Blue Ivy’s new role in the upcoming Disney movie “Mufasa” has been explained by director Barry Jenkins.
Jenkins revealed that she will be the voice of Simba and Nala’s daughter Kiara, which makes sense knowing that her mother, Beyoncé is the voice of Nala in the “The Lion King” remake.
During the D23 Expo event, Jenkins said, “Blue Ivy doesn’t sing in the movie. She is a thespian! I gotta be honest about that. She is a thespian.” Although she doesn’t sing in the film, the other characters do sing with Lin-Manuel Miranda doing the music for the film. This will be Jenkins’s first time working on a musical.
He expressed his excitement about working with the Tony and Grammy winner. “For me, working with Lin was amazing,” he said. “I’ve never made a musical before. So when I took the job, I knew that was going to be a part of it, but I just figured, ‘We’ll figure that out when we figure that out.’ In a musical, we need to figure that out first!”
Attendees of the D23 Expo also got a sneak peek of the song, “I Always Wanted A Brother,” a song between the two lion cubs, Mufasa and Taka, best known as Scar. The trailer for the film tells the backstory of Mufasa and how he and Taka are not blood brothers. It also displays how Taka wanted Mufasa to be accepted by his family and how their relationship unfolds.
Blue Ivy joins the cast with returning cast members Donald Glover as Simba, Billy Eichner as Timon, Seth Rogan as Pumbaa, John Kani as Rafiki, Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Taka.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” is set to be released in theaters on Dec. 20. Watch the trailer below.