"He earned all of it": Barry Jenkins on grounding Mufasa’s rise in The Lion King prequel

Mufasa: The Lion King, the highly anticipated family entertainer is all set to release on December 20. The film, a prequel to 2019’s The Lion King will focus on Mufasa, one of cinema’s most iconic kings and the expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destinies.

“He earned all of it”: Barry Jenkins on grounding Mufasa’s rise in The Lion King prequel

With this big screen spectacle all set to delve into how Mufasa rose to become the beloved king of the Pride Lands, Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins revealed what inspired him to make this much-anticipated story.

Says director Barry Jenkins, “In The Lion King, when Mufasa looks up into the heavens and you see all the great kings, we assume that they were all just born great. I saw this film as an opportunity to really ground Mufasa—to show that this guy was not born perfect. He was not born wealthy. He was not born entitled. He was just someone with a family who lost that family. Then faith and fortune and luck gave him a new family that he learned from and built with. He wasn’t given a damn thing—he earned all of it through learning, through being one with his environment, through caring for others.”

Directed by Barry Jenkins, Mufasa: The Lion King enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, introducing an orphaned cub called Mufasa, a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline—and their expansive journey alongside an extraordinary group of misfits.

Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King will be released in Indian cinemas on December 20, 2024, in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Also Read: Shreyas Talpade and Sanjay Mishra’s unmatched chemistry shines in new Mufasa: The Lion King behind-the-scenes video, watch