Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre will lead the voice cast for this origin story.
Disney loves itself a prequel (especially when the original made more than a billion dollars), and the Mouse House has confirmed that its Barry Jenkins-directed follow-up to 2019's "live-action" Lion King will be set before the events of that film and reveal Mufasa's origin story.
Kelvin Harrison Jr. (The High Note) will play a young Mufasa, ET can confirm. The prequel will also give Scar the Cruella treatment, it seems, as Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad) will lend his voice to Taka.
As Disney fans who've done their supplemental reading know, Taka is the birth name of none other than Scar. That was revealed in the 1994 book, A Tale of Two Brothers, which also revealed how the character got his iconic injury.
Jenkins' movie will utilize Jon Favreau's photorealistic styling to "further explore the mythology of the iconic characters," with production now underway. In Favreau's film, Mufasa and Scar were voiced by James Earl Jones and Chiwetel Ejiofor, respectively.
When the prequel was first announced, Jenkins said, "Having the opportunity to work with Disney on expanding this magnificent tale of friendship, love and legacy while furthering my work chronicling the lives and souls of folk within the African diaspora is a dream come true."
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