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

6. Timon (Billy Crystal)

Mr. Saturday Night Billy Crystal
Columbia Pictures

No stranger to lending his pipes to Disney productions, Billy Crystal would be operating in familiar territory should he be chosen to help bring Timon to life in the Lion King remake. After voicing Mike Wazowski in Pixar's Monsters Inc. series, he's proven he can imbue an animated character with bags of wit, charm and energy, three traits that match Timon's incredibly exuberant personality.

Timon is enthusiastic to a fault - when he's used as bait for the hyenas, he chooses to dress up in colourful drag and dance the hula while singing about bacon, going as far as dressing his friend Pumbaa up with an apple and some garnish. 'Energetic' is a gross understatement here, and Crystal's voice - and mannerisms - perfectly fit the meerkat's ability to find the humour in everything.

Chances Of It Happening

As previously mentioned, Crystal's already a big player in the Disney space with his performance in Monsters Inc, so it's not a huge leap to connect him with The Lion King. Combine that with his talent and practically clear schedule, and he's almost certainly going to be in the mix.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!