'The Lion King' just cast its lion queen and she's basically royalty already
Look, we know the movie's called The Lion King, but is it too late to relabel it The Lion Queen? Asking for a friend.
And by "friend," we mean the Queen Bee. Because, it turns out, the rumors are true: Beyoncé Knowles is joining the Disney remake in the role of Nala. She'll star opposite Donald Glover as Simba and James Earl Jones as Mufasa.
Here's a full rundown of the main cast, courtesy of Disney:
Disney also confirmed the equally awesome (but not-quite-Beyoncé) Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, the iconic role previously played by Jeremy Irons in the 1994 animated movie. Florence Kasumba will play Shenzi, one of Scar's three hyena sidekicks. In the original film, the other two hyenas were named Banzai and Ed, but given their placement alongside Kasumba on Disney's casting announcement, it looks like Shenzi will now be accompanied by Azizi and Kamari, played by Eric André and Keegan-Michael Key.
Jon Favreau is directing the new movie, which – based on the few minutes of footage we saw at D23 – looks incredibly faithful to the original. Like Favreau's The Jungle Book, The Lion King is a "live-action" remake that's really just very realistic-looking CG animation.
The Lion King roars into theaters on July 19, 2019.
Topics Disney
