Deadline is reporting that Walt Disney Studios has enlisted Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Waves; Luce; The Trial Of The Chicago 7) and Aaron Pierre (Old; The Underground Railroad; Krypton) to topline the voice cast of their upcoming The Lion King prequel, which will tell the origin story of Mufasa.
Pierre will voice a young Mufasa while Harrison will voice Taka, the lion more famously known as Scar. No word on the supporting cast just yet, but DHD claims several big names are in consideration.
Academy Award-winner Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk; Moonlight; The Underground Railroad) will direct with an original screenplay from Jeff Nathanson (The Lion King; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales; Tower Heist) and Academy Award-winner Hans Zimmer is set to compos the score.
Like the previous film and The Jungle Book, the yet-to-be-titled prequel will also utilize photorealistic animation technology for the main characters. Considering its use was met a lot more divisively in The Lion King (2019) than the other Jon Favreau-directed feature, it's fair to wonder whether they'll make any significant upgrades to how the lions and other animals emote.
No release date has been set, but production has been underway for quite some time, so we could be getting an official announcement of some sort before the end of this calendar year.