The Lion King same name, with Jon Favreau directing. The following month, Jeff Nathanson was hired to write the script for the film. Favreau originally planned shoot it back to back with the sequel to "The Jungle Book". However, it was reported in early 2017 that the latter film was put on hold in order for Favreau to instead focus mainly on "The Lion King". In February 2017, Favreau announced that Donald Glover had been cast as Simba and that James Earl Jones would be reprising the role of Mufasa. The following month, it was reported that was Favreau's top choice to voice
Nala (The Lion King) University of Waterloo's Kinema, Vicky Wong believes that Nala reinforces the film's "take your place" motif, reminding main character Simba of his responsibilities. In his book "Retelling Stories, Framing Culture: Traditional Story and Metanarratives in Children's Literature", author John Stephens credits Nala with teaching Simba about responsibility – "the lesson the hero must learn before he can become an adult". Film critic James Berardinelli identified Nala as "The Lion King"'s "sole significant female character." Including Nala, "The Lion King" has only three major female characters in comparison to the film's total of nine male ones. Shepherd University's Emmylou Allen observed