2021, Deadline reported that Jon M. Chu had signed on to direct the film adaptation. In July 2021, Schwartz stated that filming would begin in fall 2021 in Georgia, but filming was later postponed to March 2022 and again to June 2022. In November 2021, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were cast as Glinda and Elphaba respectively, with production originally set to begin in summer 2022 in the United Kingdom. In April 2022, it was announced the film would be released in two parts, on Christmas Day in 2024 and 2025. Jon M. Chu explained why: In June 2022, Stephen Schwartz added, while confirming that a new song will be written for one of the two films: On July 18, 2022, it was revealed that with the filming process settled at the newly-built Sky Studios in Elstree, England, rehearsals will begin in August with principal photography beginning in November. By September 2022, Jonathan Bailey was confirmed to have been cast as Fiyero. The following month, Jeff Goldblum was reported to be in final talks to play the Wizard. In November 2022, Schwartz revealed that Part 2 of the movie will include two new songs "to meet the demands of the storytelling." Then, on December 7, 2022, it was revealed that Ethan Slater will be playing Boq. On December 8, 2022, it was announced that Michelle Yeoh will be playing Madame Morrible, and Goldblum was confirmed to be playing the Wizard. On December 9, 2022, it was reported that Keala Settle, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Aaron Teoh, Colin Michael Carmichael, and Marissa Bode had also joined the cast as Miss Coddle, Pfannee, ShenShen, Avaric, Nikidik, and Nessarose, respectively. Bode's casting as Nessarose makes her the first wheelchair-assisted actor to play the part. On December 9, 2022, Chu confirmed on Twitter that filming had begun. 15th anniversary tribute special In October 2018, an NBC broadcast, A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway, was hosted by Menzel and Chenoweth and featured Ariana Grande, Pentatonix, Adam Lambert, Ledisi, the current Broadway company of the musical and others, singing many of the musical numbers from Wicked to a live studio audience at the Marquis Theatre in New York. The concert special was directed by Glenn Weiss. PBS Special On August 29, 2021, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network aired a Wicked concert special, which was also hosted by Chenoweth and Menzel and featured