‘Mufasa: The Lion King’: Barry Jenkins Says Upcoming Prequel Has “A Ton Of Familiar Faces,” “Wonderful Musical Numbers”

After “Moonlight,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” and “The Underground Railroad,” did anyone expect Barry Jenkins‘s next film to be… a prequel to “The Lion King“? It’s a total left-field move by Jenkins. After all, how will the director’s formal brilliance shine through all the photo-realistic CGI “Mufasa: The Lion King” will rely on?  

READ MORE: ‘Lion King’ Prequel TItle Unveiled, ‘Haunted Mansion’ Adds New Cast & More [D23 Expo]

Audiences won’t get an answer until the movie releases in 2024, but even then: it’s a Barry Jenkins movie, so, something to be really excited about. And in an interview with EW at the D23 Expo earlier this month, Jenkins sounds excited about “Mufasa,” too. For one, he’s excited about working with characters that audiences already know and love. “I think you’ll see a ton of familiar faces,” Jenkins told EW. “It is a prequel, but again, it’s a prequel in the sense that these are all the same characters, but we’re telling you how they came to be who they are. So we’re literally going backward. We’re going back in time with many of these characters. We’re in the present, as well, but we’re also going back to tell who these characters were.”

Jenkins hopped on board the upcoming Disney movie after Jeff Nathanson sent him the movie’s script and fell in love. And even though audiences are familiar with “The Lion King” world already, Jenkins sensed that the film would still cover new ground. “Mufasa is the king, the greatest king of the Pride Lands, and you assume he got that way just because he is,” Jenkins explains. “And I thought the studio and Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the script, did a great job of really exploring how people become great, how people come to be these mythic figures we look up to.”

The upcoming film centers around the titular king of Pride Rock, the father of “The Lion King” protagonist, Simba. Rafiki, Timon, and Pumbaa will tell the story in flashbacks, with John Kani, Billy Eichner, and Seth Rogen reprising their voice roles from Jon Favreau‘s 2019 film.  James Earl Jones won’t be back to voice Mufasa, though. Instead, Aaron Pierre voices the younger iteration, while Kelvin Harrison Jr. voices Taka, the real name of Mufasa’s brother, Scar.

And what else should audiences expect from “Mufasa”? “Please expect musical numbers,” said Jenkins. “Really wonderful musical numbers, I’d say.” It wouldn’t be a Disney feature film without any of those. “Mufasa” is on track for a 2024 release.