,” revealed Sanders during the Comic-Con panel. Asked how it’s going, he laughed: “Good! I like it.”
When fans began asking the panel questions, one raised a point that Sanders found intriguing: given the wildfires that devastated Lahaina, Maui in 2023, could the sequel address its real-life rebuilding? “That’s a really interesting thought, actually,” responded the filmmaker. “Thanks!”
“I’m looking forward to see what happens in part two,” said Carrere, 58. The “love” surrounding Lilo and Stitch, she said, “is what we need in the world.”
Disney
Stitch and Maia Kealoha as Lilo in ‘Lilo & Stitch.’
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Lilo & Stitch 2 is in theaters sometime in 2026. San Diego Comic-Con 2025 runs July 24 to 27.
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