Posted in: Movies | Tagged: disney, John Oliver, jon favreau, remake, the lion king

The Lion King Remake Casts John Oliver

Last Week Tonight's man main John Oliver is joining the great Disney circle of life, and the casting is perfect.

Jon Favreau, hot off the success of his live action remake of the Disney animated classic The Jungle Book is bringing the sunbaked world of Pride Lands to life in his next adaptation, The Lion King.

It sure looks like Oliver will be lending his voice to Zazu, the red billed hornbill who serves as King Mufasa's chief advisor. In the original 1994 animated Lion King, Zazu was voiced by Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), and served under kings Mufasa, Scar, and Simba.

Donald Glover (Atlanta) has already been announced as the Simba the young lion, James Earl Jones (Star Wars) will be returning to the role of Mufasa head of the pride of lions, Billy Eichner (Parks and Rec) will be playing Timon the meerkat, and Seth Rogen (The Interview) will be playing the voice of Pumbaa the warthog.

This won't be Jon Oliver's first time voicing an animated character, as his other voice credits include the animated film project currently in production, Paramount's Amusement Park alongside Mila Kunis, Jennifer Garner and Matthew Broderick (who was Simba in the original animated Lion King). Oliver also played the role of Vanity Smurf in The Smurfs franchise at Sony Pictures, as well as appearances on The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers on FOX.

The Wrap reported this, even though no official word has been uttered by Disney or Jon Favreau who has been tweeting every time a casting has been made public.

No word on if we'll hear Jon Oliver singing "Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" yet.

We'll let you know when this gets confirmed, as well as any other casting announcements as they get made.

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