Why Mufasa’s Death in the OG Lion King Traumatized Folake Olowofoyeku

Fọlákẹ́ Olówófôyekù is just like Us when it comes to watching the heartbreaking death of Mufasa in 1994’s The Lion King.

“After that first Lion King [movie], I just never made myself emotionally available for any movie again,” Olówófôyekù, 41, jokingly told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview while promoting her new film, Mufasa: The Lion King. “After Musafa’s death in the original, there was nothing I’ve seen since that was more sad.”

The original Lion King is emotional for many people thanks to the tragic scene in which young Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) witnesses his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones ), fall into a stampede and die at the hands of his evil uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons).

“I’d never been to America before in my life. And I remember just being so emotionally affected by the death of Mufasa, you know, it was such a great story,”  Olówófôyekù told Us. “And I already owned cats at that time. family, pets. I still do. I actually have a cat, her name is Aishah. And she looks like my character,” she said. “She’s a white cat with blue eyes as well … It is just a full circle moment in so many different ways.

Mufasa: The Lion King serves as a sequel to the 2019 live action remake and tells the origin story of Mufasa. For Olówófôyekù, the films were personal, as she had watched the original film in her native home in Nigeria. Now, “it’s a full circle moment” to join the story, where she plays Amara, a white lioness member and sister of Akua (Joanna Jones) and Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen).

Olówófôyekù is the first Nigerian person with a Nigerian accent to be included in the films, and the actress explained how representing her culture has been a “greater motive” for her in her career.

“Nigerians are not very expressive. We don’t emote very much,” Olówófôyekù said. “So, I would say maybe one or two people out of the hundreds of family members who express their pride. But I’m sure they feel proud.”

Watching Mufasa helped Olówófôyekù connect to her inner child — and was an entirely different experience than she had in 1994. “For this one, I was just like a big child in the movie theater,” she said. “Especially hearing my voice. I was smiling through it all. I was dancing.”

The movie features a star-studded cast including Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Billy Eicher, Beyoncé and her daughter Blue Ivy Carter. However, Olówófôyekù wasn’t aware that Blue Ivy — or anyone else — was on board as “everything was top secret.”

“I didn’t even know who was in the movie when I was cast. And we were kind of secluded in our own private rooms to record with as little artwork as possible,” she told Us. “So, I relied on my love for the feline species in depicting her.”

With reporting by Travis Cronin 

Mufasa: The Lion King is now in theaters.