As announced earlier today, The Lion King is being made into a CGI/live-action remake. It’s happening whether we like it or not so we might as well embrace it.

There have been no announcements on the cast yet but as one does, the team here pondered who could play these iconic roles. Here’s the list we came up with:

 

Simba & Nala (young) – Gaten Matarazzo & Millie Bobby Brown

  

The Stranger Things kids are everywhere at the moment and rightly so. They’re fun, cool, witty and extremely talented. We’d love to see Matarazzo and Brown play the young lions – plus we know they can sing so there’d be a rendition of I Just Can’t Wait To Be King that we could definitely get on board with.

 

Simba & Nala (adult) – John Boyega & Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Boyega and Mbatha-Raw are also big names at the mo and we think they’d be a great Simba and Nala. Boyega is best-known of course for playing Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens while Mbatha-Raw’s credits include Belle, Concussion and Free State of Jones. Boyega has already proven to be a very charismatic lead while Mbatha-Raw’s past performances show she can bring both grace and determination to a role like Nala.

 

Zazu – Richard E. Grant

Rowan Atkinson aka Mr Bean gave voice to the busybody hornbill majordomo and it was hard to think of someone to replace him. But if anyone we can do it we think GOT and Withnail and I star Richard E Grant could fit the bill (geddit?).

 

Rafiki – Emma Thompson

Rafiki requires someone who can deliver both the quirkiness and wisdom of the character. We think Emma Thompson (whose credits include Love Actually, Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee and most recently, Bridget Jones’s Baby) would be perfect in this regard.

 

Mufasa – Morgan Freeman

This one took a lot of debating. After all, how can one possibly replace the might and majesty of James Earl Jones’s voice? Well, we figured if Morgan Freeman can play God, then there’s nothing he can’t do.

 

The Hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed – Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson, and Jenna Slate

Previously played by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings, this trio of hyper hyenas were Scar’s henchmen. We think Broad City’s Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, and Obvious Child’s Jenna Slate, could definitely bring a lively edge to the characters.

 

Timon & Pumbaa – Hugh Laurie & James Corden

 

This meerkat and warthog duo were first brought to life by a brilliant comedic performance in Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella. It’ll be hard to top but we reckon the no-nonsense attitude of Hugh Laurie versus the rarely serious James Corden could make for some good chemistry. Plus we know they can sing so good news for the Hakuna Matata rendition.



Scar – Charles Dance

This was also a toughie (Tom Hiddleston was a close second) but we settled on GOT’s Tywin Lannister aka Charles Dance. It’s not an easy job to replace the voice of Jeremy Irons but we think Dance’s vocals will bring just the right level of evilness and pompousness to the part.