The Lion King Returns for Live Action Film this Summer 2019

The Lion King returns after twenty-five years of hit Broadway shows within the United States and internationally around the globe. The animated film will finally become a live action film starring a few of their original cast members and some very new faces and upcoming stars will appear in their first leading roles in a major production film. The small animated lion cub we remember being launched in the air by a colorful wise bam boon monkey has become an iconic image in our minds for two decades. He is the symbol in the film of hope, promise, his legacy from the moment he is presented to the jungle as the next ruler and gives all of the animals a sense of comfort, pride, and a better future for them and their community within the film.

This time the gang is all back together: Simba, Nala, Timon, Pumbaa, Mufasa, Scar, and all of the beloved characters are back in this diverse and beautiful film. The following stars have been cast within the film. This is a huge ensemble cast and I wanted to make sure I covered everyone’s most recent acting achievements and some accolades many of my readers may not have known or do know too.

1. James Earl Jones the award winning theater, television, and film actor will star and reemerge in his role as Mufasa. It’s pretty amazing because he played and contributed his legendary and famous voice as Simba’s father. Mufasa is the protector to Simba he oversees the pride. There is no one else I could have imagined taking on this role that both children and adults have come to love.
2. Donald Glover aka “Childish Gambino” stars as the Adult Simba he’s a Grammy award winner with a hit television series, “Atlanta” and his multi platinum award winning album from 2018 featuring the hit single, “Redbone”.
3. Funny man Seth Rogen will stars as Timon’s sidekick “Pumbaa” (“The End is near”, “Knocked Up”, “The Neighbors 1 and 2”, , “The 40 year old virgin”, “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Long Shot” which debuts this May 2019 also.
4. Eric Andre stars as Azizi he is the creator, host, and co writer of The Eric Andre Show on Adult Swim featured on the Cartoon Network. He was also featured on Man Seeking Woman, “Two Broke Girls”, “Disenchantment”.
5. Billy Eichner stars as Timon we all remember Pumbaa’s best friend and sidekick. He has been featured on the Netflix series, “College with Friends” “Billy with friends”, and has upcoming film “Noelle”.
6. John Oliver stars as Zazu English comedian is the British correspondent and featured on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, had a podcast titled “The Bugle”, he has also received many accolades for Emmy, TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement for News and Information, Webby Award, MTV Movie and TV Award.
7. Keegan Michael Key is a comedian, actor, writer, and producer he was featured on the show “Key & Peele”, “Playing House”, “Whose Line is it anyway”, “Lets Be Cops”, “Tomorrowland”, “Pitch Perfect”, “Keanu”, and is featured on hilarious show, “Friends From College” on Netflix will star as Kamari in the Lion King.
8. John Kani-Rafiki he is a theater thespian and received an Oliver Award for “My Children! My Africa”, “Captain America: Civil War”, “How to Steal Two Million”, “Endgame” “Nothing But the Truth”, and starred in the mega billionare dollar hit, “Black Panter” as T’Challa’s father and will also play Rafiki in the Lion King.
9. Florence Kasumba stars as Shenzi is a voiceover actress and was also featured in “The Black Panther”, she played Senator Acantha in 2017’s”Wonder Woman”, “Emerald City”, “Mute”, “Offline : Are You ready for the next level”, and “Captain America: Civil War”.
10. Alfre Woodard activist, Emmy, Grammy Award, and multi-nominated Academy Award actress, who has been featured in a whole book of hit films  (Crooklyn, Love & Basketball, How to make an American Quilt,  Blue Chips, Beauty Ship, Something New, Mississippi Grind,  Captain America, Clemency,  Juanita,   and she will star as Sarabi. Well seasoned actress and love her because when you see her play certain roles you see another dimension come out of her. She’s an actress who knows how to bring the character to life and make it even more realistic.
     
11. Get ready “Beyhive”… Grammy award winner, multiplatinum artist, actress, songwriter, singer, fashion designer,  and businesswoman,  Beyonce Knowles-Carter will play the adult Nala character. As many of you know Beyonce starred in “Dreamgirls”, “The Fighting Temptations”, “Cadillac Records”, “Obsessed” and a few animated roles so she is no stranger to performing and crossing over into film. She also has her own documentary “Life is but a dream” she produced with HBO and just recently her documentary, “Homecoming” which takes a behind the scene looks at her life currently after she just had her fraternal twins, Rumi & Sir Carter and raising, 7-year-old, Blue Ivy, and managing business and her beautiful marriage with husband, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. She shows the full process of finding her talented dancers, the marching band, and how her production team, fashion team, stage crew, and everyone involved including her family have all found a way to become successful as a unit.
12. Chiwetel Ejiofor  another theater, television, and film actor, BAFTA award winner, Laurence Olivier award winner who has been featured intelevision , film, and theater projects “Amistad”, “Dirty Pretty Things” “Love Actually”, “She Hate Me”, “Melinda & Melinda”, “Four Brothers”,”Talk to Me”, “Sherlock Holmes”, and will star in the sequel to Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”.
     
13. Jaydon “JD” McCrary fans he has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network, “The Paynes”,  “American Soul” he played the king of pop as child, “Little” he made his debut as Isaac, he was featured on Childish Gambino’s “Awaken my Love”, and he has three singles, “Inviting all of you”, “My Name”, and “Keep In Touch” He just received an award from Bounce TV Network as Trumpet Award as an official sponsor and rising star. I see amazing things happening for this kid right here nothing but going up from here.

 

1. Shahadi Wright Joseph is the breakout star of the film “Us” (2019) I definitely recommend that you see her performance and she will be playing the Young Nala in the live action film this year.

 

That’s one theme that takes place within this film of the Lion King you see how everyone plays their part. Every single character has a purpose and reason within the film of the movie and at the end of the day it is all about making sure that the future king becomes successful to rule the wild and growing jungle and still remains a protector of his pride and his self.  For more information on this amazing film, the original soundtrack, merchandise, and everything you want to know visit http://www.disney.com  and visit http://www.lionking.com for more information on the Broadway show, film tickets, and more. The film debuts July 19, 2019

 

 

The cast of Lion King Live Action Film (2019)