Back in February, Disney announced that Jon Favreau's upcoming live-action Lion King remake would star Donald Glover as Simba, taking over Matthew Broderick's old role in the 1994 animated hit. James Earl Jones had also signed on to reprise his role as Mufasa, Simba's dad.Now, the film's full cast list has been revealed, and it looks like Glover and Jones aren't the only big names onboard—the thing is completely crammed full of stars.Beyoncé is officially set to play Nala, Simba's love interest. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan will play Timon and Pumbaa, the meerkat and warthog duo who introduced a generation of kids to the wonders of eating bugs, and John Oliver has signed on to be Zazu the talking bird.The rest of the list is basically a murderer's row of talent, including Eric Andre as Azizi; Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari; Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar; and Wonder Woman's Florence Kasumba as Shenzi.
Advertisement
"It is a director's dream to assemble a talented team like this to bring this classic story to life," Jon Favreau said in a statement following the announcement, though "talented team" is a major understatement.This is Favreau's second live-action adaptation of a beloved Disney cartoon following his well-received remake of Jungle Book back in 2016. Disney's recent Beauty and the Beast remake with Emma Watson was also one of the highest-grossing films of the year so far, and with a cast list like this, Lion King is sure to follow suit.There's a slew of other Disney remakes on the horizon, including Aladdin, Little Mermaid, and Dumbo, so it's probably just a matter of time before the company cranks out live-action versions all their old classics—though we may have to wait a while before we get an Emperor's New Groove remake.Until then, you can catch the new, star-studded Lion King on July 19, 2019.