Trivia: There's an homage to Beauty and the Beast as Timon starts singing: "It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now we invite you to relax let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents your dinner!" They then show Pumba as the dinner to the hyenas. Pumba was the distraction when Simba came back to the Pridelands. (01:45:00)
Trivia: Billy Eichner got the role of Timon without having to audition. Director Jon Favreau was a big fan of Eichner's "Family on the Street" show and suggested the thought to Eichner's agent, who then contacted Eichner and he accepted the role immediately.
Trivia: No real footage was used, except for the very first shot of a sunrise in Africa that Jon Favreau "slipped in to see if anyone would notice".
Answer: None of the cast of The Lion Guard was cast in the film, so why would Oyelowo have been? Ejiofor was cast because, in the words of director Jon Favreau, he "is just a fantastic actor, who brings us a bit of the mid-Atlantic cadence and a new take on the character. He brings that feeling of a Shakespearean villain to bear because of his background as an actor. It's wonderful when you have somebody as experienced and seasoned as Chiwetel; he just breathes such wonderful life into this character."