'The Lion King' Live-Action Prequel Finally Has a Title and Release Year

The highly anticipated live-action prequel to 2019's "The Lion King" remake finally has a title and a tentative release year. This year's D23 exhibit included plenty of buzzing highlights, and among them was an update on "The Lion King" prequel, originally announced in 2020 starring Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight" and "If Beale Street Could Talk") joined as its director.

Per Variety, Jenkins revealed the official name of his prequel film on September 10 during D23, along with exclusive clips, which began with John Kani's Rafiki recalling the story of Mufasa to young cubs, who revealed that the lion was actually "a little orphan who had to navigate the world alone until he became king of Pride Rock."

"In this place, a lion was born without a drop of nobility in its blood," Rafiki said in the clip. "The lion that would change our lives forever." The new footage also included a quick catchphrase from Billy Eichner's Timon, which he voiced in the 2019 film "The Lion King," where he joked, "Wait, wait, am I not in this story? I don't feel seen."

According to Deadline's 2020 report, Disney has nabbed Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the screenplay for the first 'The Lion King' reboot, to return for the sequel and write Mufasa's origin story. So far, it hasn't been mentioned if the prequel will once again welcome some of the original film's cast, which included a star-studded voice list consisting of Beyoncé as Nala, Donald Glover as Simba, and many others. It's also unclear if Beyoncé will be inspired to create another album for him (fans certainly wouldn't mind a sequel to "The Gift").

Fortunately, while we wait for more information, you can hold back and watch both the original animated version and the reboot of "The Lion King" on Disney+. Read ahead for everything we know about the live-action prequel so far, including the cast, release date, and title.