Ving Rhames’ return as Cobra Bubbles in the live-action Lilo & Sтιтch remake would’ve been exciting, but it likely couldn’t happen for a few reasons. Social worker Cobra Bubbles occupied a memorable space among Lilo & Sтιтch’s cast of characters, and Ving Rhames is one of the few voice actors from the 2002 film who could reasonably approximate his character’s overwhelming stature in a live-action role. However, the 2025 remake has instead recast Courtney B. Vance as the character.

Since it’s not entirely clear how much of Lilo & Sтιтch’s story has been changed, it’s too early to tell if Vance’s casting may hint at slight changes to Cobra’s general characterization. However, even if the character’s story arc plays out more or less the same, that doesn’t mean Rhames’ return to the role was ever likely to be set in stone. Many would have been over the moon to see him reprise his role in the new movie, but his absence was actually somewhat predictable when looking at the history of Disney’s remakes at large.

Disney’s Live-Action Remakes Rarely Bring Back Voice Actors From The Animated Movies

Mufasa And Sтιтch Are Extremely Rare Exceptions To The Rule

While Chris Sanders will reprise his role as Lilo & Sтιтch’s тιтular fuzzball in the upcoming remake, that’s a fairly rare occurrence. James Earl Jones did the same with his role as Mufasa in 2019’s The Lion King, but Disney tends to veer in the other direction. One could argue that Nathan Lane and Jeremy Irons were just as iconic in their roles as Timon and Scar, but The Lion King replaced both of them without hesitation. And Gilbert Gottfried’s Iago from Aladdin was replaced by Alan Tudyk, whose performance bore almost no resemblance to the original character.

There can be numerous reasons for Disney’s live-action remakes to replace the original cast. Some Disney films are simply too old for any of the cast to be available. Even when they are available, some films may change creative directions in ways that don’t accommodate the same vocal characterization anymore. For instance, even if the Mulan remake had retained Mushu instead of cutting him out, Eddie Murphy’s performance likely wouldn’t have complemented the film’s aesthetic. But there’s another reason the original actors don’t always work for live-action remakes, and this one, interestingly, shouldn’t affect Ving Rhames being in Lilo & Sтιтch.

Ving Rhames Is Not Too Old To Play Cobra Bubbles In Live Action

The Actor Replacing Him Is The Exact Same Age

With the casting of live-action human roles in particular, age can play a major determining factor. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to see Kristen Bell or Idina Menzel reprise their roles in a live-action Frozen remake, no matter how much fans may have trouble imagining Elsa with any other voice. Sometimes, it’s also just a matter of wanting the character to look similar to their animated counterpart. Although Disney’s remakes have been criticized for their exaggerated sense of realism, the look of the characters is still fairly similar to that of their animated counterparts.

But these aren’t issues for Lilo & Sтιтch. Ving Rhames has aged more than 20 years since voicing Cobra Bubbles, but Rhames is still less than a year older than Courtney B. Vance. They’re both 65, so it’s unlikely Disney would cast Vance if they were worried about Bubbles’ age. That said, most of Bubbles’ best Lilo & Sтιтch scenes will still be funny as long as Vance plays the character’s atтιтude faithfully, regardless of the characters’ side. As such, it’s likely that stature didn’t play a significant role in casting decisions, either.

Ving Rhames’ Schedule May Have Prevented A Lilo & Sтιтch Return

Casting Rhames In Lilo Was Likely An Impossible Mission

The likeliest culprit for Ving Rhames’ absence from Lilo & Sтιтch is also one of the most common casting issues in general, which is that he was just too busy. Rhames plays a major supporting character in the Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning cast, and the two movies’ shooting schedules overlapped. In fact, had Lilo & Sтιтch not been delayed, their shooting schedules would have overlapped by about a month more than they already did. And since The Final Reckoning was originally supposed to shoot back-to-back with the previous film, Rhames’ contract was probably finalized quite some time ago.

Ironically, Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell was originally meant to die in the first Mission: Impossible movie. Had that happened, the chances might have been better for him to appear in Lilo & Sтιтch. However, he’s now the only actor besides Tom Cruise to appear in every Mission: Impossible film. As bittersweet as it is not to have Ving Rhames back as Cobra Bubbles, I’m confident that Courtney B. Vance will do a great job with the role.