Lion King remake to star Donald Glover, James Earl Jones

Disney is producing a remake of its widely popular classic, The Lion King, to be directed by Jon Favreau. The live-action-animated film will be an addition to the Lion King franchise, which includes a 1994 animated film, three sequels, two spin-off TV series, a musical in Broadway and video games.

Today, Favreau's tweets suggest that he has finalised on who would voice Simba and Mufasa. Simba, the main lead, will be played by Donald Glover, according to Favreau's tweet, quoting the song based on the character: I Just Can't Wait to Be King.

For Mufasa, Simba's father, Favreau tweeted a photo of James Earl Jones, who voiced the same character earlier in the 1994 film. Because no one else could truly do a better job than the legendary Jones.

Jones, an award-winning stage and Hollywood actor is best known for voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, from 1977 till last year. In 2008, the 86-year-old received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

The casting has been confirmed by Disney in a press release. The news brought back pleasant childhood memories for fans, many of whom are now in their twenties, and they took to Twitter to express their excitement.

Glover has proved himself as a skilled actor, musician and director in the past few years. The 33-year-old has a repertoire of top-notch work in both music and TV, including small roles in films. He began his career in 2006 writing episodes for 30 Rock (and winning a Writers Guild of America Award in 2009), while he entered the rap scene as Childish Gambino. His subsequent work includes releasing several albums, performing stand-up comedy and his role as Troy Barnes in Dan Harmon's Community.

In 2016, he was the creator, director, writer and main lead in Atlanta, a comedy series that went on to receive two Golden Globe Awards. No wonder then that he is the obvious choice for Simba, and also as Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Star Wars film about Han Solo.

Favreau, whose films like Iron Man and The Jungle Book were huge commercial successes, has said that his teenage son is a big fan of Glover's music.

The Lion King revival is considered to be a “new take” on the original animated film. According to reports, screenwriter Jeff Nathanson will be writing this live-action remake. He is known for writing Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film, Dead Men Tell No Tales.