The Lion King prequel recently announced at D23 Expo

by Nancy Hernandez, Staff Writer

Nancy Hernandez

Whether you are a fan of The Lion King movies or simply just a Disney fan, you’re in for a good one next summer. Recently at D23 Expo, Disney had officially announced its prequel Mufasa: The Lion King to the 2019 live action film and shared bits of information along with an exclusive preview.  

The Lion King follows Simba, a young cub who goes through challenges to reclaim his position as the true king of the Pride Lands after his father’s death. Though Mufasa was shown at the beginning of the movie, we only saw him as a father rather than witnessed his upbringing. 

Mufasa is one of Disney’s most known and loved fathers and one of the characters viewers may be curious about since there wasn’t much information given on his background. Luckily, the prequel will focus on Simba’s father’s path to becoming the king of the Pride Lands where we’ll get to see Mufasa’s childhood with Scar. We all know that Scar had a grudge against Mufasa for taking his throne, but we’ll finally be able to see why Scar felt that way as well as how his life was. 

Though the preview is quite short, it gives us an insight on what to expect from the movie. First off, many of the characters will have new voice actors as they will be portrayed as their younger version, including Mufasa who was voiced by James Earl Jones. Though this might be upsetting for some, the prequel will actually include voice actors from the 2019 remake and the 1994 original film. 

The preview opens up with Rafiki narrating the story of Mufasa, who was an orphaned lion cub swept away by a flood and found by an unknown lion, who later journeyed his way through the world until he became the king of Pride Rock. And of course, the movie isn’t the same without the iconic duo, Timon and Pumba. “Wait, wait, wait, am I not in this story? I don’t feel seen”. Oh Timon.

But don’t worry, we’ll still be able to see familiar faces…even their own story that leads us into the first film. The prequel will come to theaters on July 5, 2024, and despite having to wait a while, we can expect to see Mufasa, as well as Scar and other familiar faces, from a different point of view and finally understand each character more than the first film. 

If there is one thing to remember from the preview, it’s Rafiki’s narration: “In this place, a lion was born without a drop of nobility in his blood. The lion who would change our lives forever.”