‘Wicked’ completes its cast with Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz

The adaptation of ‘Wicked’, the musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman based on the novel by Gregory Maguire ‘Wicked: Memoirs of a Wicked Witch’ (itself inspired by the literary classic ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ by L. Frank Bau), He has just started filming in London and has added a good slate of names to his cast. We had already announced that it would star Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and the same director, Jon M. Chu, confirmed on Twitter that Jeff Goldblum would play the Wizard of Oz.

I lost my phone…so I couldn’t keep up with the announcements today, especially as we were shooting day three here in London. Just know that things are going great. The #WickedMovie this is really happening and i have 3 days of filming to prove it 🙂 oh also JEFF GOLDBLUME IS THE WIZARD!!!! https://t.co/ygjqdR7TVy

? Jon M Chu (@jonmchu) December 9, 2022

“I lost my phone… so I couldn’t keep up with today’s announcements especially as we were shooting day three here in London. I just know things are going great. The film ‘Wicked’ is happening really and I have 3 days of shooting to prove it. Oh also, JEFF GOLDBLUM IS THE WIZARD!!!!”

Also starring is Michelle Yeoh (‘Everything at Once Everywhere’) as Madame Morrible, the headmistress of the Shinz school where Glinda and Elphaba study. Additionally, Jonathan Bailey (‘The Bridgertons’) will be Fiyero and Ethan Slater (‘Fosse/Verdon’) will bring Boq to life.

But they won’t all be familiar faces, and these stars are joined by a roster of new talent: Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, Aaron Teoh and Colin Michael Carmichael. As Deadline exclusively announced, Bode will play Nessarose, Elphaba’s sister who uses a wheelchair, just like the actress; Yang and James will play Pfannee and ShenShen, the protagonist’s classmates, Settle will play Miss Coddle, Teoh will play Avaric and Carmichael will play Nikidik.

what’s it about?

The story of “Wicked” begins with the birth of Elphaba Thropp, who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West whom Dorothy meets as she leaves Kansas. With green skin, Elphaba has a hard time adjusting to the society of Oz, where discrimination and prejudice are commonplace. At seventeen she entered the University of Shiz, near the Emerald City, where she met Galinda (or Glinda), who would become The Good Witch of the North. We will witness political plots, revolutions for animal rights, clandestine struggles and we will also meet the Wicked Witch of the East, owner of the red shoes.

Director of ‘Jem and the Holograms’, ‘Street Dance’, ‘Step Up 3D’ or ‘In a New York City’, Chu isn’t exactly new to musicals, although we also find him behind the scenes of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ or “Now you see me 2”. Produced by Marc Platt, David Stone, Erik Baiers and Lexi Barta for Universal, ‘Wicked’ will be released split in theaters on Christmas 2024 and 2025.