Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter is making her film debut in Mufasa: The Lion King, Disney’s forthcoming prequel to 2019’s Lion King reboot.

Blue Ivy, 12, will voice Kiara, the lion cub daughter of King Simba and Queen Nala, voiced by Donald Glover and Beyoncé in the 2019 movie.

Her casting was revealed in the film’s first trailer, released on Monday (29 April). “Introducing Blue Ivy Carter with Beyoncé Knowles,” the end credits read.

Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr will portray the younger versions of Mufasa and Scar, respectively. Mufasa was voiced by James Earl Jones in both the 1994 animated classic and the 2019 remake.

John Kani, Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner are among the returning cast members, Mads Mikkelsen and Thandiwe Newton are set to join.

Directed by Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) with music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mufasa will tell the origin story of King Mufasa, Simba’s father, who was killed by his younger brother Scar.

Blue Ivy Carter and a scene from ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ (Getty Images and screenshot courtesy Disney/YouTube)
Jenkins takes over from Jon Favreau, who directed the 2019 Lion King.

Speaking about Blue Ivy’s casting in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jenkins said: “A buddy of mine, Matthew Cherry, made the short film called Hair Love that Blue Ivy did the audio book of.

“Starting this project and just having that in the ether, I was like, ‘Is it worth a shot? Would Blue Ivy want to do it? Would Beyoncé want to act opposite her daughter? Is it too close to home?’ But once we put the question to them, they both responded with enthusiasm.”

He added: “What’s crazy is we made the film, and then the Renaissance tour happened, and I think Blue really grew up over the course of that tour,” he said. “So the Blue Ivy you see in this film, it’s like a time capsule, this very, very, very young stage of her life, and she got to share it with her mom. So, I thought there was some synergy. It could be beautiful.”

Last year, Blue Ivy joined Beyoncé for a number of shows on her record-breaking Renaissance tour. She performed as a featured dancer during the song “My Power” from Beyoncé’s 2019 album The Lion King: The Gift.

Blue Ivy is the eldest daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The couple, who have been married since 2008, also share six-year-old twins Rumi and Sir.

Mufasa: The Lion King will premiere in cinemas on 20 December.