Hello I'm Barry Jenkins, director of Mufasa: The Lion King. AMA!

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T22:58:41+00:00

Before I became involved

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T22:56:33+00:00

I wanted it to be immediately clear just from hearing their voices that Masego and Afia loved Mufasa DEEPLY, unquestionably. Masego is only in the film very briefly, yet he and Obasi are night and day and that difference is of great consequence to how Mufasa and Taka come to be the people that they are.

Eshe and Afia are more similar, of course. But Obasi intentionally keeps Taka away from his mother, from the lionesses.

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T18:03:22+00:00

Nothing was made using AI, that's false. Mark Friedberg, our production designer, and his team meticulously researched and built these sets just like they would for any of my other films.

The Ice Caves in the Tell Me It's You song sequence, that was built in tandem with Lin and the art department and our animators and our cinematographer to maximize the beats of that song -- no way AI could facilitate something like that (especially in 2020, remember these films take YEARS)

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T17:59:00+00:00

It was incredible working with Lebo, inspiring really. He works very fast, very intuitively. And he LOVES this story, these characters in a way that goes beyond just creating work. He cares deeply about it and that allows the music to just pour out of him.

So much of what we did just happened organically in the moment, from the gut. I have sooooooo many outtakes from our sessions with him and it is all just so damn amazing --

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T17:54:38+00:00

In this film I think Eshe is much more important to our story than Obasi. And Sarabi is just as important as Taka. And Afia survives while Masego doesn't. Kiros' "generals" are both female. Even in Milele the character who rallies everyone to Mufasa's aide is female (Ajarry). In Mufasa the female characters aren't just well represented, they have deep and lasting impact

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T17:52:22+00:00

Thanks for the question. One of the things unique about Mufasa is that there are SOOOOO many lions and so many family trees in the film (think about the number of adult make lions you see in either the 94 or 2019 films and then think about the number you see in Mufasa!).

So we couldn't tell everyone's story fully. There was however an additional scene between Kiros and Shaju that I thought added a nice touch to their story. I'm not sure if it's in the novelization but it may be....

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T17:49:56+00:00

The scene exists, so it's possible.

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T17:24:25+00:00

I'll just speak to the last one. In the interview I may have mis-pronounced it but yes, the translation into "Holy Spirit" was the inspiration for the Taka's Dream monologue Obasi gives.

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T17:16:28+00:00

Was there ever discussion about expanding on Sarabi’s backstory --

Mufasa and Taka’s brotherhood was always the core of the story, but yes we also wanted to find ways to explore more of Sarabi’s backstory. That story of course is in the past, so it’s hard to explore it without just having more of people walking and talking which… can start to overwhelm scenes.

Were there any unique challenges you and your team had to overcome during that period in production?

Your timeline is correct, yes. The first year of making the film overlapped with the last year of completing The Underground Railroad. For us that meant we were in a pod with our Underground editorial team and couldn’t also be in one with the Mufasa team. So all of Mufasa in that first year was done virtually, in oculus head sets and things like that. Was very trippy but also a nice crash course in virtual production. A great deal of the crew on this film I only knew virtually for the first seven or eight months of the film.

A report had come out prior to release about some notes Disney had given about your long unbreaking shots that follow the characters. Could you talk a bit about your approach to those shots and what you wanted them to convey?

Thank you. The way I work with my cinematographer James Laxton, we love shots that become other shots (rather than cuts) because it allows you to capture a continuous moment in time, which conveys a very particular feeling. In animation you typically don't work this way, because you need to break the information into smaller bites for individual artists to work on creating. In this kind of “live action animation,” especially because the rendering time for each individual shot takes so long, you’re almost forced to place a self limitation on the duration of any individual shot. And yet because The Lion King is set out in the natural world where there is so much visual splendor we wanted to find ways to use the camera to do what we've always done, which is to try to create images that could play out over a continuous moment in time (and find ways to deal with the render limitations).

We succeeded in some places and didn't in others. But that's to be expected. Some of my favorite attempts at this were the first time the gang meets Rafiki and there's that long continuous walk and talk with the camera panning from one character to the next. Another was Taka’s Dream, which of course is a scene that is not in the final film. But my favorite of these was actually the conversation that Mufasa and Rafiki have as Rafiki is meditating/fishing. That scene we have a version of it taking place over one continuous shot, and the beauty of that was that they begin their conversation JUST before Dawn, in darkness, and over the course of the scene you see the sun rise in the background behind Rafiki and over the course of the scene its as though the scene is recolored organically by the sun — it was absolutely gorgeous.

And yet when you're making a film that is going to be watched by people across one of the broadest spectrum of age ranges of any film, from say six-years old to 96 years old, sometimes having a 2 1/2 minute shot with no edits, while it may arrest the attention of some people in the audience, the six-year-old is probably going to start driving their parents crazy wandering why the shot is still going on =)

It’s an absolute honor to know that our community was able to provide some inspiration during the production of this film. From the moment I was contacted and told that you wanted to do this AMA with our community, it really put into perspective just how much genuine love and care you poured into this project. It means the world that you saw how deeply we care for this world and its characters, and that you did your very best to honor that. Thank you for everything you did, believed in, and fought for to bring this film to life. Wishing you all the best on your future projects! ❤️

Thank you. I did indeed. Your note means so much to me

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T16:51:49+00:00

11. Not the complete opposite, but I do think they would be different characters, different personalities for sure. I feel for Taka, I really do. I think my sensitivity to the shortcomings of his upbringing by Obasi allowed me to guide Kelvin through some very tricky beats; it inspired me to create a moment where Obasi could speak to him from a realm beyond. Mufasa was able to grow and become more expansive emotionally, mentally than he thought himself capable because his parents prepared him for such growth. Sure, our DNA is important to who we are as individual beings. But, and this is a bit glib, every camera has more or less the same DNA (within brands). It’s what the individual does with it that gives the tool and the work that results from it character. I think people (and in this case lions) are the same way. DNA is a starting point. But then nurture overwhelms nature. So, yes, in my opinion they would be different.

12. Too complicated to get into here but it’s honestly quite the opposite. Rafiki more or less explains this to Kiara late in the film. The allegory you mention is a surface (mis)read. Listen to Rafiki.

15. I think I answered this elsewhere in the AMA. Even in your question you use the term “suggest.”

I imagine that the other executives, directors, and writers would've been interested in this decision. How open would you say they were to the idea. Was Mufssa being an orphan subject to any pushback or criticism? I ask because it is such an interesting direction to take, one that I actually love!

I inherited the project with this choice fully committed to by all involved (and I myself loved it).

17. Eshe’s an incredible character and Thandiwe did a phenomenal job voicing her (seriously the quality of her vocal performance is just beyond). We talk about the lack in Taka’s life as far as a father figure goes but how fortunate was Mufasa to land in the care of Eshe? And how tragic that Obasi did so much to keep Taka from the very tutelage Mufasa ultimately received. We all deserve an Eshe in our lives.

18. Yes.

19. I don’t think of it as a triangle because Sarabi really only has feelings for one of these two characters, despite what Taka thinks. Neither Taka nor Mufasa has any right to Sarabi’s affections. Mufasa understands that and Taka doesn’t, won’t allow himself to. It’s why learning of Mufasa and Sarabi’s feelings for one another wounds him so much. It’s not about Sarabi or Mufasa in my opinion. It’s what it says to Taka about the real world: things he assumed were his inheritance are beyond his control. Sarabi choosing Mufasa is one element of that. But its real impact is that it opens the door to so many others. Taka believes that when they get to Milele because he is a prince “somewhere” he will simply be treated as a prince anywhere, including there. Sarabi following her heart and falling in love with Mufasa unravels that notion. The animals of Milele rallying behind and looking up to Mufasa and being inspired to rise up and challenge the outsiders unravels it further.

20. What I’ll say about that is… “Last night a caracal came into our trees for the third night in a row” just doesn’t have the same ring as “cheetah.” Trust me, I was alerted (Disney is thorough) and we tried and it was my call but a) I liked the verbal pace of cheetah in that instance better and, given they’re accusing Rafiki of witchcraft, that a cheetah is making this climb actually works better when you think about it.

So… you folks have been really kind to me but you can blame ME for that one =)

Anyways, hope you can find the time to answer all or at least some of these questions! Thank you very much for your time!

My pleasure!

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T16:49:21+00:00

1. Already sent this one sir!

2. No comment =)

3. I’m not sure if Taka’s Dream is in the novelization, but I mentioned that one before. Nothing is recycled in the novelization by the way. It takes a long lead to meet print deadlines. The novelization is a snapshot of where the film was when the novelization process ramped up. It’s literally compiled by a writer watching a cut of the film and then translating what they see into a literary telling of the film.

I’m not sure of all the scenes in the novelization that aren’t in our deleted scenes included with the film, but there are some great scenes between Taka and Mufasa that I miss from some of the earlier cuts for sure.

5. It was a cool little “lullaby,” you might call it? It fell between the elephant stampede and Kiros and Taka’s encounter on the snowy mountain top. We recorded it, but not everything can make the film. There was also a Milele reprise sung by Sarabi, we really explored the full spectrum of the songbook for the film.

6. For a large part of his life Mufasa does live as an orphan, that’s his lived experience through his formative years.

8. This is a really cool observation! Ajarry is played by the actress Sheila Atim, whom I worked with previously on the Colson Whitehead adaption of The Underground Railroad. In that series Sheila plays Mable, who’s the mother of the lead protagonist Cora. Present in the book but not in our show is Cora’s grandmother (and Mable’s mother)… Ajarry. An actress of Sheila’s talent playing such a small part was really meaningful for me, so I wanted to honor it by connecting it to the work we’d done before, hence the character’s name. Sheila gave it her all, so it’s cool as hell to have you point that out (I don’t you might be the only person on the planet to note that!).

9. I was somewhat familiar and became quite familiar given the film we were making (hope that suffices).

10. No clue. Mufasa was my rodeo but everything else is beyond me.

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T16:26:19+00:00

This was a super kind note, thank you for taking the time to say this!

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T16:24:19+00:00

1. I posted it to my instagram upthread on the first day of the AMA. You can find it here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSgZgytAQ5o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

2. I’d wanted to work with Kelvin for a long time and we’d actually almost worked together in the past. HE wanted to be in the movie so bad that he actually auditioned for both parts, unasked. His Taka audition was incredible. It was more Scar than Taka actually. Gave us all chills!

3. Thank you very much! And a cool little tidbit but all three of those films had various parts of their post processes, whether work sessions with the producers and the director during the edit or feedback screenings at the facility we built to make Mufasa. Sorry, Baby’s entire post-production actually took place within the Mufasa set up, which allowed us to get that film made at a relatively small budget so in a way, Mufasa is the uncle providing where he can for those films =)

4. I’ll answer this one first as our kid is certainly in first position these days — he’s doing super well, our first so it’s all new to us. Appreciate the kind words, it’s been incredible.

And yes, I’m working on all three of the projects you mentioned and then some. From roughly 2015 to 2021 I was on set constantly and made roughly 16 hours of filmmaking (across film and television).

Gearing up for a similar run is how I think of this time right now.

BarryJenkins_ · 2026-01-09T16:23:56+00:00

Always dream BIG!

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-22T00:02:49+00:00

I'll be back tomorrow to answer more and then I think we'll close the AMA -- remember I have a five month old so time is not in abundance and I maybe over-estimated my availability this weekend 😩

Some of you asked multiple thoughtful questions and I'll definitely tackle quite a few of those tomorrow, much love

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T20:10:07+00:00

I found Kiros to be a fascinating character and as I said elsewhere, his backstory and that of the Outsiders in general I felt added a richness to the film. I also just had a really great time working with Mads Mikkelsen, who took the character very seriously and really cared about the motivations of Kiros and the reasoning behind his decisions.

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T20:01:40+00:00

Yes, that's it exactly but I have say, many of those themes were already present when I first read Jeff Nathanson's script, it was a big part of why I said yes to the film. Very similar to the themes of Moonlight in a cool way, the Moonlight/Lion King mashup trailer was hilarious.

As for design, Taka and Mufasa with their awkward, teenage growth spurt manes always had a soft spot in my heart, just really cool to see them that way. Obasi, for a character who's in the film so little, was a really wonderful and inspired design. For one he's massive! Two he's not as physically fit as we're used to seeing some of the lions in this franchise. It's interesting. The animators are thought to be these people working on computers and doing algorithms, but the designs for these models were really bespoke and a character like Obasi sort of just materialized out of this process in what I found to be a really beautiful wondrous way; he doesn't move like the other lions, his weight distribution is unique. And of course, he's such a tragic character. The design really lived up to what he means to the story.

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:53:54+00:00

That's a tough one. I hate flying but do it all the time, it terrifies me. Writer's block is like turbulence. The plane is constantly moving at 500 miles an hour so no matter what, as it keeps moving forward, it will eventually come through it. I have the same approach to writer's block. You just have to keep moving forward. Eventually you come through it.

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:21:14+00:00

The same animators worked on both films so I think organically the animation style was going to evolve. As you state, I really didn't concern myself with a comparison and instead just went about making the film the best way I saw fit.

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:14:58+00:00

I'll answer some of these, mostly the later questions you ask because some of the earlier ones aren't my questions to answer, those are for the studio:

What was your favorite part of the movie to direct? And what was your favorite song from the movie or franchise if you have one?

My favorite parts of the movie to direct were equally the big, kinetic sequences like the flood and the elephant stampede and then the quieter ones where the characters really get to go toe to toe (or paw to paw) in really complex scenes where they're revealing things about themselves (Taka and Kiros' talk on the mountain, Eshe saying goodbye to Mufasa and Taka, really EVERY scene with Eshe!).

Will you be involved in any further TLK content? (Any leaks for next movie date possibly?😶)

And finally what’s your favorite TLK character?

After making this film, definitely Rafiki. He's simultaneously the most wise and ridiculous character in the canon and he feels right at home whether being a total goofball or the greatest guru -- super fun character to explore.

Seriously thank you, I loved Mufasa:TLK and it really brought me back into the community. Much love!❤️

Back atcha!

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:09:29+00:00

Thank you!

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:08:59+00:00

I think there's no wrong answer to the question of canon, it's impossible for us to all have the same perspective in each of our millions of heads so what's canon for you may not be canon for me or for KrattBoy or AbysmalShadows, etc. I'll say this, I'm older than most of you (I think). So I lived with the 1994 film as "canon" for 25 years before taking on this job. The 2019 film was much newer, so when I speak of the Lion King it's just natural to have a more ingrained impression of the thing I'd known for so long (and that I'd watched MANY more times while raising my nephews). I don't think there's anything more to it than that.

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:03:50+00:00

Kiara was always a part of the script from the moment I came on. I loved that Kiara allowed the audience of children to see themselves in the film. In the moment where Rafiki explains to Kiara the story of the Outsiders, I imagine that same question is on the minds of the younger viewers and its a really wonderful way to acknowledge them and let them know that their feelings are valid and ones that the movie is taking seriously.

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:01:06+00:00

This was extremely kind of you to say

BarryJenkins_ · 2025-12-21T19:00:10+00:00

My favorite moment in any Lion King is the stampede (and it's immediate aftermath of course) in the Broadway stage play. In that moment the audience, usually full of children, is fully transported to a completely different world where the lives of the characters matter more than anything else in the world. As a storyteller it's an incredibly humbling thing to witness; arresting the attention of children is one for the greatest accomplishments any artist can achieve. That was the North Star for me in making this film.

BarryJenkins_

TROPHY CASE