“Bridgerton” star Jonathan Bailey has been in talks to join the cast of Jon M. Chu’s musical adaptation of “Wicked,” and on Wednesday, the director announced the British actor will play Fiyero in the two-part film.
Chu confirmed the news on Twitter with an apt lyric from the song “Dancing Through Life.”
“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!!!!” he wrote.
Bailey’s character Fiyero is Elphaba’s love interest, who attends Shiz University with both her and Glinda. The actor and theater star would join a cast that includes Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good Witch and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.
Fiyero has been played by Norbert Leo Butz, Aaron Tveit, Taye Diggs and Adam Lambert in various productions.
Universal had no comment. A rep for Bailey didn’t immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Chu recently announced that “Wicked” would be split into two films released over Christmas 2024 and 2025, saying it would be “impossible to wrestle” the story of “Wicked” into a single movie.
Written by Winnie Holzman, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, “Wicked” has continuously been in production since 2003 and is the 11th longest-running Broadway show of all time. Seen by more than 60 million people at productions all over the world, it surpassed more than $1 billion in revenues in 2016 — one of only three Broadway productions to achieve that milestone. The original Broadway musical won three Tony Awards, including Best Actress in a Musical for Idina Menzel.
The musical is based on the acclaimed 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire. A retelling of the story of Frank L. Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” from the perspective of the Wicked Witch, the book tracks the life of Elphaba (the Witch’s real name) from her unhappy childhood to her eventual emergence as Dorothy Gale’s nemesis.
Marc Platt is producing “Wicked” through his Universal-based Marc Platt Productions, with Erik Baiers, senior executive vice president of production, and Lexi Barta, vice president of production development, overseeing for Universal.
Bailey is best known for his role as Viscount Anthony Bridgerton in the Netflix series “Bridgerton.” He led the second season, which followed the eldest Bridgerton sibling as he unexpectedly fell in love with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). But Bailey also has a rich background in musical theater, winning an Olivier award in 2019 for his work in the revival of “Company,” and he was also recently in a West End production of the Mike Bartlett play “Cock.”
Variety first reported the news of Bailey’s casting.
