Disney's The Lion King Have Cast Two Marvel Alumni As Simba's Mum & Rafiki

IMAGE VIA DISNEY

The final casting for Disney’s re-imagining of The Lion King is taking shape with the reveal of Simba’s mum and the wise, slightly crazy ape Rafiki.

Both characters will be voiced by Marvel alumni. Firstly, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Luke Cage’s Alfre Woodard is joining the pride as Simba’s mother Sarabi.

IMAGE VIA GETTY IMAGES/ JOHN PARRA

Woodward played Mariah Dillard, a strong female villain and as protector of her family, in the Marvel Netflix show, she’s the ideal choice to be the Queen of Pride Rock standing side-by-side James Earl Jones’ Mufasa.

Elsewhere, Woodward wasn’t the only casting as she’ll be joined by Captain America: Civil War co-star John Kani, according to The Tracking Board.

Kani is best known for playing Black Panther’s father T’Chaka in the Marvel film as will join The Lion King cast as Rafiki.

IMAGE VIA THE TRACKING BOARD/ GETTY IMAGES/ DISNEY

Both Woodward and Kani are out the box castings as I thought they might go for a bigger name like a Lawrence Fishburne for Rafiki and like Oprah Winfrey for Sarabi.

However, director Jon Favreau has cast two actors that’ll bring their brilliance to the role.

They now join the incredibly talented and frankly awesome cast that includes; Donald Glover as Simba, Jon Oliver as Zazu and Chiwetel Ejiofor voicing Scar.

Meanwhile, there’s still no word about Beyonce coming on board to voice Nala. The Tracking Board are stating this reveal could be left to last as the Grammy-winning megastar singer will serve as producer of the films’ soundtrack, which is expected to have new music.

So the next wave for casting news will be about you’ll voice the hyenas and end with the pop of Beyonce as the voice of Nala and producer/songwriter for the new soundtrack.

I can not wait to see this fucking movie!

The Lion King is expected to be in UK and US cinemas on July 19, 2019.