Disney's The Lion King Remake: Casting All 10 Major Roles
9. Adult Nala (Zoe Saldana)
Saldana's become known for her strong, often icy tough-girl persona - just see Neytiri in Avatar or Uhura in the recent Star Trek trilogy. But she also shows plenty of heart and emotion in those movies when she needs to, which makes her a perfect fit for Adult Nala - a character that must prove confident enough to stand up to Simba and call him out on his foolish reluctance to return to Pride Rock, but must also come across as warm and playful when the two characters share a moment.
Her prominent role in Avatar also means that she's comfortable working on a fully-CGI movie, and that this won't hinder her ability to perform. The only question is whether she'll want to do a movie like that - again - considering she has numerous Avatar sequels on her schedule.
Chances Of It Happening
Ultimately, it's those aforementioned sequels that will extinguish any hope of Saldana joining The Lion King. Not only does the actress have press for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. next May, she may have a role in Avengers: Infinity War and has at least three Avatar movies to shoot back-to-back. She's just too busy!