Mufasa – The Lion King is coming to cinemas soon.
At the D23 fan event on August 9 in Anaheim, California, Walt Disney Studios unveiled a new full trailer for the film, a prequel to the successful live-action adaptation of The Lion King.
An earlier teaser for Mufasa debuted in April, featuring a narration by Rafiki and a first glimpse of young Mufasa to the tune of the song “Circle of Life.”
Mufasa takes viewers through the origin story of the character, who develops from an orphan boy to the legendary king of the Pride Lands. It also tells the story of his relationship with his brother Taka, also known to fans as Scar.
Kiara, the daughter of Simba and Nala, appears in parts of the film, as do Timon and Pumbaa.
“What you’ll learn from the story is that Mufasa is who he is … because of the family and friends he has,” director Barry Jenkins said at Disney’s D23 Expo in 2022. “And so I saw myself in it. I thought, ‘This is a really beautiful story to tell.'”
The return of the popular animated film will also feature the actors who voiced the characters in the 2019 installment. Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, John Kani and Beyoncé will reprise their roles as Simba, Pumbaa, Timon, Rafiki and Nala.
There will also be a few new faces. New cast members include Aaron Pierre as young Mufasa, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as young Scar, Tiffany Boone as Sarabi, Mads Mikkelsen as Kiros, Thandiwe Newton as Eshe, Lennie James as Obasi and Blue Ivy Carter, who makes her feature film debut as Kiara.
Blue Ivy became the youngest individual Grammy winner of 2021 at age 9 after being named in her mother Beyoncé’s 2019 song and music video for “Brown Skin Girl.” The song was included on the soundtrack album The Lion King: The Gift, which included new songs inspired by the film.
“I feel like Blue has grown quite a bit over the course of this tour,” Jenkins told PEOPLE in April 2024. “The film is kind of a snapshot, this time capsule of a moment in her life that I think is really beautiful. And that absolutely worked for the film.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
This time, fans can look forward to new original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is known for his musical contributions to other Disney animated films, such as Vaiana – The wonderful world of love And Magical.
“The Lion King has an incredible musical legacy with music from some of the world’s greatest songwriters, and I’m proud and humbled to be a part of it,” Miranda said in a statement. “It’s been a joy working with Barry Jenkins to bring Mufasa’s story to life, and we can’t wait for audiences to experience this film in theaters.”
Mufasa – The Lion King will be in cinemas on December 20th.