Christopher Walken & Giancarlo Esposito Join The Jungle Book Cast

Disney has announced that Academy Award winning actor Christopher Walken and Emmy award winning actor Giancarlo Esposito have been cast in The Jungle Book.

Walken will provide the voice of King Louie, the ruler of a troop of monkeys and apes, while Esposito will voice Akela, the leader of the wolf pack.

Walken and Esposito join a cast that already includes Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, and Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, as well as newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli, who will be the only actor to physically appear on screen. 

The Jungle Book is a combination of live-action and animation, directed by Jon Favreau from a script by Justin Marks. The film will be released in theaters on October 9, 2015.