The Lion King Timon and Pumbaa are played by
Nathan Lane and
Ernie Sabella. Timon was animated and created by Michael Surrey. They made their first appearances in
the 1994 film when they chased away the
vultures that swarmed around young Simba, who had collapsed from
heat exhaustion. Timon and Pumbaa then took the comatose lion cub back to a small pool, where they splashed water on him to wake him up. After Simba is awakened by the two, they introduce themselves and welcome Simba to stay with them and follow their
hakuna matata philosophy. At first, Simba is unsure about Timon and Pumbaa's lifestyle, but it is explained to him in the song "
Hakuna Matata". Many years later, while out on a musical walk with Timon, Pumbaa is distracted by a bug, which he follows into the jungle. The bug leads him right to a hungry lioness prowling around, who then tries to hunt down Pumbaa. She chases the warthog until Simba springs into action, and the two lions engage in conflict. When the lioness pins Simba, he recognizes her as
Nala, his childhood playmate. They are happy to be together again, but Timon is jealous after they leave for a night of romance. He and Pumbaa start singing the song "
Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and are joined by Simba and Nala on their night out. Still, the two help Simba fight Scar and gain his rightful place as the king of the Pride Lands, most notably when they create a hula distraction to lure away Scar's hyenas. Pumbaa single-handedly defeats
Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. They also stand on top of Pride Rock along with Simba and Nala when Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to the animals of the Pride Lands.
''The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa'' Timon and Pumbaa starred in their own spin-off television series. The duo continues to live by their problem-free philosophy Hakuna Matata, having many adventures in their jungle home, as well as across the globe, such as the
United States,
Spain, and
France. In this series, Timon and Pumbaa are given full names: Timon's is revealed to be "Timon Leslie Berkowitz" and Pumbaa's is revealed to be "Pumbaa Smith". Being bug eaters, Timon and Pumbaa are often shown hunting for grubs of various species. There are, however, certain grubs that Timon and Pumbaa are willing to relent eating and decide to befriend, mostly those that have sentience and even the ability to speak, such as
Speedy the snail. There are also certain species of bugs that they would not eat due to their notorious natures, such as stinkbugs. Timon and Pumbaa are also occasionally seen spreading their Hakuna Matata lifestyle to others, although they learn that such lifestyle does not work for everyone, such as humans and bees, as shown in the episodes "Swiss Missed" and "To Be Bee or Not to Be Bee" respectively. The series also highlights and expands on Timon and Pumbaa's friendship, showing their liking and occasional conflict with each other and them celebrating their own holiday called "Bestest Best Friend Day", which was established by Pumbaa to show how much he values their friendship. It is revealed in the series that before Timon met Pumbaa, he had a best friend named
Fred, who is a meerkat who loves to laugh and play around as well as pulling practical jokes. The episode "Isle of Manhood" also reveals Timon taking a manhood test in order to become a full-fledged meerkat. Timon also tends to get involved in "get-rich-quick" schemes throughout the series. As usual, Pumbaa proves to be the brains of the duo, but Timon thinks that he is. It is shown in the series that Pumbaa is very popular among the jungle and usually gains the chance to live the glamorous life, but gives it up for Timon. Pumbaa's notorious odor also annoys Timon on some occasions, as shown in the episode "Scent of the South" where he berates Pumbaa for smelling bad, leading Pumbaa to seek help from a skunk expert to remove his odor. In the episode "Russia Hour", Pumbaa is shown to have an uncle named Boaris, who is very famous in Russia due to his ballet dancing skills. Pumbaa is also shown to have a deceased uncle named Ernie in "Sense & Senegambia". In another episode "New Guinea Pig", it is shown that Pumbaa's tusks can get in his way of doing some activities or passing through some things. As a result, Pumbaa starts to get tired of them and considers trading them to the three natives. The warthog later realizes how useful his tusks are and learns from Timon that they are an important part of what makes him who he is. It is also revealed that years before the episode "Madagascar About You", an arranged marriage has been set up for Pumbaa before he was even born. The episode "Once Upon a Timon" reveals (one of the two versions of) Timon's origin and how he first met Pumbaa, where it is shown that Timon was a member of a colony of meerkats who each had a specific duty. The episode "Home is Where the Hog is" reveals that Pumbaa was a member of a sounder of warthogs who banished him due to his foul smell, and as a result, Pumbaa spent his life as a loner until he met and befriended Timon.
''The Lion King II: Simba's Pride'' It is unclear whether Timon and Pumbaa have taken up residence at Pride Rock, or just make frequent visits. They serve as aides to Simba and are often called upon to protect his adventurous daughter Kiara, replacing Zazu's role as babysitters. Despite being bumbling, Simba trusts them to look after Kiara and does not blame them when Kiara escapes as Kiara is known to do so. A few years later when a now adolescent Kiara goes on her first hunt, they are hired to make sure she won't get hurt. Furious that Simba broke his promise to let her hunt alone, Kiara leaves the Pride Lands to hunt outside the boundary. Timon and Pumbaa also teach Kovu how to have fun after he forgets due to years of indoctrination in hatred. After Kovu's pride, the Outsiders, ambush Simba, and Nuka’s death, Timon is on Kiara and Zazu’s side instantly, not even wanting to hear Kovu's explanation. Afterwards, they carry Simba back and discover that Kiara has left Pride Rock (having left to find Kovu) and reveal this to Simba, much to the latter's annoyance as he had forbidden Kiara to leave Pride Rock in order to stop her from seeing Kovu again. Timon and Pumbaa later assist Simba and his pride in the battle against Kovu's vengeful and bitter mother Zira, and the Outsiders, but get chased off and trapped by a group of Outsider lionesses, until Timon threatens to use Pumbaa's tail as a gun and use his gas on them causing them to flee in fear. When Simba tries to make peace with Zira after Kiara convinces him that both prides "were one", he uses the same advice Timon and Pumbaa gave him when he was a cub, showing how much he had learned from his old friends. Timon and Pumbaa then return to Pride Rock with the pride and witness Kiara marry Kovu.
The Lion King 1½ Timon and Pumbaa are the main characters in this follow-up, which reveals an alternative version of Timon's origin and how he first met Pumbaa. The duo are also revealed to have passed by and caused some key events in the first film before their first appearance. Timon, his mother Ma and his uncle Max were part of a meerkat colony living in the savannah, but he was unable to do any job to a good standard and almost led to the meerkats being at the mercy of
Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. Miserable, he received counsel from
Rafiki, who taught him the "
Hakuna Matata" philosophy and told him to "look beyond what you see." Timon took this literally and set off to find the ultimate paradise. Along the way, he first encountered Pumbaa and the duo instantly became friends. On the way to find paradise, they passed by the presentation of Simba; the "
I Just Can't Wait To Be King" sequence; the elephant graveyard; the hyenas marching to the "
Be Prepared" sequence; and the wildebeest stampede. Finally, they reach a beautiful oasis and are enjoying life until they find an unconscious Simba. After rescuing Simba, Timon and Pumbaa find themselves as surrogate parents trying to keep up with the head-strong cub. The film also shows more of Simba's life with Timon and Pumbaa before Nala came along, stating that Simba had beaten Timon in every bug-eating contest they had done with one another. Timon and Pumbaa, afraid that Nala would take away their friend, attempted to spoil Simba and Nala's date by letting out bees, a spider, and tripping the two, but all failed. Later on, they see Simba and Nala arguing. They also mistake the appearance of Mufasa's ghost as bad weather. After they realize Simba has gone back to take his rightful place as king, it is revealed that Pumbaa had set off to help Simba before Timon, who was unsupportive and angry. Timon eventually came to his senses thanks to Rafiki's continued advice and quickly followed, leaving Rafiki satisfied with his progress. After the duo provide their hula distraction, they encounter Ma and Uncle Max, who had been searching for Timon ever since he left the meerkat colony. Later on during the fight, they defeat the hyenas by digging a massive tunnel network, sending the hyenas down to Pride Rock's base in time for them to take revenge on Scar for betraying them. At the end, Timon takes his entire meerkat colony to live in the oasis, free from danger.
The Lion Guard Timon and Pumbaa appear with several of the film's other characters in the
Disney Junior series
The Lion Guard, which centers around Simba and Nala's second-born cub, Kion. During the series, which is set within the time gap in ''
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride'', Timon and Pumbaa are adoptive uncles of a young honey badger named Bunga, who is one of the members of the Lion Guard. When Bunga was an infant, he encountered Timon and Pumbaa singing "Utamu". Instantly smitten, Bunga had begun following them around. Pumbaa wanted to keep Bunga, but Timon didn't want to raise anymore kids since he and Pumbaa have already done so with Simba, but the two friends see that the honey badger wants to be with them as well. Before he accepted Bunga, Timon instructed the honey badger to climb a tree and fetch them some Utamu grubs. When Bunga had succeeded and given the grubs to Timon, the meerkat had allowed him to stay, and the three have lived together ever since.
The Lion King (2019) Billy Eichner and
Seth Rogen played Timon and Pumbaa respectively in the
2019 CGI remake. Director
Jon Favreau encouraged Rogen and Eichner, who did their voice recordings together, to improvise a lot. Eichner said that "It's such a great role that allows you to do so much. But I've learned that the bigger the project and the bigger the names that you're working with, the more you have to ignore it. If you get to the soundstage and you're thinking, 'Oh my God, what a full-circle moment!
Nathan Lane did it originally!
Beyoncé's in this!' then you're paralyzed creatively. You just have to put that out of your head in order to get the job done." Eichner also talked about having "what some may consider a gay sensibility" that he brought to the table when he voiced Timon. Rogen said that "As an actor, I 100 percent don't think I'm right for every role—there are a lot of roles I don't think I'm right for even in movies I'm making—but Pumbaa was one I knew I could do well. Truthfully, I probably would have been a little insulted if [Favreau] ''didn't'' ask me to." with
A.V. Clubs A.A. Dowd proclaiming: "Ultimately, only Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, as slacker sidekicks Timon and Pumbaa, make much of an impression; their funny, possibly ad-libbed banter feels both fresh and true to the spirit of the characters—the perfect remake recipe."
Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) Rogen and Eichner returned to voice the characters in the 2024 prequel film
Mufasa: The Lion King. Director
Barry Jenkins encouraged them to improvise in the roles, therefore the majority of the two characters' dialogue was improvised. Rogen said that while voicing the characters they were "beholden to nothing" and were given complete freedom to be imaginative. They were surprised to discover that some of the improvised dialogue was used in the final film. ==Other appearances==