{"id":980685,"date":"2025-10-16T13:13:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denofgeek.com\/?p=980685"},"modified":"2025-10-16T13:13:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:13:40","slug":"wicked-director-teases-big-name-cowardly-lion-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.denofgeek.com\/movies\/wicked-director-teases-big-name-cowardly-lion-cast\/","title":{"rendered":"Wicked Director Teases Big Name For Cowardly Lion Casting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande aren’t the actors who originated the parts of Elphaba the Wicked Witch and Glenda the Good Witch, but they’ve certainly made them their own. The 2024 megahit Wicked<\/a><\/em> has made the duo a sensation, supplanting in the minds of some viewers not just The Wizard of Oz<\/em> <\/a>stars Margaret Hamilton and Billie Burke, but even Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who first embodied the parts on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the cultural impact of those performers, Wicked<\/em> director Jon M. Chu is taking big swings when casting the Cowardly Lion for the upcoming sequel Wicked: For Good<\/em>. According to a new profile at Deadline<\/em><\/a>, Chu already made a pitch to a major star via Instagram. “I was like, ‘It\u2019s not a ton of lines, but maybe you have a little time. I know you\u2019re busy. I\u2019ll come to you,'” recalled Chu. The director’s boldness paid off with a positive response. “He was like, ‘Why the fuck not, let\u2019s go!’ Chu said. “And then we went ahead and recorded the lines.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\r\n\n\t\t