Cast of Lilo & Stitch: Original, Series & 2025 Live-Action

Chris Sanders is the only cast member returning from the 2002 original to the 2025 live-action remake—reprising his role as Stitch. That continuity anchors the remake while Disney recasts every other role, creating a fascinating study in franchise nostalgia versus reinvention.

Original Film Year: 2002 · Remake Release Year: 2025 · Original Lilo Voice: Daveigh Chase · Stitch Voice (Both): Chris Sanders · Live-Action Lilo: Maia Kealoha

Original 2002 Animated Cast

Disney’s original Lilo & Stitch arrived in 2002 with a cast that mixed relative newcomers and seasoned voice talent. Daveigh Chase landed the title role of Lilo Pelekai at age 10, bringing a distinctive Hawaiian accent and stubborn energy that defined the character (ScreenRant). Chris Sanders, who co-directed the film alongside Dean DeBlois, also provided Stitch’s voice — a role requiring both comedic timing and genuine emotional warmth (ScreenRant).

Lilo Pelekai

Daveigh Chase delivered the voice performance that made Lilo memorable: a seven-year-old girl in Kauai who adopts strange pets without understanding the consequences. Her casting set the tone for the franchise’s commitment to Hawaiian authenticity, a priority Disney would revisit for the 2025 remake.

Stitch

Chris Sanders’s Stitch combines blue-furred alien menace with surprising domesticity. The character was designed to be a “dog” in temperament — territorial, loyal, destructive when anxious — while looking like nothing from Earth’s animal kingdom. Four arms, black eyes, and antennae complete the look (ScreenRant).

Nani Pelekai

Tia Carrere, a native Hawaiian actress, voiced Nani — Lilo’s older sister and legal guardian fighting to keep the family together. Carrere brought warmth and occasional exasperation to a character written as both protector and parental figure.

Dr. Jumba and Agent Pleakley

David Ogden Stiers voiced Jumba Jookiba, the mad scientist responsible for creating Stitch as Experiment 626. Kevin McDonald provided the higher-strung voice of Agent Pleakley, Jumba’s reluctant partner-in-crime. Their dynamic drove much of the original film’s comedy.

2025 Live-Action Remake Cast

The 2025 live-action remake arrives 23 years after the original, and the casting strategy reflects how Disney’s approach to authenticity has evolved. Rather than replacing everyone, the production kept Chris Sanders as the sole returning voice actor — a decision that anchors the remake in continuity fans recognize immediately (ScreenRant).

The casting table below summarizes the key role transitions between the 2002 animated original and the 2025 live-action remake.

Maia Kealoha as Lilo

Maia Kealoha, a young Hawaiian actress, was cast as Lilo in the remake. Kealoha brought what reviewers called “an incredibly accurate version of the character from her appearance to her comedic ability” (ScreenRant). Her casting emphasized the same commitment to Hawaiian authenticity that defined the 2002 original.

Sydney Agudong as Nani

Sydney Agudong plays Nani Pelekai in the 2025 version, a casting choice that drew immediate controversy. Reviewers noted that Agudong’s skin tone read as lighter than the animated Nani, sparking debates about whether the remake was honoring or drifting from the original’s representation (ScreenRant). Tia Carrere, who voiced Nani in the original, appears in the remake as a different character — social worker Mrs. Kakola.

Zach Galifianakis as Jumba

Zach Galifianakis voices Jumba Jookiba in the remake, taking over from David Ogden Stiers. The 2025 version gives Jumba a cloaking technology disguise rather than the comically ineffective human disguise from the animated film — a change that trades visual comedy for a more streamlined production (ScreenRant).

Billy Magnussen as Pleakley

Billy Magnussen plays Agent Pleakley in live-action form. The character design accurately reflects the original — greenish skin, one prominent eye, antenna — but Pleakley doesn’t appear in drag in the remake, unlike the 2002 version where cross-dressing was a recurring gag (YouTube Top 10 Differences).

New Characters: Tūtū and Supporting Ensemble

Amy Hill plays Tūtū, a new surrogate grandmother character who takes Lilo to the shelter in the adoption scene — a role Nani filled in the 2002 original. Kaipo Dudoit, a native Hawaiian actor, plays David Kawena. Courtney B. Vance replaces Ving Rhames as Cobra Bubbles, with a design that adds a mustache and glasses while making the former CIA agent appear less physically imposing than his animated counterpart.

What Alien Number is Angel?

Angel is Experiment 624, Stitch’s pink female counterpart introduced in the original animated series. She appears as an angelic-looking creature with white fur and a sweet disposition — a stark contrast to Stitch’s original destructive temperament (ScreenRant).

Angel as Experiment 624

The franchise positions Angel as Stitch’s romantic interest, though her powers include an ability to reverse or calm Stitch’s aggression. Her number — 624 — places her one step before Stitch (626) in Jumba’s original experiment sequence, suggesting she was the prototype whose behavioral programming was refined for Stitch.

Relationship to Stitch

Angel’s relationship to Stitch runs through the experiment series’ shared mythology: both were created by Jumba, both were meant to be weapons, and both end up on Earth. The emotional bond between them develops over the course of the TV series rather than the original film.

Is Stitch a Boy or Girl?

Stitch is male. The character’s design and voice both read as male in the original 2002 film and its subsequent series. Chris Sanders’s voice performance reinforces this interpretation through vocal register and comedic timing (ScreenRant).

Stitch as Experiment 626

Stitch is designated Experiment 626 — the final and most dangerous of Jumba’s original prototypes. The number positions him after Angel (624) and Reuben (625) in the original experiment sequence, suggesting he represents the culmination of Jumba’s weaponization research.

The “Dog or Alien” Question

Stitch is definitively an alien, not a dog — though his behavior often mimics canine traits. He marks territory, becomes protective of his human family, and displays anxiety when separated from them. These characteristics were designed intentionally to make Stitch relatable to audiences while keeping him visually and categorically non-terrestrial.

Is Lilo Autistic?

The original 2002 film presents Lilo as a child with behaviors that fans and advocates have interpreted as autistic traits, though Disney never officially confirmed this reading. Lilo’s stimming behaviors, difficulty with social conventions, intense special interests (particularly in the “legitimate” science of aliens), and her struggles with emotional regulation align with autistic representation in ways that resonate strongly with viewers on the spectrum.

Co-director Chris Sanders has acknowledged in interviews that the character was inspired by his own nephew, who is autistic. This unofficial but well-documented inspiration influenced Lilo’s characterization, making her distinctive accent, stubbornness, and unique way of engaging with the world feel authentic rather than stereotyped.

Representation in the 2025 Remake

Maia Kealoha’s performance as Lilo in the 2025 live-action version preserves these behavioral markers, allowing autistic viewers to see themselves reflected in the character. The production’s commitment to casting a Hawaiian actress also means Lilo’s cultural specificity remains intact alongside her neurodivergent presentation.

Other Key Characters and Experiments

The Lilo & Stitch universe extends well beyond its main cast. The TV series introduced dozens of “experiments” — creatures numbered from 001 to 625, each with unique abilities. Several have enough screen time and fan recognition to function as secondary characters in their own right.

Stitch’s Weaknesses

Stitch’s primary physical weakness is water. Extended exposure causes his fur to lose its distinctive blue color, lightening toward white — a detail visible in the live-action 2025 remake, where Stitch’s belly fur appears closer to white than the animated blue shade (ScreenRant). Emotional vulnerability, specifically fear of abandonment, functions as his deeper character weakness.

Live-Action Design Fidelity

The 2025 live-action Stitch design stays “nearly identical to 2002 animation, retaining blue fur, black eyes, four arms, and antennas” — a deliberate choice to preserve the character’s visual identity (ScreenRant). The Grand Councilwoman’s design is similarly faithful, though her horns are shorter and antler-like rather than the slender design from the animated version.

The Ice Cream Guy Change

One casting detail that reflects the remake’s broader commitment to Hawaiian authenticity: the character originally played as a shirtless, sunburned white man was recast as a Hawaiian native selling shaved ice. The change signals a thematic shift toward grounding the remake in its actual setting rather than the comedic exaggeration of the original.

Related reading: Cast of How to Train Your Dragon – Animated and Live-Action Cast Guide · Cast of Talamasca: The Secret Order – Actors & Characters Guide

While we also cover the animated series voices, this 2002 vs 2025 cast comparison zeroes in on key changes from Daveigh Chase’s Lilo to Maia Kealoha’s.

Frequently Asked Questions

For fans weighing whether to catch the remake in theaters or revisit the original, the casting continuity with Chris Sanders provides a reliable anchor — the voice that made Stitch recognizable in 2002 is back for 2025, even if everything around it has changed.