South Africa's John Kani is the latest actor to be announced as a cast member of Jon Favreau's remake of 'The Lion King', according to Channel24.
Kani will be playing the part of Rafiki, a wise and eccentric baboon who acts as Mufasa's royal adviser.
Rafiki's character is known for his wise words and peculiar laugh. Some of the phrases he is known for are "asante sana [thank you]" and "The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it."
Iconic actor Robert Guillaume voiced this part in the original 1994 animation.
Kani has a sterling career, with roles in Hollywood's Black Panther, where he stars alongside his son Atandwa Kani. In 2016 he also made a brief appearance as King T'Chaka in Marvel's, "Captain America".
The multi- award winning actor has a longstanding theatre career, capturing audiences in productions like Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island.
Other stars who will be part of the cast include Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, Donald Glover as Simba and James Earl Jones, who will be reprising his role as Mufasa.
The new Lion King will use CGI (Computer Animated Imagery) technology to give the animation a live action treatment.
Favreau is well- known in Hollywood circles and is responsible for the remake of the another one of Disney's animations, "The Jungle Book."
The movie opens in American theatres on July 19, 2019.