The Lion King remake: Since Beyonce may voice Nala, here's our cast wish list

Disney’s Lion King live-action reboot is getting in ‘formation’.

Sources tell Variety  that Beyonce is director Jon Favreau’s top choice to voice Nala (Simba’s best friend) in the upcoming remake.

Donald Glover is on board to voice Simba and James Earl Jones is reprising his role as Simba’s father, Mufasa.

Favreau is directing the film (after the success of The Jungle Book) with Jeff Nathanson writing the remake. The film is being fast-tracked, even as Favreau begins development on his sequel to the recent hit The Jungle Book. The studio’s emphasis on live-action adaptations follows the successes of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Maleficent (2014), Cinderella (2015), and, most recently, Beauty and the Beast.

Lion King was originally released in 1994 and is one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, ultimately hauling  $968.5 million worldwide.

Now that three of the main cast roles are set, any guesses about who will play the rest of the cast in the remake?

Here’s our wish list:

Samuel L. Jackson as Scar

Scar is Mufasa’s younger brother and Simba’s uncle, who usurps the king’s throne. We want Samuel L. Jackson to take on the role of the evil, conniving lion, for obvious reasons. After all, he is a perfect foil to play a character with shades of grey, if you look at his roles like Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction or the tough as nails Nick Fury from The Avengers series. Plus, not only does he look menacing, he can sound it too.

Chris Rock as Timon

Timon is a wise-cracking meerkat who becomes one of Simba’s best friends and adoptive parents.

The comic relief of the film has to be chosen with care of course. Who better to play Timon than Chris Rock? The Oscars host and talented actor can leave you in splits no matter what the situation is and we are sure that he can pull off a rendition of ‘ Hakuna Matata ’ pretty well. Rock has already hit it out of the park by voicing Marty the Zebra in the animated film series Madagascar.

Ben Stiller as Pumbaa

Pumbaa is a a naive warthog who suffers from flatulence and is Timon’s best friend. Since Ben Stiller and Chris Rock have already worked together for Madagascar where Stiller plays Alex the Lion, Pumbaa will be a perfect role for the actor. Besides, Stiller is famous for essaying goofy and hilarious characters like Derek Zoolander in Zoolander.

Viola Davis as Sarabi

Sarabi is Mufasa’s wife and Simba’s mother, and the leader of the lioness hunting party. Can you imagine anyone but the How To Get Away With Murder star Viola Davis playing the role of a queen huntress?

Rowan Atkinson as Zazu

Zazu is a hornbill who serves as the king’s stooge was voiced by Rowan Atkinson in the 1994 original film. We hope that Rowan Atkinson returns to voice the sneaky bird, because nobody play Rowan Atkinson better than Rowan Atkinson. Afterall, have you seen any other actor trying to play Mr. Bean?

Morgan Freeman as Rafiki

Rafiki, which means ‘friend’ when translated from Swahili, is one of the wisest characters in The Lion King franchise. He  is an advisor to the lion king, and fans know him from the iconic scene where he raises Simba  and declares him the next ruler of the jungle.

Who better than Morgan Freeman to play the baboon whose has wisdom for everyone in the film?

Jennifer Coolidge as Shenzi the Hyena

The three hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed are the secondary antagonists of the film. The hyenas are led by Shenzi, who is also the smartest of them all.

Who better to play a funny but evil matriarch in a Disney franchise than Jennifer Coolidge? Coolidge has already amused the audience with her role as cinderella’s evil step-mother, Fiona in the modern day remake of A Cinderella Story starring Hillary Duff.

Since the step sisters in A Cinderella Story (Regina King as Rhonda and Madeline Zima as Brianna) do such an excellent job with their comic timing, they should be cast as the less smart Banzai and Ed as well.

OR

Kim, Kourney and Khloe as the Hyenas

Since we know of the trios comic timing from watching 13 seasons of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, we think the Kardashian trio will add an equal measure of glam and humour to the live action remake.