In excellent news for the Venn Diagram of people whose interests include both Bridgerton and musical theatre, Jonathan Bailey has been cast as Fiyero in the upcoming Wicked film.
It’s a decision that’s sure to be popular, if you will. A little wink wink nudge nudge there.
The film’s director Jon M. Chu confirmed the news after Variety speculated that Bailey had been cast.
“I am too excited to pretend this hasn’t been happening,” Chu wrote on Twitter.
“We have a Fiyero!!!!”
He’s perfect, they’re perfect. They’d be perfect together. Born to be forever….. I am too excited to pretend this hasn’t been happening. We have a Fiyero!!!! #JonathanBailey #Wicked https://t.co/meT51cGqDe
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) September 21, 2022
The Bridgerton hunk ‘o spunk will be joining Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as Glinda and Elphaba respectively.
If you’re one of those people who didn’t have an intense musical theatre phase in high school, the film is an adaptation of the Broadway musical, which is an adaptation of a book by Gregory Maguire.
It’s a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, which focuses on the friendship between Glinda the Good and Elphaba, rudely known as “the Wicked Witch of the West”.
Bailey’s character Fiyero is a love interest for ~both~ witches who’s introduced as a hard-partying prince. So basically, it’s Bridgerton season two with both magic and songs. Of course, now I’m demanding a Simone Ashley cameo.
He referenced his role in the film via a very subtle Insta caption.
“Dancing through,” he wrote, with a ‘lil green heart.
‘Dancing Through Life’ is one of the numbers in Wicked and the green heart is a ref to Elphaba’s skin.
View this post on Instagram
This won’t be Bailey’s first musical role — in 2019 he starred in Company on the West End and won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance. Methinks we will be in safe hands there.
At the moment, Erivo, Grande and Bailey are our only confirmed cast members but it’s already shaping up to be a 10/10 flick.
Or should I say “flicks”, ‘cos actually there will be two Wicked films.
Chu announced the news in April 2022.
“As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of Wicked into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” he said in a statement.
“We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked but TWO!!!!”
At the moment, it’s looking like the Wicked flicks will be sweeping into cinemas on their broomsticks in Christmas 2024 and 2025.
