“Lilo & Stitch 2” Is Ready for Another Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride With Angel

It is time to get ready for another Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride.

After Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch brought audiences back to Hawaii earlier this year, the massive success of the film made it feel like only a matter of time before Stitch, Lilo and the rest of their ohana would be back for another adventure.

And now we finally have our first look at one familiar experiment who is ready to make the jump into live action.

During D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney offered fans the first tease of Lilo & Stitch 2, which is heading to theaters May 28, 2028. Maia Kealoha, who will return as Lilo, took the stage to help introduce the upcoming sequel before fans were treated to their first look at a certain pink alien.

Angel has officially entered the live-action universe.

Known to longtime fans as Experiment 624, Angel originally made her debut in Lilo & Stitch: The Series and quickly became one of the most recognizable experiments outside of Stitch himself.

And she isn’t simply Stitch with a pink coat of fur.

Angel has the ability to use her siren song to turn experiments who have become good back towards their original evil programming. A power that caused more than a few problems for Stitch when the pair originally met.

Though, of course, Angel would eventually become something much more to Experiment 626 as the two developed their own rather adorable relationship.

Now she is getting another opportunity to cause some trouble as she makes the jump into Disney’s live-action world.

But Angel’s arrival also raises a much bigger question about exactly what Disney plans to do with Lilo & Stitch 2.

Unlike some of Disney’s other live-action adaptations, the first Lilo & Stitch wasn’t afraid to change the established story.

While the heart of Lilo and Stitch’s relationship remained at the center of the film, characters, events and pieces of the original 2002 movie were changed around to create a somewhat different version of the story. Meaning this new live-action universe isn’t necessarily locked into following the same path as its animated counterpart.

And that makes bringing Angel into the sequel particularly interesting.

After all, the original Lilo & Stitch movie was only the beginning of this franchise.

The animated world would continue through Stitch! The Movie, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch and Leroy & Stitch, greatly expanding the mythology surrounding Experiment 626 and introducing an entire collection of Jumba’s other experiments.

With Angel now confirmed for the live-action sequel, could Disney begin leveraging more of that supplemental animated material to build its new story?

There are certainly plenty of experiments waiting in the wings.

The animated series turned the search for Jumba’s missing experiments into the core of Lilo and Stitch’s continuing adventures, with each new experiment bringing its own unique abilities and problems. Characters such as Sparky, Reuben, Yin, Yang and countless others could easily be reimagined for this live-action universe if Disney decides to go further down that road.

And then there is the question of exactly how much of Angel’s original story will carry over.

Will her song still be capable of turning Stitch and the other experiments evil? Will we see the beginnings of her relationship with Stitch? Or could Disney take the basic idea behind Experiment 624 and send her story in an entirely different direction?

Considering how the first live-action film already played around with the canon fans know, almost anything could be on the table.

Behind the scenes, there is another rather fitting piece of Lilo & Stitch history coming along for the ride. Chris Sanders, the original voice of Stitch and co-director of the 2002 animated classic, will return as Stitch while also stepping behind the camera to direct the sequel.

Following the first live-action film crossing the $1 billion mark worldwide, Disney clearly has plenty of reasons to keep this particular ohana growing.

But Angel’s arrival suggests that Lilo & Stitch 2 may be doing more than simply creating another adventure for Lilo and Stitch.

It could be opening the door to the much larger Lilo & Stitch universe that fans spent years exploring after the original movie.

And if Experiment 624 is already answering the call, we have to wonder which experiment might be activated next.