Casting for Walt Disney Pictures‘ live-action The Lion King continues today as The Wrap reports that John Oliver is set to voice Zazu. Oliver hosts HBO‘s Last Week Tonight and hails from the UK. Mr. Oliver voiced Vanity Smurf in both 2011’s The Smurfs and 2013’s The Smurfs 2.
He joins a cast that includes Donald Glover as Simba, Billy Eichner as Timon, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and James Earl Jones reprising his animated role as Mufasa. Director Jon Favreau has stated that Beyonce is his top choice to voice Nala, but the role is still uncast at the time of this posting
Zazu, loosely based on the Polonius character from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, was voiced in the the original animated The Lion King by Rowan Atkinson ( Mr. Bean). Edward Hibbert replaced Atkinson for two direct-to-video sequels, The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride and The Lion King 1 1/2.
