Jon Favreau’s live-action adaptation of The Lion King has added a queen to the cast and has fully rounded out its full slate with the addition of Queen Bey herself. Beyonce Knowles-Carter has joined the cast in the adaptation of the Disney classic as Nala.
There have been rumblings that the superstar was going to star in the Disney project, but her role was made Facebook-official yesterday. She will join Donald Glover as Simba; Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar; and James Earl Jones, who will reprise his voice role as Mufasa from the animated film and series. The cast, which officially was announced yesterday, also includes Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, John Kani as Rafiki, John Oliver as Zazu, Eric Andre as Azizi, Florence Kasuma as Shenzi, and Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari. Rounding out the cast are JD McCrary as Young Simba and Shahadi Wright Joseph as Young Nala.
Released in 1994, The Lion King is one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time with a lifetime global box office of $968.8M. It also spawned the smash musical, which won six Tony Awards including Best Musical and in October will mark 20 consecutive years playing on Broadway.
The film is set to be released in the summer 2019 for its 25th anniversary.
Check out the full cast announcement below:
