Disney may be trying to make a remake out of every major success they’ve ever had, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t making it fabulous. While they had some snafus with the Aladdin remake casting, it seems to have worked out most of it’s problems with casting in time to announce who’s playing who in the 2019 Lion King remake.
#TheLionKing. 2019. 🦁👑 pic.twitter.com/UMJo18FwDt
— Disney (@Disney) November 1, 2017
There are some big names on the list, including Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé as Nala, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan as Timon and Pumbaa,Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, John Oliver as Zazu, Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari, and Eric André as Azizi. They even got James Earl Jones to return as Mufasa, which you know is a good sign. Hans Zimmer will write the music and Jon Favreau is currently signed on as director.
Clearly the casting was careful in making sure all major roles went to actors with African ancestry, save for some of the comic relief roles. Disney’s gotten much smarter about its casting too, especially given that its leads are two professional musical artists that they won’t have to coach or autotune into oblivion to sound passable.
According to a press release sent out by Disney, the plot looks essentially the same, though I’m certain there will be little twists thrown in to make the plot longer and more complicated. They might even add in some new songs! How the CG animation will look compared to the beautiful works of the original hand-drawn movie is probably my, and many others, biggest concern. It’ll be hard to match the majesty and grandeur of the original movie, but like many excited fans, I am intrigued to see them match this film great.
The Lion King remake is tentatively set to premiere in theaters on July 19, 2019.
