Mufasa The Lion King’s James Earl Jones dedication explained

Mufasa: The Lion King features a dedication to the late, great James Earl Jones. Here’s where and why director Barry Jenkins included the credit.

New Lion King movie Mufasa begins with the voice of James Earl Jones, followed by a title card that reads ‘In Remembrance.’

The dedication to the legendary star of stage and screen is because Jones provided the voice of King Mufasa in the original 1994 Lion King movie, as well as its direct-to-video sequels, and 2019 remake.

James Earl Jones died in September at the age of 93, so wasn’t a part of the new movie. But the filmmakers wanted to begin the film by paying tribute to his legacy.

Mufasa director Barry Jenkins explains “powerful” James Earl Jones dedication

In an interview with Variety, Barry Jenkins revealed why he decided to open Mufasa with the booming tones of James Earl Jones.

“When I think about what James Earl Jones means,” explained Jenkins, “not even just to me, but to global audiences – people know this – I grew up without a father figure, and you go in and you watch this art, you watch these films, sometimes these fathers in these movies become a stand-in for that. They become these father figures.”

Jenkins continues: “It felt like we had all lost a patriarch. We had all lost this man who meant so much. It felt like there was no way you could sit in this movie – go through an hour and 40 minutes – and not honor him in some way.

“You would be thinking about the ways in which you wanted to honor him, so it felt like we had to do it at the very front. The studio agreed right away, and we tried to find something that was very simple, but also very clear and very powerful.”

CBS

Variety also spoke to the film’s supervising sound editor Onnalee Blank, who says that including Jones’ voice was “one of the most beautiful things that we did. To make his voice sound like the voice of God, like he is speaking to all of us — it was very fitting and very sad.”

Mufasa: The Lion King hits screens on December 20, 2025, when it will be competing with Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Before then you can head here for our list of the Top 10 Animated Movies to see where the original Lion King places. Or here for why the franchise peaked with this underrated Lion King sequel.