Mufasa: The Lion King is Disney's big release for the holiday season. Releasing five years after the photorealistic remake The Lion King, Mufasa is a prequel directed by Barry Jenkins, the Academy Award-winning director of Moonlight. Mufasa: The Lion King explores the bond between Mufasa and his adopted brother Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), the lion who will become Scar. It also covers how Mufasa met his future wife Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), Mandrill friend and spiritual advisor Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga and John Kani as the younger and older version), and future advisor Zazu (Preston Nyman).

Since Mufasa: The Lion King is a prequel, audiences know where the story will go. Yet the film recontextualizes some previous elements from The Lion King, giving them new depth. Combined with a framing device set after The Lion King, Mufasa might hint at Lion King 3...one that could combine two of The Lion King's most popular continuations. Even though Mufasa: The Lion King does not have a post-credit scene, there is still a lot of setup for the franchise's future in this prequel.

Throughout Mufasa: The Lion King, Mufasa has been searching for Milele, a magical piece of land that many lions believe to be a mythical place lost to time, but others, like Mufasa's parents and the ape Rafiki, consider it to be true. Eventually, they find it, which is revealed to be none other than The Pride Lands. Mufasa also hopes to find his parents, who he was separated from at the beginning of the film.