Many fans were delighted to see the classic animated film The Lion King reimagined as a more realistic-looking interpretation. This new film, released in 2019, has since been the focus of reports that it would be getting a brand-new prequel. And, as fans of the original animated film know, Disney loves its Lion King spin-offs. Now this has been confirmed with a new announcement at the D23 Expo. As you can see below, the official title for the upcoming prequel to The Lion King will be titled Mufasa: The Lion King.
As one might imagine by that title, the new film will be an origin story for Mufasa. Unfortunately, for those eager to see the project, it won’t be released until 2024. This means we’ll have quite a gap between now and then. However, attendees at the D23 Expo did get to see an exclusive teaser trailer.
The footage included the following appearances from Mufasa in addition to both Timon and Pumbaa:
“Teaser starts with cub Mufasa. ‘Not a drop of royal blood.” He gets swept away in some water. It ends with Timon and Pumbaa joking ‘We aren’t in this movie?’ So.. they are.”
Here’s the announcement:
Mufasa: The Lion King. 2024. pic.twitter.com/IkPMk6IDGR
— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) September 9, 2022
At least fans now know the film is in production. And, despite the wait, it’s nice to know that they had enough work finished to produce a teaser trailer. While the full film won’t be released until much later – perhaps we’ll see additional teasers next year.
Barry Jenkins will direct Mufasa: The Lion King from a screenplay that was penned by Jeff Nathanson.
The cast for the film includes Aaron Pierre as the voice of Mufasa with Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the voice of Scar.
Mufasa: The Lion King is currently scheduled to be released in theaters at some point in 2024. As such, fans will have quite some time to wait before getting to see the backstories of such fan-favorite Lion King characters as Mufasa and the villainous Scar. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates as we have them. In the meantime, Disney Plus has the previous films in the Lion King franchise available to stream.