The Lion King franchise continues to grow with Disney's latest announcement of the upcoming film Mufasa: The Lion King.

The D23 Expo 2022 stoked many Disney fans' enthusiasm about the company's upcoming films and TV series. One of the announcements was the official title and release window for the upcoming prequel to the 2019 CGI remake of The Lion King. Per Disney's official Twitter, Mufasa: The Lion King will release sometime in 2024. As for who will oversee this project, Barry Jenkins, Academy Award-winning Moonlight director and co-writer, will direct.

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The next The Lion King film was initially planned to serve as a sequel to Jon Favreau's CGI remake of the 1994 Disney classic, but the project took a different direction since its announcement in 2020. The upcoming film will depict the origin story of Mufasa, the King of the Pride Lands. Per Variety, Aaron Pierre will replace James Earl Jones for the younger version of the royal lion, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. will voice Scar, taking over from Jeremy Irons in the original and Chiwetel Ejiofor in the CGI remake. This won't be Pierre and Jenkins' first collaboration: Pierre previously acted in Jenkins' Prime Video series The Underground Railroad, based on Colson Whitehead's 2016 novel with the same title.

Along with the prequel's announcement, an exclusive preview of the film was shown to the audience. The clip depicted Rafiki, voiced by John Kani, explaining to young cubs about Mufasa's rise to power after spending his life wandering the lands orphaned and alone. "In this place a lion was born without a drop of nobility in his blood," Rafiki said. "The lion who would change our lives forever." In addition to the familiar face of Rafiki, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen will also reprise their roles as Timon and Pumbaa, respectively, as the "Hakuna Matata"-singing meerket and warthog BFFs.

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When asked during the panel why Jenkins took on the project, the If Beale Street Could Talk director recalled his obsession with the original film when he was younger. "I really knew this character, I loved him but then, as I was reading this wonderful script, I started really thinking about Mufasa and why he's great, and how people become great," Jenkins said. He recalled the amazing feeling he had when he was onstage with his friends at the Oscars for Moonlight, and compared it to Mufasa's greatness, since family surrounded him.

Mufasa: The Lion King will release on an undetermined date in 2024.

Source: Twitter, Variety