Barry Jenkins has revealed that a “ton of familiar faces” will appear in his upcoming The Lion King’s prequel, Mufasa. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly at the D23 expo in Anaheim, California, Jenkins spoke about how The Lion King’s prequel will involve new stories about the characters we’ve come to know and love.
“I thought I knew everything about Mufasa,” Jenkins recalled thinking when he was first given the script for Mufasa: The Lion King. “Mufasa is the king, the greatest king of the Pride Lands, and you assume he got that way just because he is. And I thought the studio and Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the script, did a great job of really exploring how people become great.” Jenkin’s plan for the new movie is to tell the story of how the “ton of familiar faces” returning to the movie, which will feature photo-realistic CG technology, came to be who they are when we meet them in The Lion King. “These are all the same characters… We’re going back in time with many of [them]. We’re in the present, as well, but we’re also going back to tell who these characters were.”
At D23, Disney revealed the cast of the new movie, which includes voice actors from both the previous live-action 2019 movie, The Lion King, and the original 1994 animated film. In the prequel, young Mufasa will be voiced by Aaron Pierre, the older version having been voiced by James Earl Jones in both the remake and original 1994 film. The other “familiar faces” Jenkins referred to include mandrill Rafiki (voiced by John Kani), meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner), warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogan), and antagonist Taka (who later becomes known as Scar, and who will be voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr.).
In the same interview, Jenkins also revealed that there will be musical numbers in the film. “Please expect musical numbers. Really wonderful musical numbers, I’d say,” he said. In the clip shared by EW, Jenkins’ hint was followed by a snippet of the animated film’s classic song, ‘Hakuna Matata’, which was written by Jimmy Cliff and Lebo M. Last year at Disney’s Investor Day, it was announced that Hans Zimmer, who provided a score for the live-action remake, would be returning for the prequel, alongside Nicholas Britell and Pharrell.
Mufasa: The Lion King, which will be released in 2024, will focus on the events before The Lion King. The new movie will incorporate flashbacks of Mufasa through the perspectives of Rafiki, Timon, and Pumbaa. The Lion King (2019) is true to the 1994 animated film, which tells the story of an adventurous young lion cub, Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas in the original, and by Donald Glover and JD McCrary in the remake). After being led to believe that he caused his father’s death, Simba runs away from his home at Pride Rock, only to later return as an adult to claim his rightful place on the throne after his uncle, Scar, takes over.
Mufasa: The Lion King will premiere in theaters on July 5, 2024.