With one trailer already out there in the cinematic Pride Lands, Mufasa: The Lion King continues in its quest to justify a prequel movie to both Jon Favreau's 2019 CG effort and the 1994 animated epic original. Having Barry Jenkins as the filmmaker guiding the new film is certainly a solid start, leading to some beautiful new imagery utilizing the impressive, photo-real technology that Favs and his team developed. For Mufasa, the narrative spins back the clock to find the future king in his cub days, and how he came to meet the lion brother to be known as Scar, in the years before they were enemies. Check out the new trailer that dropped at Disney's giant D23 event:
Mufasa tells its story through two branches: one features Rafiki (John Kani) explaining to Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), the daughter of Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé) how her grandfather survived his tough childhood. And, as is contractual for a Lion King film, Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) are here for colour commentary – and to wonder why Rafiki isn't telling a story they're also part of.
In flashback, we meet the young Mufasa (voiced initially by Braelyn Rankins before Aaron Pierre takes the, er, lion's share of that work) as the orphaned cub meets Taka (Theo Somolu and then Kelvin Harrison Jr.), the cub who will one day be known as scar. Here, they're as close as brothers, facing off against a deadly foe.
Jenkins has assembled quite the cast for this one –– much of the 2019 film's ensemble returns and the new voices also include Thandiwe Newton, Mads Mikkelsen, Anika Noni Rose and Keith David. And this expanded look at the story certainly offers both beautiful visuals and an intriguing story of found family. Not to mention Moana musical god Lin-Manuel Miranda returning to the Disney fold with some new tunes.
Will it have no worries at the box office? We'll find out on 20 December.