Director Dean Fleischer Camp and producer Jonathan Eirich tell EW that cutting the villainous Gantu deepened the storytelling.

In the original 2002 Lilo & Stitch film, Captain Gantu was the big, towering alien working for the Galactic Federation. He was basically Stitch’s main enemy, chasing him across Earth like an alien version of the Men in Black. But he is gone in the new version.

Disney fans are outraged that one key character from the original “Lilo & Stitch” film was cut from this year’s live-action remake. Captain Gantu, the villain of the 2002 animated flick, was noticeably absent from the new version that hit theaters on Friday, May 23.