Mufasa: The Lion King Wasted It’s Two Biggest Returning Cast Members

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Mufasa: The Lion KingDespite entering a new year, the last few films of 2024 are still chugging along at the box office, and one that has continued to find a lot of success is the newest massive Disney film, Mufasa: The Lion King. The film is a prequel to the 1990s classic, specifically the 2019 remake, telling the origin story of The Lion King’s Scar and Mufasa before the events of the original film. Mufasa has received divisive reviews, and one major point against the film is how it handled some of the characters that it brought over from the previous movie.

While the main characters in Mufasa are Scar and obviously the titular Mufasa, the film also shows how many of the familiar faces from The Lion King first met the central duo, including Sarabi, Zazu, and Rafiki. However, one aspect of the film that is quite understated are the parts that take place after the events of the first movie, where Simba, Nala, their new daughter Kiara, Timon, and Pumbaa recount the events of The Lion King, and unfortunately, these future scenes are where one of Mufasa‘s problems arise.

Donald Glover & Beyoncé Have Really Small Roles In Mufasa: The Lion King

The Two Lions Have Much Less Screen Time Than Other Legacy Characters

Donald Glover as Simba and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala are two of the best parts of the 2019 remake, but their roles in Mufasa are greatly reduced, acting almost as cameos as opposed to being an actual part of the movie. While this is to be expected to some degree, as the film is about Mufasa and Scar, and The Lion King was Simba and Nala’s movie, it was still disappointing to see that they only had a little bit of screen time, especially when so many other legacy characters have much larger roles in Mufasa.

Unfortunately, the two characters only really appear at the beginning and ending of Mufasa, with the plot reason being that they go to an oasis so that Nala can give birth to another child. The actual reasons the characters didn’t have more expansive roles are likely obvious ones, that being their irrelevance to the story and the cost of bringing them onboard. They are definitely the biggest and most expensive names in the series, and Disney would have wanted to spend less money on them, as this film was never going to focus on Mufasa and Nala anyway.

Mufasa: The Lion King Should Have At Least Given Donald Glover & Beyoncé A New Song

Hearing The Two Singers In A New Song Would Have Been A Great Addition

The biggest boon to hiring two excellent singers in the lead roles in a musical film is naturally the fact that the songs they are given will essentially be guaranteed to be solid at the very least. The Lion King‘s songs are mostly from the original animated classic, with a few new compositions, while Mufasa‘s soundtrack contains a plethora of new, original songs, and it would have been great to hear Glover and Beyoncé perform a new piece together. While it was never necessary to Mufasa‘s story or characters, it does feel like a missed opportunity.