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The Lion King's Mufasa and Scar weren't related, y'know

Photo credit: Disney
Photo credit: Disney

From Digital Spy

Get ready to have your Friday rocked to its very core, Disney fans – we have some shocking news for you.

If you're anything like us, you can't get through The Lion King without shedding a tear (or 50) after the King of Pride Rock, and our hearts, is killed in a stampede.

But if watching Simba find his dead father isn't cruel enough, we also have to contend with the fact that Mufasa's own brother, Scar, is the one who left him to die.

Except, hang on a minute. Mufasa and Scar weren't actually brothers (!).

Related: Hang on! Is The Little Mermaid's Sebastian a crab or a lobster?

Yep. Revealing the news in an interview with HelloGiggles, director Rob Minkoff and producer Don Hahn explained that the two weren't actually related at all.

In news that will shock everyone that isn't a diehard Disney fan or clued-up zoologist, Don said: "[Scar and Mufasa] would not have both the same parents.

"The way lions operate in the wild…when the male lion gets old, another rogue lion comes and kills the head of the pride."

Although having two male lions in one pride isn't out of the realms of possibility, Don explained that they wanted to use "animal truths" to underpin Scar and Mufasa's rivalry.

Photo credit: Disney
Photo credit: Disney

"One lion will always kind of be off in the shadows...so we sort of figured Scar and Mufasa couldn't really be from the same gene pool."

But if this is brand-new information to you (and it is to us), then you might want to re-watch The Lion King, because the clues were actually there all along.

"In fact, that's what [Scar] says," Don added. "There's a line, he goes, 'I'm from the shallow end of the gene pool' when he's talking to Mufasa".

Here's hoping that Chiwetel Ejiofor – who's rumoured to be taking on the role of Scar in Disney's live-action remake – is clued up on his lion facts, eh.


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