Beyonce Confirmed For Disney’s ‘Lion King’ Live Action Film As Nala, Donald Glover, Seth Rogen Also In Cast
Beyoncé is set to join the cast of The Lion King as Disney will produce the 1994 classic animated movie’s live-action version. The rumors about the addition of the R&B superstar to the line-up swirled for months and now the full cast members have been revealed.
Beyoncé has been confirmed to star as Nala in the latest Lion King film. CNN reported that Disney announced the inclusion of the “Lemonade” singer in the cast on Wednesday, November 1.
As Nala, the singer will play as the love interest of Simba, the film’s protagonist. The singer also uploaded a poster of the confirmed cast on her Facebook and she simply captioned it with “#TheLionKing 2019.”
Donald Glover and Seth Rogen also have important roles in the movie, so the finished product is expected to be huge and awesome. With regards to the star-studded cast, The Lion King director, Jon Favreau said, “It is a director’s dream to assemble a talented team like this to bring this classic story to life.”
Aside from Beyoncé, Seth, and Donald, James Earl Jones will be in the film as Simba’s father, Mufasa, while Chiwetel Ejiofor will take on the role as Scar, Simba’s villainous uncle.
#TheLionKing. 2019. ?? pic.twitter.com/UMJo18FwDt
— Disney (@Disney) November 1, 2017
Alfre Woodard will appear as the protagonist’s mother, Sarabi, and John Kani has also been signed to the film to play as Rafiki, the wise baboon. But that is not all, The Lion King will not be complete without the appearance of Timon and Pumba so the duo’s story would be retold through Seth Rogen who will be Pumba while Billy Eichner will play his meerkat sidekick named Timon.
Of course, the horrible hyenas will be there as additional villains and they will be given life on-screen by actors Florence Kasumba, Eric André, and Keegan-Michael Key.
Beyoncé has been cast as Nala in Disney’s “The Lion King” remake. The rest of the cast radiates black excellence too ?? pic.twitter.com/fzFyryKwUL
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) November 2, 2017
Disney first announced its intention to create the live-action version of the much-loved Lion King in 2016. The company is bringing it back because it was not simply a mega-hit film, but people around the world love the story and characters as well. Even the songs used in the animated The Lion King films like “The Circle of Life” and “Hakuna Matata” became very well-known worldwide and they are still popular now.
The newest Lion King film has been scheduled for release in theaters on July 19, 2019.
[Featured Image by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS]
