Netflix has the rights to 15 stories from Roald Dahl‘s extensive library of works, and one of the earliest out of the gate will actually be a new adaptation of Matilda. While producers are still figuring out who will play the titular role, one of the key characters has just been cast. Captain Marvel and No Time to Die star Lashana Lynch has landed the role of Matilda’s kind and encouraging teacher Miss Honey.
The Hollywood Reporter has news on Lashana Lynch joining the Matilda movie musical cast. She’s the second key player set up for the movie with Ralph Fiennes previously being set to play Miss Trunchbull, the mean, terrifying principal of Matilda’s school. Though it might seem odd to give a female role to male actor, it has become tradition to have a man play the role in stage productions of the musical, so the movie is following suit.
Matilda was previously turned into a 1996 movie starring Mara Wilson as the precocious child who is extremely intelligent and discovers she has telekinetic powers. The book became a stage musical that debuted in London’s West End in 2011 and Broadway in April 2013, and that’s the version that Netflix is turning into a movie. If you’d like a taste of what the show is like, here you go:
Netlfix’s Matilda movie musical will be directed by Matthew Warchus, who also directed the stage musical, with playwright Dennis Kelly adapting his own script for the screen. Comedian and musician Tim Minchin‘s original music and lyrics will also be utilized while Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce for Working Title and Luke Kelly will produce for The Roald Dahl Story Company.
As of now, there’s no set release date for the Matilda movie musical, but Netflix will be giving it an exclusive theatrical released with Sony’s TriStar Pictures in the United Kingdom before it heads to the streaming service there. It’s not clear if the same will be done in the United States, but we’ll keep you posted.
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