Braelyn Rankins, the young voice talent behind the Disney prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King,” has made a surprising revelation on “TMZ Live.”
Rankins admitted he didn’t know the identities of most of his co-stars until this year, even though he always believed the star-studded script would draw big names.
Rankins revealed he was unaware of most of his co-stars, including Beyoncé and Thandiwe Newton, until the trailer’s release in April, as reported by TMZ.
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Although he worked with a few actors directly and read parts of the script, Rankins had no confirmation of the star-studded cast until then.
He suspected big names like Beyoncé would return, especially in her role as Nala from the live-action “Lion King” movie, but this was only confirmed with the trailer’s debut.
He indicated that he auditioned for the role back in 2020 and recently viewed the film twice. He never had access to the full script during recording, so watching the complete movie revealed many finer plot details to him for the first time, he said.
Rankins stars as young Mufasa in “Mufasa: The Lion King,” the father of the main character Simba.
James Earl Jones originally voiced Mufasa in both the animated film and the 2019 live-action remake. Rankins’ sister, Brielle, also contributed to the character’s voice.
Aaron Pierre voices the older Mufasa, with an ensemble cast including Kelvin Harrison Jr., Blue Ivy Carter, Mads Mikkelsen, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Keith David, and Donald Glover.
The film is set to release in theaters on December 20.
