The Hollywood Reporter (via Toonado.com) reveals that actor Chris Sanders is in final talks to reprise his role as Stitch in Disney+'s upcoming live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch.
Sanders wrote and directed the original movie alongside Dean DeBlois and lent his voice to Project 626 as well. He'd reprise the role in Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and while other actors stepped in over the years, Sanders is understandably considered the definitive version of the character.
It would have been easy for Disney to enlist a big name as Stitch, so we're pleased Sanders is returning.
In other news, Tia Carrere, the voice of Nani in the original 2002 movie, will play the newly created Mrs. Kekoa. Amy Hill, meanwhile, has been tapped as a new character called Tūtū.
Newcomer Kahiau Machado was cast as David Kawena last week, but the role has since been recast with Kaipot Dudoit stepping in to replace him. That comes after fans dug up the actor's Spotify account and found that he'd used a racial slur as the name of one of his playlists.
Maia Kealoha is set to play Lilo, while Sydney Elizebeth Agudong was recently tapped to star as Nani. Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen have also joined the cast, with the prevailing theory online being that they're playing Jumba and Pleakley, respectively. Earlier this week, we learned that Courtney B. Vance will bring Cobra Bubbles to life.
Lilo & Stitch is a tale of a young girl's close encounter with the galaxy's most wanted extraterrestrial. Lilo is a lonely Hawaiian girl who adopts a small ugly "dog," whom she names Stitch. Stitch would be the perfect pet if he weren't in reality a genetic experiment who has escaped from an alien planet and crash-landed on Earth.
Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) is directing Disney+'s Lilo & Stitch, while Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, and Mike Van Waes are all expected to receive writing credits. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback (Aladdin) are attached to produce the project.
As of right now, Lilo & Stitch doesn't have an official release date.