Lin-Manuel Miranda builds out his starry choir for the Octet adaptation

The ensemble features Amanda Seyfried, Rachel Zegler, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Phillipa Soo, Gaten Matarazzo, Jonathan Groff, Tramell Tillman, and Paul Jordan-Jansen. In an interview with Vogue, Miranda said he was looking to build out a cast with not just “extensive singing experience, but choir experience.” 

Based on Dave Malloy’s 2019 musical, Octet centers on eight internet-obsessed people who meet in a church support group and lock their phones as a way to do a digital detox. Through songs, hymns, and confessionals, they each share their relationship with 21st-century technology and how it has affected them personally. Malloy is on board as a writer, composer, and executive producer of the film. 

While announcing this project earlier in April, Miranda stated, in part, “I’ve been obsessed since I saw Annie Tippe’s production in November 2019, and working on adapting this with Dave for the past six years. Now we get to make the movie.” Directed by Tippe, Octet opened off-Broadway in New York City and had its West Coast premiere with a five-week run in 2022. As for the film, rehearsals have already begun, so it’s safe to assume it will hit theaters at some point in 2027.