After dropping a first-look teaser trailer during Geeked Week earlier this month, director Paul Feig has now revealed an Oscar-winning addition to the cast of his Netflix fantasy The School for Good and Evil.
Appearing at the 6th Annual Women in Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles, Feig was discussing the female stars of his adaptation of Soman Chainani’s book series, during which the filmmaker revealed that: “And actually, we just got Cate Blanchett as now the narrator, so we’re very excited about that. It hasn’t actually been announced yet — it’s out there.”
Blanchett is coming off Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up and Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, and will next be seen on screen in the role of Lilith in Eli Roth’s Borderlands video game adaptation. She also lends her voice to Sprezzatura in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and has recently wrapped writer-director Todd Field’s latest film TÁR, where she plays composer Lydia Tár.
In the village of Gavaldon, two misfits and best friends, Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie), share the unlikeliest of bonds. Sophie, a lover of fairy tales, dreams of escaping her ordinary village life, while Agatha, with her grim aesthetic, has the makings of a real witch. Then one night under a blood red moon, a powerful force sweeps them away to the School for Good and Evil — where the true story of every great fairy tale begins. Yet something is amiss from the start: Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil, run by the glamourous and acid-tongued Lady Lesso (Charlize Theron), and Agatha in the School for Good, overseen by the sunny and kind Professor Dovey (Kerry Washington). As if navigating classes with the offspring of Cinderella, Captain Hook, and the dashing son of King Arthur (Jamie Flatters) wasn’t hard enough, according to the Schoolmaster (Laurence Fishburne), only true love’s kiss can change the rules and send the girls to their rightful school. But when a dark and dangerous figure (Kit Young) with mysterious ties to Sophie reemerges and threatens to destroy the school and the rulebook entirely — the only way to a happy ending is to survive the fairytale first.
The School for Good and Evil features a cast that includes Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Sophia Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Kit Young, Jamie Flatters, Earl Cave, Demi Isaac Oviawe, Freya Parks, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi, Holly Sturton, Emma Lau, Briony Scarlett, Alex Cubb and Cate Blanchett.
The School for Good and Evil will release on Netflix in September 2022.