Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey wants you to stop studying strife, and learn to live the unexamined life with his newest film role.
On Wednesday (Sept. 21), director Jon M. Chu officially announced that Bailey would be joining the cast of his long-awaited film adaptation of the smash-hit Broadway musical Wicked. Starring opposite Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, Bailey is set to portray the male lead Fiyero in the new set of films.
In a quote tweet of Variety‘s report that Bailey was in talks to play the role, Chu confirmed the news of Bailey’s casting. “He’s perfect, they’re perfect. They’d be perfect together. Born to be forever,” he wrote, referencing a line from “Dancing Through Life,” Fiyero’s big solo song in the first act of the musical. “I am too excited to pretend this hasn’t been happening. We have a Fiyero!!!! #JonathanBailey #Wicked”
Bailey also appeared to confirm the big news with a subtle Instagram post of himself, which he simply captioned “Dancing through” next to a Canadian flag and green heart emoji.
Fans may best know Bailey as Viscount Anthony Bridgerton from Netflix’s steamy regency romance series Bridgerton, but theater fans will also know him for his extensive work in the world of musicals. The star began performing at a young age with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Britain, and is best known for his performances in the off-West End production of The Last Five Years in 2016, as well as in the West End reinvention of Stephen Sondheim’s Company in 2018, for which he won the Olivier Award for best actor in a supporting role in a musical in 2019.
The Wicked film adaptation has been in the works for years, being first announced back in 2016. In February 2021, Chu — who was about to release his critically lauded musical-to-film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights — was announced as the project’s director. In November 2021, Erivo and Grande were announced as the film’s stars, followed by an announcement from Chu in April 2022 saying that he was splitting the film into two parts.
Check out Chu’s tweet confirming Bailey’s casting below:
