"Wicked" Director Jon M. Chu Announces Earlier Part 1 Premiere Date: "Little Thanksgiving Treat"

After more than a decade of attempts, the "Wicked" movie is really happening. Back in November 2021, director Jon M. Chu (who directed "Crazy Rich Asians" and "In the Heights") announced that the film will star Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good Witch and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.

And now that production for the movie is underway, we finally have a full look at the official "Wicked" cast. On Dec. 9, 2022, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, Aaron Teoh, and Colin Michael Carmichael all joined the film. Universal did not reply to POPSUGAR's previous request for comment, but Deadline reported the news first. The outlet also seemingly confirmed that Jeff Goldblum will be playing the Wizard, which had been rumored for weeks at that point.

Just the day before, the movie added yet another superstar to the cast: Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. Yeoh won her first-ever Oscar award at the 2023 ceremony for her role in 2022's "Everything Everywhere All at Once" and most recently appeared in Netflix's "The School For Good and Evil." Chu revealed on Twitter that he texted Yeoh, whom he previously worked with on "Crazy Rich Asians," to ask if she wanted her "Wicked" part.

Back in September 2022, we learned that "Bridgerton" heartthrob and Olivier Award winner Jonathan Bailey will also appear in the film as the story's main love interest, Fiyero. Chu confirmed Bailey's casting on Sept. 21, 2022, via Twitter. "He's perfect, they're perfect. They'd be perfect together. Born to be forever," Chu wrote. "I am too excited to pretend this hasn't been happening. We have a Fiyero!!!! #JonathanBailey #Wicked."

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

On Oct. 11, 2022, during preproduction, Grande shared some Instagram photos from "Wicked" rehearsals. In the carousel's first photo, the star posed alongside Erivo in a dance studio, and in another, she smiled alongside choreographer Will Loftis, showing the "Wicked" cast in the midst of getting ready for the movie's epic musical numbers.

The cast and crew have been keeping fans updated with exciting announcements since the film was first confirmed. In an April 2022 Twitter post, Chu revealed that they're actually going to split the musical into two films. He wrote in part, "Here's what happened: 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. 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."

He continued, "So 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 of these beloved characters."

Chu added, "Cynthia, Ariana and I — and all the cast and crew — pledge to create nothing less than an experience that honors its foundation for all the fans who've waited for this movie, and to offer a thrilling, fantastical world full of dynamic characters that invites those who are unfamiliar." The director also wrote that the first movie would come out Christmas 2024 and the second would hit theaters Christmas 2025, but the first installment's release date has since been pushed up.

Ahead, find out everything we know about the "Wicked" films so far, including updated release dates, trailers, music, and a full breakdown of the cast of characters.