It's common knowledge that The Lion King movie takes a lot of its plot points from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. In short: a young prince avenges his father's death by overthrowing his murderer, who also happens to be his uncle. But the Disney version veers from the play in one very big way. The director and producer (Rob Minkoff and Don Hahn) of the childhood favourite have confirmed to HelloGiggles that Scar and Mufasa are not brothers!
Anyone else hear that record scratch? The family dynamic we've believed since the movie came out in 1994 is totally untrue. In The Lion King, Mufasa refers to Scar as his brother, but that's just because they're part of the same pride. The producer, Don Hahn, clarifies the lions' living situation best.
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“There was always this thing about well, how do you have these two [male] lions?” Hahn explained. “Occasionally there are prides that do have two male lions, in an interesting dynamic because they’re not equals. One lion will always kind of be off in the shadows."
That one's both metaphorical and literal. Scar lived in the Shadowland, cast away from the rest of the pride due to being constantly overshadowed by the other male lion, Mufasa.
If you're wondering how you could have possibly missed this, you'll be happy to know that it wasn't that obvious. Hahn says that they left a little clue in the scene where Mufasa is mad at Scar for not attending Simba's coronation.
"We were trying to use those animal truths to underpin the story so we sort of figured Scar and Mufasa couldn’t really be from the same gene pool," Hahn said. "In fact, that’s what [Scar] says. There’s a line, he goes, ‘I’m from the shallow end of the gene pool.’"
And there goes 23 years of believing that Mufasa and Scar were blood relatives. I guess this makes Scar's ruthless murder a little easier to swallow. Plus, all this new info means a viewing of The Lion King is in order.
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