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| Mufasa comes to theaters on December 20, 2024 |
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| The Ensemble Cast of Mufasa (2024) |
Who remembers the Lion King film?, the Disney classic story debuted 30 years ago in 1994. They are celebrating their 30th anniversary this past June. I remember fans of all ages were so excited to see this incredible musical and story of life, love, royalty in the animal kingdom, music, and family. Mufasa is the prequel to the Lion King franchise a generational Disney story of the Lion King family. It will focus on the journey of Mufasa (Simba’s father) how he came to be the king, his bond with his brother, “Scar”, and his eventual journey to become the “Lion King”. The film will star an ensemble cast again but with a few new additional replacements this time. We will miss the great, admirable, renaissance man on stage, television, and film, James Earl Jones who just passed late summer on September 9, 2024 he lent his voice to the original character, Mufasa in the film. His legacy has impacted all great actors and actresses now and will continue to aspire more for generations to come.
Replacing the lead and younger Mufasa will be breakout star and new heartthrob, Aaron Stone Pierre. He has been passed the torch and will play the lead and you have seen Aaron in “Genius’s: MLK/X (2024” , “Netflix’s Rebel Ridge” (2024), “Old” (2021), “Foe” , “Brother” (2022), “The Little Mermaid” (2023), and “The Gaze”. Grammy award winner Donald Glover will reprise his role as the adult Simba. Beyonce Knowles-Carter will reprise her role as the adult Nala. Now this little surprise I was not expecting but Beyonce’s oldest daughter, Blue Ivy Carter will star as Kiara, Simba and Nala’s little lion cub in her first film role with her mom and her cast. Mads Mikkelsen as Kiros (“Hannibal”, “Another Round”, “Casino Royale”, and “Fantastic Beasts”), John Kani as Rafiki has been featured in ("Murder Mystery", " Seal Team", "What If", and "The Lion King"), Seth Rogen ("Knocked Up", "Superbad", "Sausage Party","Neighbors", "The Fabelmans") as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon ("Billy on the Street", "Bros", "Lion King", "Parks and Recreation"), " , Tiffany Boone as Sarabi ("Big Cigar","The Chi", "The Midnight Sky", "Nine Perfect Strangers"), Braelyn Rankins ("Doom Patrol", "Take Note", "8-BIT Christmas") as " "The Young Cub Mufasa", Keith David ("Hazbin Hotel", "Rick & Morty", "Greenleaf", "The Princess and the Frog", " Grey's Anatomy")as Masego, Preston Nyman ("Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, "Spooked House", "Crooked House", and "Penelope") as Zazu, Thandiwe “Thandie” Newton ( "Good Deeds”, “Norbit”, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, “Westworld”, “Mission Impossible 2”, “all the Old Knives”) Thandie will play Eshe, Anika Noni Rose (“Dreamgirls”, “Princess and the Frog”, “Everything Everything”, “Outlaw Johnny Black”, “Injustice”, “Caroline”, “Raisin in the Sun” the Musical” )Anika will play “Afia”, Kelvin Harrison, Jr. ("Chevalier", "Genius: MLK/X", ) as Scar. The remaining cast members also include Lennie James ( “Walking Dead”, “Line of Duty”, “Critical”, “Low Winter Sun”), Thuso Mbedu (“The Underground Railroad” television series, “The Woman King”, “Is Thunzi”, “Castlevania: Nocturne”), Shiela Atim (“The Woman King”, “The Underground Railroad”, “Bruised”, “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”, “Pale Horse”), Folake Olowfuyeku (“Bob Hearts Abishola”, “Female Fight Club”, “Death Race 2050”, “Hellbenders”), Abdul Salis (“Love Actually”, “Flyboys”, “Animal”, “Sahara”. “National Theater Live: Present laughter”), Dominique Jennings ("Spawn 2", "Sunset Beach", "Low down dirty shame", "Ice Age 2", "Die Hard 2") , and Kagiso Lediga (“Catching Feelings”, “Wizard”,and “Sono”).
Another all-star cast for a new generation of fans to see this new twist on this story of the Lion King, Mufasa this a prequel that will focus on the original journey of becoming the Lion King. I think this glimpse into the beginning of how this came to be is great for fans. Every great film has a backstory and it gives people a chance to see how things fall into place. All of the Disney fans will enjoy knowing how everything came to exist for the Lion King and their kingdom. There was a story in place for the characters to get to before Simba eventually became king and the story of his father is fitting and appropriate for fans of all ages. I hope you all take your loved ones and friends to this film for the holidays. For more information on Disney, the Lion King franchise visit http://www.disney.com , www.lionking.com.
