After the massive success of live-action remakes like The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, it was a no-brainer for Disney to next tackle one of their most beloved films to date – 1994 classic The Lion King. With Jon Favreau attached to direct, the project has been amassing its cast for the past few months. Donald Glover’s signed up to voice Simba, with James Earl Jones reprising his role as Simba’s father, Mufasa. More recently, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen were revealed to be playing meerkat/warthog double act Timon and Pumbaa.
The latest casting announcement comes courtesy of Omega Underground, who tell us that Hugh Jackman has boarded the project as Scar. Disney has yet to confirm this news, but with D23 currently underway, we expect them to do so quite soon.
After all, it’d make sense for the actor to join the upcoming remake. Not only does he now have a lot of free time given that his commitment to the X-Men franchise is done, but Jackman also posted a cryptic Tweet just yesterday, which seemingly teased a role in a Disney film. You can check it out for yourself below.
PARTNERS. @Disneyland pic.twitter.com/dEuFwxfoqd
— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) July 15, 2017
Doesn’t get much more obvious than that, right? Of course, there’s also the fact that Jackman has the musical chops to make this work and his intensity and strong, commanding voice means that he’s pretty much the perfect choice to play the villain. As such, we’re definitely hoping that this scoop proves to be true. One way or another, we’ll find out soon enough, as the Disney panel is now taking place at D23.
The Lion King is just one of a whole host of classic Disney animated properties being given live-action remakes. Others on the way include Dumbo, Mulan and Aladdin. The tale of the flying elephant is first out the door, with a release date of March 29th, 2019. The story of Simba and his pals is then set to land in cinemas on July 19th.
