Disney is really working to make its reboot of The Lion King as epic as possible. In addition to rendering the film through some super fancy computer animation and getting Donald Glover to voice Simba, they snagged none other than Beyoncé for the role of Nala. Fans are already freaking out about Queen Bey’s turn as Queen of Pride Rock, and now a new teaser trailer lets us hear her in character for the first time.
The clip is pretty short, but it’s very Bey-heavy (thanks, Disney.) It basically only features Beyoncé’s voice over scenes from the movie. “Simba, you have to take your place as king,” she says at one point, and just like that we have an Oscar front-runner.
The BeyHive, naturally, is losing it on Twitter:
“Beyoncé’s voice sounds like velvet in that Lion King trailer,” one person wrote. “Beyoncé’s voice just sent shivers all over my body. Holy mother of Lions ??? #LionKing,” another Twitter user joked.
Beyoncé seems excited about the role, too. Over the weekend, she paid homage to Nala by wearing lion-inspired couture to her mother Tina Knowles’ Wearable Art Gala. She showed up in a sparkling gold body suit, complete with feathers and glittering sequins. In an Instagram post, she also added a clip of Blue Ivy in a full headdress, singing along to “The Circle of Life.” Clearly, both of them are getting super into the character.
The Lion King also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Oliver, Seth Rogen, and James Earl Jones, who’s reprising his role as Mufasa. That’s already a pretty jaw-dropping list of voice actors, and Beyoncé just elevates things even more. Now, all we need is to hear her versions of the movie’s iconic songs.
The Lion King hits theaters on July 19, 2019. Let the countdown begin.