Between the Lions: Let's Explore

 is a Canadian-American children's television series, a spin-off of the original Between the Lions series aired by from 2000 to 2010. The series, which focuses on "exploring our world" more than reading, was created to continue the original concept with a refreshed appeal, after Sirius Thinking, Ltd. was sold to Seagrounds Financial Group in early 2012.  premiered on April 3, 2013 on the, marking the original series' 14th anniversary.

All three seasons of the series was directed by TV/film veteran. François Cossmann and served as executive producers, the latter having previously co-created and executive produced the original series.

Format
The series focuses on a family of anthropomorphic lions operating and living in a large, busy library. During each episode, the cast goes on an adventure "into the open world", whilst also being introduced to various sights along the way. In addition, the lions introduce a picture book to the audience and read it at a point in the episode to help teach valueable life lessons.

Production
The original Between the Lions ran from April 3, 2000 to November 22, 2010. In early 2012, Québécois investment firm Seagrounds Financial Group purchased producers Sirius Thinking, Ltd. for US$551,000. In May 2012, announced in a interview with ETVKK that Seagrounds were working on a revamped series focusing on "exploring the open world", entitled .

The first season, consisting of 25 episodes, was filmed at the in, ,  from August to October of 2012, and premiered in the  on the  on April 3, 2013, celebrating 13 years of Between the Lions. Live action segments featuring children were filmed on location at the, , , , and the. The season later aired on in  from April 10, 2013 onwards. Dr. Jessica Ruth Hoyt PhD of and Dr. Arnold Quario of  developed the new show's curriculum.

The second season, again consisting of 25 episodes, was filmed at Mel's Cité du Cinéma 1 in the neighborhood of, ,  from September to November of 2013 and premiered on August 20, 2014 on the Hub and on August 25, 2014 on Treehouse. The Barnaby B. Busterfield III Library interior set was built inside Studio C. The new set was raised so that the puppeteers would be able to stand up instead of squatting below onto the floor out of camera range like usual. In 2015, Season 2 was nominated for a.

The third season, consisting of 15 episodes, was filmed in from February to April of 2016 and premiered on  on June 11, 2016 and  on June 17, 2016.

 ended production after Season 3 due to and  renewing their partnership with the Between the Lions production in September, with plans to revive Between the Lions with more new characters and another revamp for the 2017-18 TV season or later.

Cast

 * as Theo Lion
 * as Cleo Lion
 * as Leona Lion
 * Chuck Chesney as Lionel Lion
 * Heather Asch (season 1), Jeannie Bagarella (seasons 2-3) as Click
 * Heather Asch (season 1), (seasons 2-3) as Clay Pigeon
 * Jim Kroupa as Walter Pigeon
 * (puppet; season 1), April Saults (puppet; seasons 2-3) and Martin Berger (voice) as Heath the Thesaurus
 * as Arty Smartypants, Dr. Watson
 * Heather Asch (season 1), (seasons 2-3) as Marmy Smartypants
 * as Dr. Nitwhite
 * Douglas Kenny Jr. (season 1), Adam Gruijters (seasons 2-3) as Barnaby B. Busterfield III
 * as Himself

Lionel & Leona's Friends

 * Carmen Osbahr as Sierra the Mountain Lion
 * as Kendrick the Lamb
 * Kristian Michaels as Noel the Panther
 * Adam Chesney as Adam the Skunk
 * Elizabeth Smith as Jerrica the Lynx
 * as Franky the Poodle

Ensemble

 * Adam Behr (season 1)
 * Douglas Kenny Jr. (season 1)
 * Andrew S. Behm (seasons 1-3)
 * Kristian Michaels (seasons 1-3)
 * Pier Paquette (seasons 2-3)
 * Jolene Holliday (seasons 2-3)
 * Michel Ledoux (seasons 2-3)
 * Alex Galatis (seasons 2-3)
 * April Saults (seasons 2-3)
 * Dwight Bourne (seasons 2-3)
 * Pascale Thévenoud (seasons 2-3)
 * Yvon Gex (seasons 2-3)
 * Stephen Brathwaite (seasons 2-3)
 * Gord Robertson (seasons 2-3)
 * (seasons 2-3)
 * George Gillick (seasons 2-3)
 * Jeannie Bagarella (seasons 2-3)

Trivia

 * Several characters were redesigned, including Heath the Thesaurus, who was redesigned to be a full-body character (a la Big Bird from Sesame Street). (later April Saults) performed Heath to a vocal track by Martin Berger, with Ali/April having one hand in the left arm and one hand operating the character's mouth, with the right arm moving thanks to the help of a fishing line attached to Heath's left arm. If both arms were required, the fishing line would be re-routed and run up from beneath the set to the lower jaw of the costume in order to operate the mouth.
 * The original puppet for Franky the Poodle was recycled from the puppet used for Stinky the Grom in the "Kneehigh Park" skit in Chappelle's Show. However, when doing screen tests, the staff agreed that the puppet "looked ugly", and a new puppet for Franky was built by Jim Kroupa to better resemble the other characters.