The Lion King 2 Risks Making A Disney Villain Mistake

screenrant.com:

Disney's The Lion King 2 is currently in the works, but it also looks as though the film risks making a mistake with its portrayal of the infamous villain Scar. The 2019 remake of the 1994 animated original, The Lion King, was explosively popular, garnering old and new fans of different generations to see what a revamped, live-action version of Simba's classic story looked like. Of course, the king Mufasa's brother Scar was the clear-cut villain of both films, killing his brother to snatch his spot as king and convincing Simba to abandon his old life with a sense of weighty grief and guilt-riddled shame. How he is depicted is central to the story.

Now, a prequel to the remake is being crafted, and the approach sounds much different than past Lion King installments have seen. Young Mufasa and Scar were reported to have been cast for the film. Actor Aaron Pierre will voice the tragically betrayed king and Scar — who originally goes by "Taka" in the movie — will be brought to life by Kelvin Harrison Jr. Apparently, The Lion King 2 explores Scar and Mufasa's youth and how they got to the contentious place in their relationship that led to the latter's demise in the previous movie. The film certainly sounds promising and exciting, with well-known director Barry Jenkins praising its script, openly saying it blew him away and made him want to try his hand at a different kind of movie.

Related: Why The Lion King 2 Will Be Better Than The First Movie

Since Scar will clearly be getting his own part in the origin story, the question arises as to whether or not he truly needs one. After all, fans already know a great deal about his character from the 1994 original and remake. He's undoubtedly a (not-so-)good, old-fashioned villain.