The Mufasa press tour continues apace, stopping in London yesterday. No Bey or Blue Ivy this time, though, which means we can talk about everyone else involved with this film.
Let’s start with Barry Jenkins, the director of the film. It is for his sake that I hope Mufasa works out. Jenkins hasn’t directed a feature film since 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk, and his last directorial effort was 2021’s Underground Railroad. Disney, this better be f-cking worth Barry Jenkins time, especially since he did not enjoy the process of making Mufasa.
Returning from the “live-action” remake—which is, technically, animation, though it’s done in a photoreal style—are Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, respectively. (Beyoncé returns to voice Nala, as does Donald Glover voicing Simba, presumably in some sort of bookending framing device for the main prequel story. Blue Ivy Carter voices Nala and Simba’s daughter, Kiara, and I don’t expect that will be a big role for the same reason.) Rogen and Eichner actually stand out this time, without Queen Bey and Princess Blue overshadowing everyone.
New to Mufasa are Tiffany Boone as Sarabi, Mufasa’s wife, and Anika Noni Rose as Afia, Mufasa’s mother. Young Mufasa himself is voiced by Aaron Pierre, lately of the extremely rad Rebel Ridge (streaming on Netflix), and the upcoming Lanterns, a DC Green Lanterns show in which he will play John Stewart (Kyle Chandler is playing Hal Jordan). Aaron Pierre was a standout in Underground Railroad, and he has been busy ever since.
Kelvin Harrison, Jr. voices Taka, aka Scar before the scar. He’s another young guy who broke out in 2019’s Waves and has also been busy ever since, most notably with Cyrano, Elvis (in which he played BB King), and Chevalier. He’s also set to star in a Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic, which is hopefully still happening. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve had news of that project. Just this year, though, Harrison played Martin Luther King, Jr. in the latest season of Genius, which centered on MLK and Malcolm X—played by Aaron Pierre. That makes Mufasa a reunion! But seriously, Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison, Jr. are two seriously talented and seriously in demand actors, Disney is just a pit stop for them. Although I really am hoping Mufasa pays off for Barry Jenkins’ sake.
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