Hakuna Ma-terrifying! Fans Drag Pumbaa’s Appearance in the New Live-Action ‘Lion King’

So much for nostalgia, huh? For those of you who don’t know, Disney had the ingenious idea to release a new live-action version of The Lion King this summer. Pretty amazing, right? Well, as excited people once were … that all went to s–t after the new promotional posters were released on Thursday, May 30. While the majority of the beloved characters look adorable, Pumbaa, the warthog, is legit nightmare fuel.

“Are we just gonna ignore how f–king terrifying Pumbaa is??? Is this not a children’s movie???” one user wrote. “I will not be weighing in on the ‘horrifying photorealistic Pumbaa’ discourse, as I’m still haunted by feelings of complicity in body shaming toothy Sonic out of existence,” added another.

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We hate to play devil’s advocate — especially because we’re just as shook as everyone else — however, Disney’s decision to make a warthog look like, well, a freakin’ warthog shouldn’t be all that surprising. “What the hell y’all thought Pumbaa was suppose to look like? Piglet?” someone pointed out.  

Thankfully, what the film lacks in aesthetic, it makes up for with the cast. Are you ready for this roll call of A-listers? Donald Glover will be playing Simba. Beyoncé, yes THE Beyonce, will be playing Nala, Billy Eichner will be playing Timon, John Oliver will be playing Zazu, Seth Rogen was brave enough to take on the roll of Pumbaa and the list goes on and on.

Sure, it’s just their voices, but we haven’t seen a cast that stacked since Ocean’s Eleven. Even so, we suspect that some of you may still be hesitant to see it in theaters because of the crazed-looking warthog. The good news is, you have plenty of time to cope with your fear. The Lion King comes out on Friday, July 19. In the meantime, Alexa, play “When I Was a Young Warthog.”