Live-Action Lilo & Stitch 2's Biggest New Character Is Extremely Rare For Disney Movies

Published Sep 6, 2026, 10:15 AM EDT Sky Blanton is a Movie Contributor at ScreenRant with professional experience covering movies, television, and pop culture. Her published work spans news, interviews, features, and opinion pieces, with a focus on film, franchise storytelling, and the entertainment industry. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communications with a concentration in Professional Writing and a minor in Business Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Disney has made a lot of characters for animated sequels and spin-offs over the years. Though most never became particularly important. The direct-to-video sequel era was full of new characters who existed purely to keep a franchise going. Few characters from those sequels ever became popular enough to stand on their own. Angel, however, is one of the rare exceptions being shown in Lilo & Stitch 2. She was not even in the original Lilo & Stitch. She appeared in the franchise's animated spinoff, Stitch!, yet she has become almost as recognizable as some of the characters introduced in the original 2002 movie. Now, Disney is bringing Angel into the live-action Lilo & Stitch 2, which makes her rise even more unusual. A character born outside the original movie is getting a place in one of Disney's biggest modern franchises. Angel Is One Of Disney's Most Popular Animated Characters From A Sequel Or Spin-off Angel is a pretty unusual Disney character success story, given her absence in the original story. She did not debut in a theatrical sequel, either. She first showed up in Lilo & Stitch The Series as Experiment 624, long after Stitch had already become widely known. That puts Angel in an interesting position when looking back at Disney's history with sequels and spinoffs. The studio made a lot of them, particularly during the direct-to-video boom. The Lion King II: Simba's Pride introduced Kiara, The Little Mermaid II: Return to Sea introduced Melody, and Cinderella II: Dreams Come True brought a new set of characters into Cinderella's world (via D23). Some of those characters are fondly remembered, but very few are the characters Disney put alongside the stars of the original movie and expect a huge audience to recognize. Despite other spinoff characters and their shortcomings, Angel had much more time. Lilo & Stitch: The Series ran for 65 episodes, with Angel becoming a huge part of the show's growing collection of experiments and developing her relationships along the way (via D23). Beyond the series, Angel became a regular presence in Lilo & Stitch merchandise, video games, Disney Parks, and the franchise's international projects. The Japanese Stitch! Anime even took Angel and turned her into a pop star. Suddenly, the little pink Experiment 624 who entered the franchise through a TV show, is being introduced to the same massive audience that made Stitch a star in the first place. How Angel Became So Popular Despite Not Being In The OG Lilo & Stitch As Experiment 624, Angel is already more interesting than just a standard love interest for Stich. Jumba created her with an ability where her singing can reverse the good behavior of the rehabilitated experiments and turn them evil again. When Angle first appeared in Lilo & Stitch: The Series, she is actually working with Gantu and using Stitch to help capture the other experiments. She is introduced as a villain, not the adorable pink counterpart to Stitch that fans would eventually know. Stitch complicates things. Angel falls for him, and her feelings eventually win out over her original programming. Once she switches sides, the sweeter parts of her personality become much more prominent. She is affectionate toward Stitch, flirts with other experiments, and can be extremely protective of the people she considers family. Though, she is not completely innocent. Angel can also be jealous, manipulative, and downright nasty when she wants to be, which gives her a little more personality than just doing a gender swap with Stitch. Her relationship with Stitch is probably the biggest overall reason she is so popular. Lilo & Stitch has always been good at turning its experiments into fleshed out characters with their own quirks, and Angel got the same treatment. She is not just Stitch's love interest. She is experiment 624, has her own power, she has her own history with other experiments, and she eventually becomes part of Stitch's 'ohana. What Angel's Live-Action Debut Means For Lilo & Stitch 2 Angel was teased at D23, so her role in Lilo & Stitch 2 is more than a fun surprise for longtime fans. It is one of the clearest signs that the sequel is willing to reach beyond the 2002 movie and pull from the much bigger franchise that came after it. That gives Disney a lot more room to play with, especially because Angel has so much history that most viewers have never seen. The smartest move would probably be to borrow from that history without trying to recreate it exactly. Angel does not need to arrive with the same introduction she had in Lilo & Stitch: The Series. Disney could take the pieces that made her character so beloved and build something that fits the live-action continuity instead. That could mean changing how she meets Stitch, reworking her connection to the other experiments, or saving some of her more unusual abilities for a later reveal. Her singing ability could be really fun to bring to the live action. It is such a strange part of Angel's character that it would be a shame to leave it out entirely, particularly when it could affect the plot. Rather than giving her generic powers, the movie could make her voice something Stitch has to deal with. Their romance is an important part of who Angel is, but the live action movies have already established a different version of Stitch's life. Letting that relationship develop gradually could make it more meaningful. Angel could start as someone Stitch is interested in before either of them fully understands what their connection means. Angel overall allows Lilo & Stitch 2 to show how much bigger this franchise became after the original movie. There are generations of fans who know Angel even though they have never seen her debut. Bringing her to the live action movies means Disney can finally bring her to a larger audience. Lilo & Stitch TV Show(s) Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Stitch! (2008), Stitch & Ai Video Game(s) Lilo and Stitch: Trouble In Paradise First Film Lilo & Stitch First TV Show Lilo & Stitch: The Series Cast Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Jason Scott Lee, Kevin Michael Richardson Created by Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois