The Lion King 2019 cast saw a mostly new group of actors bring these beloved animal characters back to the big screen — but who plays Simba in The Lion King 2019 and the other animals? The Lion King is one of Disney’s most popular movies, and that continuing adoration is why it made perfect sense to release a “live-action” version, directed by Jon Favreau, with many big names joining The Lion King 2019’s cast. While the new version of The Lion King didn’t have the cultural impact of the 1994 animated original, the stellar voice acting and singing throughout has received deserved and noteworthy acclaim.
Favreau scored a huge hit with his remake of The Jungle Book in 2016; a photorealistic computer-animated version of the movie that refreshed the original animated version and made it more magical, exciting, and entertaining than ever before. Favreau was no doubt hoping for the same with The Lion King, and while reviews from critics were mixed at best, audiences responded more positively, carrying the remake to a $1.6 billion worldwide box office take (via Box Office Mojo). The Lion King boasts stunning visuals, very realistic animals, and mostly the same story audiences know and love. Here is The Lion King 2019 cast and who plays Simba in The Lion King 2019.
Donald Glover As Simba
Donald Glover plays Simba in The Lion King 2019 cast, the young lion cub who eventually grows to be king. Glover’s career continues to rise at an astonishing rate, including creating Atlanta and how he has turned his alter-ego Childish Gambino into one of the biggest voices in music. As an actor, he’s starred as Troy in Community, Miles Morales in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and played a young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story. He is set to star in a TV adaptation of the 2005 action film Mr. and Mrs. Smith and features in the UCB Comedy Originals sketch show.
Simba lives deep in the jungle with his friends Timon and Pumbaa, following the death of his father. He remains there, happy, until it becomes time for him to take his rightful place as king of Pride Rock and Nala finds him. Simba must overthrow Scar, his uncle, who had forced Simba into exile and now rules the pride lands with his pack of hyenas. Simba’s character differs little from the original Disney animated film, though when he lives with Timon and Pumbaa, he does adopt a somewhat vegetarian lifestyle. This leads to a humorous scene between Simba and a terrified antelope.
James Earl Jones As Mufasa
Voiced by the incomparable James Earl Jones, Mufasa seems like he really couldn’t be played by anyone else, although he will be in the upcoming Mustafa prequel. As such, Jones is the only original cast member to reprise his role in The Lion King 2019 cast. Jones is a well-respected actor but is, of course, best known as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, a role he has reprised multiple times since the original trilogy. In addition, Jones has appeared in The Hunt For Red October as Admiral Greer and played King Jaffe Joffer in Coming 2 America.
“Remember who you are,” is one of Disney’s most iconic lines. Mufasa is a shining light for young Simba, delivering deep and meaningful life lessons before his own life is cruelly snatched from him by Scar. Even after his death, Mufasa continues to advise his son about his place in the circle of life. The biggest difference to Mufasa’s character from the animated original is his complex backstory and relationship with Scar. It’s implied in The Lion King 2019 that it was Mufasa who gave Scar his scar during their fight for the throne, with Mufasa’s brawn beating Scar’s brains.
Beyoncé Carter-Knowles As Nala
Beyoncé was Jon Favreau’s top pick for the role of Nala in The Lion King 2019 cast, Simba’s childhood friend and eventual romance. While the role of adult Nala is not necessarily major, having Beyoncé voice her — as well as write songs for the movie — definitely is. Beyoncé would go on to draw on The Lion King as inspiration for her later project Black is King. Undoubtedly one of the biggest musical superstars of all time, Beyoncé has sold over 100 million records as a solo artist, won 23 Grammy Awards, and is the most nominated female artist in the award’s history.
Nala essentially plays the same role as her animated counterpart, and there is little differentiation between the two characters save for Beyoncé lending her voice to the role. However, The Lion King 2019 does give the female lions more agency overall than its animated predecessor, which falls more in line with the matriarchal structure of lion prides in nature. Her reasons for leaving the pride are different in the 2019 version, she seeks to overthrow Scar’s tyrannical reign and gets her own escape sequence. In the animated version, Scar propositioned her for marriage and she refused, leading to her banishment.
Chiwetel Ejiofor As Scar
Scar is one of the evilest Disney villains of all time and a key part of The Lion King 2019 cast. Scar is brought to life by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a British actor best known for his performance in 12 Years A Slave, and for playing Mordo in Doctor Strange. He reprised the role of Mordo for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and has also appeared in the television series A Man Who Fell to Earth and the film The Pod Generation. He will soon star in Venom 3, The Old Guard 2, and Tonight at Noon.
Throwing Mufasa from the top of a cliff as he begs for help is one of the most traumatic scenes in the Disney canon. The mysteriously-named Scar then lays the blame on his young nephew, prompting him to flee, and sets a pack of hyenas after the cub. Scar takes over as king. The biggest difference between the animated Scar and the 2019 Scar is his complex backstory and relationship with the hyenas. Rather than already knowing the pack, he meets them for the first time in the 2019 film and requests their assistance with his evil plan. This makes the hyenas eating Scar at the end much more believable.
Alfre Woodard As Sarabi
Sarabi, who could return in the Lion King prequel Mufasa, is voiced by Alfre Woodard, in The Lion King 2019 cast. Woodard has appeared in (among others) Star Trek: First Contact, Desperate Housewives, 12 Years a Slave (with Chiwetel Ejiofor), A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Luke Cage. Since starring in The Lion King 2019, she has appeared in the television show See as Paris and The Porter as Fay. She had a role in the film Weathering as Serena and voices Mimi in Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. She will soon appear in the Stephen King adaptation Salem’s Lot as Dr. Cody.
Simba’s mother, Sarabi is so happy and proud of her young cub, and then she loses her mate and her son in one day. Under Scar’s rule, she is treated badly and punished for not hunting enough, despite there being no animals left to hunt as he has destroyed the pride lands. Sarabi in The Lion King 2019 cast is quite similar to her animated counterpart. However, the female lions are given bigger roles in general in the live-action CGI film. This means that Sarabi actually gets more screen time and better development outside of just being Simba’s mother.
JD McCray as Young Simba
As fans of the animated original know, The Lion King shows Simba’s life from the very beginning. When The Lion King opens, both Simba and Nala are young cubs and therefore different actors are needed to voice them. JD McCray plays Simba in The Lion King 2019 cast. At the time of filming, he was 12 years old, and starring in The Paynes on The Oprah Winfrey Network. He reprised his role as young Simba in 2020’s Black is King, and starred as Brett in 13: the Musical.
Young Simba is pretty much the same as he is in the animated original. He’s still adventurous and rambunctious, exploring the elephant graveyard with Nala and generally enjoying his life as heir to the throne. However, one big difference between the two films is Mufasa’s death scene. In the animated movie, Simba falls into a pile of thorns during the stampede scene. However, in The Lion King 2019, the stampede scene is much more visceral, realistic, and heartbreaking. He instead falls down a lower cliff and manages to escape the hyenas by hiding himself carefully.
Shahadi Wright Joseph As Young Nala
Shahadi Wright Joseph voices young Nala in The Lion King 2019 cast. She was 14 years old at the time of filming and best known for playing Zora Wilson/Umbrae in the Jordan Peele movie, Us. She also played Little Inez in the TV movie musical Hairspray Live!. Since appearing in The Lion King, Joseph starred in the television series Them as Ruby Lee Emory. She also played the part of Yeleni in Come Find Me.
Young Nala is roughly the same in The Lion King 2019 as she is in the original outside of her new and improved photorealistic look. One of Simba’s friends from birth, Nala is similarly lured by Scar’s ruse as she joins Simba in exploring the elephant graveyard. Outside of this, she doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time until she and Simba’s reunion as adult lions. Either way, her scenes as a cub do at least set the stage for their future relationship and showcase what a strong relationship the two have from childhood onward.
Seth Rogen As Pumbaa
Moving onto the comedic sidekicks of The Lion King 2019 cast, Pumbaa is a lovable, hapless warthog who picks up a nearly dead Simba in the desert. He isn’t very smart, has a very bad gas problem, and likes to eat bugs, but he also has a heart of gold and would do anything for his friends. Pumbaa is voiced in The Lion King 2019 by Seth Rogen. Rogen has a long list of comedic acting and voice-over accolades, including Knocked Up, Superbad, This Is The End, Sausage Party and Neighbors, and boasts prior voiceover experience in Horton Hears a Who and the Kung-Fu Panda movies.
Pumbaa’s motto is, of course, Hakuna Matata. Pumbaa is one half of a comedy duo with the meerkat Timon. While Pumbaa doesn’t differ much in characterization from the animated original, Seth Rogen was allowed to improvise many of his lines which leads to some different dialogue than the original. In addition, he finally gets his big moment of flatulence in the 2019 film and even gets to sing the word, “farted,” which was only implied in the animated movie. He doesn’t get to dress up and do the hula for the hyenas, but he and Timon perform Lumiere’s opening words to Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest” instead.
Billy Eichner As Timon
Pumbaa is nothing without his best buddy, the meerkat Timon. They’ve been living in the jungle together for a long time before they find Simba, and both serve as surrogate parents, raising Simba to adulthood. Billy Eichner of The Lion King 2019 cast, who later starred in the gay romcom Bros, was cast at the same time as Rogen, and the pair have actually worked together before on Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Eichner also appeared in the American Horror Story anthology series and Parks and Recreation, and is the host of Billy on the Street.
As previously mentioned, Eichner and Rogen were given a lot of free rein when it came to their dialogue in The Lion King 2019. This led to a lot of back and forth and conversations that weren’t in the original film. Too, in the original, Timon and Pumbaa live separately from society, whereas in the remake, Timon and Pumbaa basically reside in a small animal civilization. Their exchanges contain more adult humor than the animated original, but this was bound to happen when studios cast Eichner and Rogen and let them craft their own dialogue.
John Oliver As Zazu
Zazu is a hornbill who serves as Mufasa’s majordomo. Rowan Atkinson, of Mr. Bean fame, voiced Zazu in the original, and The Lion King 2019 cast opted for a similarly clipped British accent for Mufasa’s advisor. Part of his role also involves him reluctantly having to babysit the young Simba and Nala. He’s begrudgingly fond of them, though, and overjoyed when Simba returns. Zazu is voiced by John Oliver, formerly of Community and The Daily Show but best known for his news satire show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which he has hosted since 2014.
Rowan Atkinson played the character of Zazu with surprisingly little humor outside of being a ball of anxiety. John Oliver still delivers that Type A personality, but also includes his own signature style of comedy through the various animal puns that Zazu uses in his morning reports. He also mentions that he has a cousin who thinks he’s a woodpecker, something not included in the original. Too, in the animated movie Scar knocks Zazu out during the stampede scene, whereas he sends Zazu to look for help in The Lion King 2019. Zazu also helps Nala escape in the 2019 version, meaning he’s a bit braver than his original iteration.
John Kani As Rafiki
Rafiki is a wise Mandril and not, as it is said in the original version of The Lion King, a baboon. John Kani of The Lion King 2019 cast is a South African actor, playwright, and director, well known for his stage work and for playing T’Chaka in Black Panther. He continues to play T’Chaka in the MCU, starring in Captain America: Civil War and Marvel’s What If…?. He also appeared in Murder Mystery and its sequel as Colonel Ulenga and voiced Brick in Seal Team. He will reprise the role of Rafiki in Mufasa: The Lion King.
In the animated version of the movie, Rafiki has a tail, when Mandrills do not. Rafiki is Mufasa’s advisor and is the one to present the newborn Simba. Audiences will notice one big thing missing from the new and improved Rafiki: his magical staff. Rafiki is much less magic-focused in The Lion King 2019 and his first appearance when he marks Simba’s head with berries rather than the fruit from his staff shows that this version will play out differently. The journey for Simba to Rafiki’s is much longer in The Lion King 2019, and Rafiki uses bugs instead of fruit and dust to create his iconic Simba drawing.
Keegan Michael-Key As Kamari
Of the many hyenas who follow Scar in The Lion King 2019 cast, only Shenzi is a character from the original movie; Kamari and Azizi are newer versions of Banzai and Ed, with an entirely different comedy dynamic. Keegan Michael-Key is best known as one-half of the comedy sketch duo Key and Peele. Key has provided his voice and comedic skills for a number of notable projects, most recently appearing in The Super Mario Bros. Movie as Toad. He starred in Wendell & Wild as Wendell and Honest John in Disney’s live-action Pinocchio. He will soon lend his voice to the character of Bumblebee in Transformers One.
While the original Lion King movie saw Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed as the three titular hyenas, The Lion King 2019 scrapped Banzai and Ed for Kamari and Azizi. Kamari is basically the new and improved Banzai, voiced by the prolific Cheech Marin, as he’s the smarter of the two male hyenas. Scar’s relationship with the group is different in The Lion King 2019 than it is in the original. Rather than having these pre-established henchmen, Scar proposes an alliance with the hyenas for the first time in the remake, promising them free rein in Pride Rock in exchange for their help.
Eric Andre As Azizi
Eric Andre plays the hyena Azizi, a different version of the original Ed, in The Lion King 2019 cast. Eric Andre is mainly known for his contributions to late-night surrealist comedy, hosting The Eric Andre talk show. However, he’s starred in plenty of movie and television projects as well, recently appearing as the corrupt pastor Lyle Lissons in The Righteous Gemstones season 2. He’s also utilized his voice acting talents to play Darius in Sing 2 and Pendergast in Disenchantment. He can soon be seen in Should’ve Been Romeo and Trolls Band Together.
Like his animated counterpart Ed, voiced by Jim Cummings, Azizi is the dumb one of the hyena trio. He constantly has to be kept up to speed with Shenzi’s plans and has a hard time not botching any job he’s given. The original Ed was only given a few speaking lines, but his dialogue was mostly maniacal laughter. Azizi has a bit more screen time and dialogue than Ed did, and rather than his signature laughter, he seems to have a problem with personal space. All in all, Azizi is an improvement on Ed’s character, and the hyenas have more agency in general in The Lion King 2019.
Florence Kasumba As Shenzi
Shenzi is the only original hyena to make it into the remake, and she’s voiced by Florence Kasumba of The Lion King 2019 cast. Kasumba is most recognizable for playing Ayo in the Black Panther franchise, and has reprised this role for Avengers: Infinity War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier while playing a security chief in Captain America: Civil War. The Ugandan-German actress has had a variety of roles in German movies and television but has also appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Wonder Woman, and Emerald City.
Shenzi was voiced by the iconic Whoopi Goldberg in the original Lion King, bringing a comedic edge to the longsuffering character. Shenzi is still the brains of the group in The Lion King 2019, though she is much more calculated, ruthless, and cunning in the remake. Between the hyenas getting more screen time and even more freedom than the original, Shenzi is a far more formidable force in The Lion King 2019 and can be considered a secondary antagonist to Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Scar.
Some Of The Lion King Cast Are Returning for Mufasa
The huge financial success of the live-action The Lion King spurred Disney to put a follow-up movie into production, and some of The Lion King 2019 cast is returning. At the 2022 D23 Expo, it was revealed that the prequel to 2019’s The Lion King will be Mufasa: Lion King. The film will be directed by acclaimed Moonlight helmer Barry Jenkins and tell the story of how Mufasa rose from humble beginnings to become King. Aaron Pierre, a British actor who played Caesar in Jenkins’ series The Underground Railroad, will voice Mufasa while Elvis and The Trial of the Chicago 7 cast member Kelvin Harrison will step into the role of Scar.
Returning from The Lion King 2019 cast will be Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, and John Kani as Rafiki, with Eichner even voicing a humorous aside in the D23 trailer. More cast members for Mufasa will likely be announced in the lead-up to the film’s July 5, 2024 release date. Already though, the announced returning cast members have been causing a lot of excitement — the 2019 The Lion King can be justifiably critiqued for many reasons, but there’s an almost-universal agreement that the casting was one aspect Favreau got right for the live-action remake.
Some Of The Original Lion King Cast Would Have Loved To Return
Unlike other Disney live-action remakes, The Lion King 2019 cast could have brought back just about every original actor from the animated movie. While Aladdin had to find actors to bring the likes of Genie and Jafar to life on the big screen, The Lion King only featured the voices of these actors which allowed them to bring back James Earl Jones to reprise his iconic role as Mufasa. With that precedent set, the remake could have done the same with other cast members, some of whom expressed a desire to return to the roles they helped create.
Jeremy Irons confirmed (via: Digital Spy) that he was not asked to return as Scar in the remake and seemed to be unhappy with the decision. When original Timon voice actor Nathan Lane was on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he detailed a kind email he received from Billy Eichner when it was announced he would take over the role. Lane responded with a question if Eichner and Ryan Gosling were going to remake Lane’s other hit movie The Birdcage. Irons and Lane are among the actors who helped make the original The Lion King a classic, and not having them return for the remake might have been a misstep.