User blog comment:Manuel de la Fuente/Why Levi is not in the live-action movies? Screenwriter finally answers/@comment-24407809-20151025043013

After watching both Attack on Titan, The Movie: Part 1 and Attack on Titan, The Movie: Part 2, I think it is very likely that there was more to this name change than simply pronunciation. Shikishima is a radically different character from Levi, with the only similarities between the two being their Titan-killing skill (in fact, I'd almost venture to say that Shikishima's personality is based partly off of Dot Pixis's personality). I feel that the screenwriters must have realized at some point during the writing process that fans would likely react horribly to any change in Levi's character whatsoever, be it for the better, or for the worse. They were essentially forced to choose between fans complaining over their changing Levi, or fans complaining over Levi no appearing at all (perhaps it was the pronunciation which convinced them to go with the name change).