#TheLionKing. 2019. 🦁👑 pic.twitter.com/UMJo18FwDt
— Disney (@Disney) November 1, 2017
Just four years ago, Confessions of a Casting Director author Jen Rudin revealed in an interview with the New York Post that Beyoncé was once in the running for the lead voice role in The Princess and the Frog. She wouldn’t audition for the role of Princess Tiana, the franchise’s first Black princess, so the role went to Anika Noni Rose, one of Beyoncé’s costars in 2006’s Dreamgirls.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed Beyoncé has been cast as Nala alongside Donald Glover, who will play Simba, a childhood friend and later love interest, in in Jon Favreau’s take on the 1994 movie, The Lion King.
Here’s the rest of the star studded lineup:
James Earl Jones – Simba’s father Mufasa
Chiwetel Ejiofor – Simba’s uncle Scar
Alfre Woodard – Simba’s mother Sarabi
JD McCrary – young version of Simba
Shahadi Wright Joseph – young Nala
John Kani – Rafiki
John Oliver – Zazu
The new Lion King is set to open July 19, 2019.
