The cast of the two Wicked movies grows even larger, as Michelle Yeoh joins the ensemble for the now-shooting productions.
Stephen Schwartz’s hugely popular musical Wicked premiered back in 2003, with future Frozen star Idina Menzel in her breakout role as Elphaba, alongside Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda. It’s been playing ever since.
The musical serves as a prequel to The Wizard Of Oz, charting Elphaba’s transformation into the iconic Wicked Witch of the West. The film version was being talked about for many years, and it’s finally shooting, with the decision made to split it into two movies.
With many of the roles already cast, including Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba alongside Ariana Grande as Glinda, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, the news has landed that Michelle Yeoh, hot off her latest huge success starring in Everything, Everywhere All At Once, has joined the cast. She will play Madame Morrible, who acts as a cohort of The Wizard and also serves as headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University.
A handful of other cast members were also confirmed over the weekend, including Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, Aaron Teoh and Colin Michael Carmichael
Many of the creatives from the musical are involved in the film version of Wicked, including writer of the book Winnie Holtzman, who returned to pen the screenplay, and Schwartz, who has penned a new song.
Schwartz’s songs are cited as one of the reasons the story is being split into two films, with Defying Gravity seen as such a show-stopping number, it can only serve as a finale to the first part. Jon M Chu will direct both films.
Wicked is currently filming at Elstree Studios in the UK. Part 1 is due to be released on Christmas Day 2024, with Part 2 following exactly a year later, on Christmas Day 2025.
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