The cast of The Lion King remake continues to grow. Amy Sedaris has boarded the voice cast of the upcoming new take on Disney's animated classic in a brand new role created for the movie. So those who were concerned that this is going to be a shot-for-shot remake of the original need not be worried. Sedaris joins an already massive stable of talent who make up the voice cast of the highly-anticipated remake.

Amy Sedaris will voice an elephant shrew in The Lion King. Her character doesn't yet have a name, but this is a character that did not appear in the 1994 animated movie. Elephant shrews, for those who may not be familiar, are tiny mammals that live in Africa who are named for their long noses that closely resemble that of an elephant's. How exactly this character will factor into the overall plot remains to be seen. Perhaps she's a friend of Timon and Pumbaa? That's pure speculation as no further details on her role have been disclosed at this time.

Amy Sedaris is no stranger to voiceover work. She's been a regular on Netflix's BoJack Horseman since the first season, in addition to work on shows like Steven Universe and Regular Show. She also lent her talents to the hit animated indie My Life as a Zucchini. Outside of her voice work, Sedaris is perhaps best known for her Comedy Central show Strangers with Candy, which even spawned a movie. She has also worked in movies like Elf and Jennifer's Body. She previously worked with director Jon Favreau on his movie Chef. Apparently, he liked the experience enough to think of her for this new role in what is positioned to be one of the biggest hits of 2019. Amy can currently be seeing the TruTV series At Home with Amy Sedaris, which follows her two very successful books about homemaking.

Disney recently released the first trailer for The Lion King on Thanksgiving. It broke records for views in the first 24 hours and has fans tremendously excited. Though, there are those who were a bit concerned that this is going to be, more or less, a pointless remake, simply retelling the exact same story in the exact same way using updated technology. The addition of this new character seems to refute that idea. The trailer also sparked a rather lively debate as to whether or not this is a live-action remake. Despite the animals looking quite real, they're all being created using CGI, which makes it technically animated. But it's still commonly being referred to as a live-action remake.

In recent years, Disney has had a ton of success with similar remakes, such as The Jungle Book, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. Next year also sees the release of Tim Burton's live-action Dumbo and Guy Ritchie's live-action Aladdin. The cast for The Lion King includes Donald Glover (Simba) Beyonce (Nala), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar), John Kani (Rafiki), John Oliver (Zazu), Seth Rogen (Pumbaa), Billy Eichner (Timon), Alfre Woodard (Sarabi), Keegan-Michael Key (Kamari), Eric Andre (Azizi) and Florence Kasumba (Shenzi). James Earl Jones is the only returning cast member from the original, who is reprising his role as Mufasa. The Lion King arrives in theaters on July 19, 2019. This news was first reported by Variety