Disney's The Lion King Remake: Casting All 10 Major Roles

You've got to feel sorry for the creative team in charge of virtually any remake. After contending with all the inevitable backlash, the 'why does this need to exist' naysayers and the 'don't tarnish the original' pessimists, they have to turn their focus to the unenviable job of recasting a series of potentially iconic, classic or seemingly untouchable roles.

And yet, we've seen this job performed incredibly well, on numerous occasions; the entire cast of The Departed, Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and perhaps most notably, the killer ensemble at the heart of this year's remake of The Jungle Book. And if the latter film proved anything, it's that parent company Disney and director Jon Favreau know how to take a universally-beloved property and re-tool it in a fresh, creative, yet familiar way.

A big part of that was the use of photo-realistic environments and creatures, but an even bigger part was the brand-new cast, who managed to keep their characters close to the animated counterparts we all know and love, without doing a flat-out impersonation. If Favreau's forthcoming The Lion King remake is to succeed in the same way, the cast, again, must be right; but who can fill those oh-so-sizable shoes?

This is assuming that The Lion King is recast in the same way The Jungle Book was - and if that's the case, here are our picks for the actors (and actresses) who could successfully take on 10 of the original's biggest roles...

Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman has starred in well over 100 movies, and over the course of his lengthy career, he's dabbled in everything from action to comedy to animation to sci-fi, even playing God in two different movies just for good measure.

So why can't he voice an overly-eccentric, clairvoyant baboon?

Freeman's shown incredible range across his broad catalogue of movies, and at this point, casting him in any part is all-but guaranteed to be the right move. It's not just his career that makes him a good fit here, though; he's got that wise, ethereal quality to his voice that Rafiki desperately needs, since his main job in the movie is to convince Simba that his true destiny lies back at home atop Pride Rock.

And who better to play an astute, insightful uncle-type figure?

Chances Of It Happening

As you'd expect, Freeman's pretty busy - he's got a handful of films in pre-production as we speak. The Lion King remake is being 'fast-tracked' too, so it could clash with his other movies, but given that Rafiki isn't a huge part with only a few lines of dialogue, Favreau's undoubtedly got one eye on the actor's schedule.