A wise and benevolent lion, he first appears in the 1994 animated film as the King of the Pride Lands and devoted father to Simba, who he is raising to inherit the kingdom.

Some writers suggested it should occur off-screen, but director Rob Minkoff insisted on depicting it explicitly, an unprecedented choice for an animated film.

Jones reprised his role in the 2019 remake of The Lion King, being the only main cast member from the original film to return, which became one of his final performances before he died in 2024.

[42] According to art director Andy Gaskill, the decision to slowly reveal Mufasa's corpse as the dust clears from the scene heightens its realism by allowing audiences and Simba to realize what has occurred simultaneously.

[47] Minkoff suggested sending Simba into exile immediately, which allowed the emotional impact of Mufasa's death to be alleviated by Timon and Pumbaa's humor.

[48] Originally, they had not planned for Mufasa to reappear after dying,[49] but they wanted Simba to have a valid reason to return to Pride Rock, and decided his father's ghost should convince him.

[50][51] Mufasa's death and return as a ghost are among several thematic similarities The Lion King shares with William Shakespeare's play Hamlet,[52][53] from which screenwriters Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts drew inspiration.

[54] Animator Chris Sanders and story artist Brenda Chapman were responsible for drafting the scene where Mufasa's spirit tells Simba to return home.

[56] To elevate his storyboards per the directors' feedback,[36] Sanders drew inspiration from a musical excerpt from the film The Mission (1986), and used pastels "to fully encapsulate a vision of Mufasa emerging from the clouds".

[62] Jones gravitated towards the role because he was impressed by drawings he had seen of Mufasa and relished the opportunity to create a character using only his voice, saying the process reminded him of his early work performing on radio.

[63]Jones admitted to originally making the error of forcing his character to sound regal, which he corrected upon receiving direction to voice Mufasa as himself, who the actor described as more akin to "a dopey dad".

[66] Minkoff and co-director Roger Allers praised Jones's work on the film,[67] recalling that his vocal exercises alone "sometimes sounded like a real lion with a rumbling growl".

[50] Jones and actress Madge Sinclair, who voiced Sarabi, had previously played a king and queen couple in the romantic comedy film Coming to America (1988).

[83] Actor Aaron Pierre voiced the character in 2024's Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel to the 2019 film, and cited Jones as one of his greatest inspirations.

[56] Fucile said Jones contributed both the regality and "fatherly warmth" the animators needed to create the character, explaining, "it was up to us to visually come up to that standard that he set with his voice".

[89] Prior to The Lion King, Young had mostly animated action scenes, some of which he also did for Mufasa, but he considers the character the first time "in which I could exercise some acting chops".

[99] According to Darryl E. Owens of Tampa Bay Times, child-development experts warned that his death could be traumatizing should parents fail to prepare their children before viewing.

[41] Ranking it among the most traumatic Disney film moments, Paolo Ragusa of Consequence said, "It may be cruel, but with years of reflection, it's a profoundly important detail in the scope of The Lion King ... and animated with palpable emotion and cinematic elegance".

[100][109][110][111][112][113] Variety's Jeremy Gerard suggested that parents who remember being traumatized by Bambi should use the film to gauge "who goes to "The Lion King"—and who stays home with the babysitter".

[79][131][96][123][132] Calling Mufasa one of "pop culture's most imposing dads", Noel Murray of The New York Times said that "Few other performers of Jones's era could have made characters so vivid while sitting in front of a microphone",[133] while P. Ragusa of Consequence said the actor elevated the film's material, with his line delivery remaining "as poignant all these years later as it is necessary for the plot".

[155] The Daily Beast ranked him the sixth "coolest movie dad",[156] and Brian Tallerico of Vulture declared Mufasa Disney's most iconic father.

[158] Sandra Gonzalez of Entertainment Weekly selected The Lion King as the "one movie I'm going to watch on Father's Day" due to Mufasa's love for Simba.

[182] Jonathan Allford of The Guardian theorized that few preceding or subsequent parental deaths in Disney films have been as emotionally devastating as Mufasa's, which he attributed to the character's benevolence and audience connection.

[183] Pediatrician and writer Perri Klass said Mufasa's death subverted the absent or dead mother trope in Disney films by embracing the "90's-style celebration of the involved dad".

[53] Collider's Diego Pineda Pacheco observed that any conversation surrounding death in children's media is virtually guaranteed to discuss The Lion King,[184] and Gem Seddon of GamesRadar+ ranked it film's 20th saddest tearjerker.

[135][177] Rebecca Hawkes of The Daily Telegraph called The Lion King "the defining cinematic shock of [millennial] youth",[189] and writer Aisha Harris said his "death served as their earliest encounter with the notion of losing a parent".

[198] IGN ranked Mufasa's death "Disney's Most Traumatic Movie Moment", with author Lucy O'Brien writing that "a little bit of innocence in every child ... withered away forever".

[218][219] Outside of The Lion King franchise, the character has appeared in the television series Disney's House of Mouse (2001) and the video game Kingdom Hearts II (2006).

[190] The character has also been name-dropped in songs by hip hop artists Wu-Tang Clan, Nicki Minaj, Smino, and Waka Flocka Flame.

[232] In this version, Mufasa is revealed to be an orphan born outside of the royal family,[160][233] and explores his relationship with Taka, the character who adopts him as a brother and ultimately becomes "Scar".