Colman Domingo has been announced as the voice of the Cowardly Lion in the upcoming Wicked: For Good, days after director Jon M. Chu teased that he had approached a major star about the role on Instagram.
Wicked: For Good, set to be released next month, is the sequel to last year’s hit movie musical, Wicked.
The film, which is adapted from the second half of the Broadway musical, will see Cynthia Erivo return as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariana Grande as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.
Also reprising their roles are Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, and Marissa Bode as Nessarose.
In a joint Instagram video post from Domingo and the film’s official account, the Oscar-nominated Sing Sing star announced he is joining the cast by appearing from behind a stuffed lion toy and saying with a wink: “See you in Oz.”
Earlier this week, Chu said in an interview with Deadline that he had approached the star via an Instagram direct message, saying: “I was like, ‘It’s not a ton of lines, but maybe you have a little time. I know you’re busy. I’ll come to you.’ He was like, ‘Why the f*** not, let’s go!’ And then we went ahead and recorded the lines.”
Chu did not reveal Domingo’s identity at the time, adding with a laugh: “Man, wait until the red carpet when the actor who gave us the Cowardly Lion’s voice steps foot on it. It’ll be wild.”
Domingo has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor two years in a row; for 2023’s Rustin and 2024’s Sing Sing. He was recently Emmy-nominated for his performance in Tina Fey’s Netflix series The Four Seasons.
The first Wicked film, based on the first act of the hit Broadway musical, was a box office success but divided critics.
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“Wicked looks like every other film now. That’s its problem. It may be the screen adaptation of the stage musical – itself based on a 1995 novel – but, within moments, it also tethers itself directly to the classic 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz,” The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote in a three-star review.
“And while that film’s Emerald City and Land of Oz have been cemented in the public imagination as brilliant-hued dream worlds, and the most famous demonstration of the Technicolor process, Wicked is shot and lit like we’re being sold an Airbnb in Mykonos.”
Wicked: For Good is set to arrive in cinemas November 21.
