Disney's The Lion King Cast Announced Including Beyoncé

IMAGE VIA DISNEY

The worst kept secret in Hollywood regarding this live-action adaption of The Lion King was unveiled as Beyoncé will be voicing Nala.

Disney announced the full cast on social media last night (Wednesday 1st November) including Queen B as the childhood friend and adult love interest to Simba (Donald Glover). The Jungle Book and Iron Man director Jon Favreau is directing the film.

“It is a director’s dream to assemble a talented team like this to bring this classic story of life,” said Favreau in a press release.

You can check out the full cast below.

#TheLionKing. 2019. 🦁👑 pic.twitter.com/UMJo18FwDt

— Disney (@Disney) 1 November 2017

As well as Beyoncé, the other cast members revealed were the three people voicing Scar’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor) hyena sidekicks – Black Panther actress Florence Kasumba as Shenzi, Eric Andre (Adult Swim’s The Eric Andre show) will voice Azizi and finally Keegan-Michael Key (Predator, Netflix’s Friends from College) plays Kamari.

As you’ll see they have made a change to two of the hyena names changing Banzai and Ed to Azizi and Kamari.

IMAGE VIA DISNEY

As you can see James Earl Jones is returning to voice Mufasa and he’s not the only person returning to the classic story as Hans Zimmer, who won an Oscar for his score for the animated classic, is coming back to once again score the film.

Overall, as someone who loves this film and has owned it on VHS, DVD and now Blu-ray, this is a brilliant, exciting cast. Glover is the perfect person to bring adult Simba to life while bringing in Shahadi Wright Joseph from the Broadway version to voice young Simba is a smart move by Disney and Favreau.

Of course, I’d like to have seen Jeremy Irons and Rowan Atkinson also comeback, but with Ejiofor as Scar I think you have a menacing and potentially scary villain, similar to Idris Elba as Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, and Ejiofor can sing starring in the film version of Kinky Boots.

IMAGE VIA DISNEY

Additionally, bringing in John Oliver to play Zazu is good because he’ll bring the similar style humour as Atkinson and Oliver is a massive name in the US due to his HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

I just can’t wait to see this film in a trailer and then on the big screen because Favreau’s Jungle Book was a jaw-dropping wonder.

Here's th full synopsis:

"From Disney Live Action, director Jon Favreau’s all-new “The Lion King” journeys to the African savanna where a future king is born. Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub’s arrival. Scar, Mufasa’s brother—and former heir to the throne—has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba’s exile. With help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba will have to figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his. The all-star cast includes Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Billy Eichner as Timon and Seth Rogen as Pumbaa. Utilizing pioneering filmmaking techniques to bring treasured characters to life in a whole new way, “The Lion King” roars into cinemas Summer 2019."

The Lion King will be coming to UK cinemas in Summer 2019.