Lin-Manuel Miranda has unveiled the cast of Octet, his upcoming film adaptation of Dave Malloy’s a cappella musical about a support group for internet addicts. Amanda Seyfried will play Jessica, Rachel Zegler will play Velma, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, Phillipa Soo, Jonathan Groff, Tramell Tillman, Paul-Jordan Jansen and Gaten Matarazzo round out the ensemble.
Malloy, who wrote the original musical and is scripting the film, said he is “over the moon” that Miranda is bringing Octet to the screen. He added that he was “utterly gobsmacked” by Miranda’s work on tick, tick...BOOM!, and called him “a brilliant storyteller” and “fellow internet junkie” who is “going to make something amazing.”
The casting announcement gives the Octet movie a clear shape before production details have fully settled. Miranda’s 5000 Broadway Productions is producing, along with John Skidmore for Best Kept Secret Productions and Luis Miranda, while Johnny Holland, Owen Panettieri and Diana DiMenna are among the executive producers. Sander Jacobs, Caren Jacobs, TodayTix Group, Jeffrey Seller, Teresa Tsai and John Gore for Broadway.com are financing and executive producing the project.
That backing follows a stage show that has already built a following. Octet premiered Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre in 2019, and Miranda said he has “not stopped thinking about” it since seeing Annie Tippe’s premiere production in November of that year. He called Malloy’s score “versatile” and “brilliant,” saying it grows more relevant with each passing year and that the show “won’t leave me alone so here we are.”
The film arrives with a cast that mixes Broadway veterans and screen names, and one small note will catch musical-theater fans immediately: Matarazzo previously played a character named Toby in the 2023 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. But the bigger significance is simpler. Miranda is not just adapting a cult favorite; he is handing it a marquee cast and a live-wire creator in Malloy, which is the closest thing to a guarantee the project can have before cameras roll.
