Wicked Movie Adds Michelle Yeoh

The casting announcements for Wicked keep coming, and the highly-anticipated musical movie is shaping up to be pretty epic. Last year, it was officially announced that the long-awaited film was finally coming from In the Heights director Jon M. Chu with Ariana Grande playing Glinda and Cynthia Erivo playing Elphaba. It's also been reported that Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey is playing Fiyero, Jurassic Park alum Jeff Goldblum is in final talks to play the Wizard, and Broadway veteran Ethan Slater is taking on the role of Boq. After the news of Slater's casting was announced yesterday, many Broadway fans were eager to find out who would be playing Madame Morrible, the headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University. Today, the casting has been revealed, and it's definitely a pleasant surprise. 

According to Variety, the role of Madame Morrible has gone to iconic actor Michelle Yeoh, who is currently a frontrunner to get nominated at the Oscars for starring in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Chu has been quick to post about all of the Wicked casting announcements, but he hasn't commented on Yeoh's role just yet. Keep an eye out on his Twitter account for a reaction. 

When Is Wicked Being Released?

Fans will be treated to Wicked in 2024, but it will only be the first half of the story. Earlier this year, Chu announced that the Wicked movie would be released in two parts. 

"Here's what happened: As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of 'Wicked' into a single film without doing some real damage to it," Chu wrote in a statement. "As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one 'Wicked' movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of 'Wicked' as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters."

Which Wicked Songs Are the Most Popular?

Wicked was based on Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and the show was composed by Stephen Schwartz with a book by Winnie Holzman. The story follows witches and friends Glinda and Elphaba before the events of The Wizard of Oz. There are many iconic songs in the musical, but the most famous is probably the first act closer, "Defying Gravity." During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Erivo talked about tackling the famous song.

"I've been listening to it, and I've sung it. I kind of just go with it naturally," Erivo explained while doing press for Disney's Pinocchio. "There's the temptation to push and to do too much with it. I don't know that that's what my method will be. I think my method will be to communicate the meaning of the song as much as I can."

Wicked's first part is expected to be released in December 2024.