THE MARQUEE
Strip away the synthesizers, the sweeping orchestral swells, and the safety net of a studio backbeat, and what are you left with? In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s world, you’re left with the most dangerous instrument of all: the unadorned human voice. Fresh off the high-octane critical triumph of Tick, Tick... Boom!, Miranda has officially pulled back the curtain on his sophomore narrative feature, and it is a vocal powerhouse that has both the theater world and film buffs losing their collective minds. By bringing Dave Malloy’s off-Broadway sensation Octet to the silver screen, Miranda is attempting a high-wire act that feels less like a traditional movie musical and more like a visceral, eight-person exorcism.
The ensemble Miranda has assembled reads like a fantasy draft for the ultimate Broadway dream team, a dizzying mix of Oscar nominees, Emmy legends, and the industry’s brightest young disruptors. Leading the pack are Amanda Seyfried and Rachel Zegler, two titans who have spent the last few years essentially redefining what a modern movie musical star looks like. They are joined by a Hamilton reunion that feels like a warm, harmonic hug for fans: Jonathan Groff and Phillipa Soo are officially back under Miranda’s direction. Rounding out the titular eight are Abbott Elementary’s reigning queen Sheryl Lee Ralph, Stranger Things favorite Gaten Matarazzo, Severance standout Tramell Tillman, and the powerhouse Paul-Jordan Jansen. This isn’t just an acting troupe; it’s a group engineered to survive the grueling, precise vocal acrobatics demanded by Malloy’s idiosyncratic, instrument-free score.
The Resurrection of the King and the Rise of the New Guard
The immediate buzz ignited the moment the news broke, centered heavily on the reunion of Miranda, Groff, and Soo. On X (formerly Twitter), fans were quick to point out that seeing the original King George III and Eliza Hamilton back in the same sandbox is the gift the culture didn't know it needed for 2026. Jonathan Groff, fresh off his run in Just in Time while his Merrily We Roll Along pro-shot trends on Netflix, brings a frantic, neurotic energy that serves as the perfect fuel for Malloy’s complex rhythms. Meanwhile, Phillipa Soo, whose crystalline soprano helped define the sound of modern Broadway, is perhaps the most natural fit for an a cappella project where there is quite literally nowhere for a singer to hide.
But Miranda is playing a larger game here, and the inclusion of Rachel Zegler and Amanda Seyfried suggests a project with massive crossover appeal. Zegler has spent the last two years proving she is the heir apparent to the musical throne, most recently with her Olivier Award win for Evita, from her breakout in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story to her gritty lead in the Hunger Games prequel. Seyfried, who long ago shed the sun-drenched pop of Mamma Mia! for the depth of Les Misérables and her Emmy-winning turn in The Dropout, brings a weathered sophistication to the group. Seeing these two trade harmonies in a sterile support group setting is the kind of cinematic friction that produces immediate sparks.
Then there is the sheer gravity of Sheryl Lee Ralph. The industry icon has been on a stratospheric run since Abbott Elementary reminded the world she is a force of nature, but Ralph has deep roots in the musical theater canon—lest we forget she was an original Dreamgirl. Her presence adds a layer of maternal authority and soul to a story that can often veer into the clinical. Pairing her with Gaten Matarazzo is a masterstroke; while the world knows him for his 1980s adventures in Hawkins, theater fans know him as a formidable stage talent who recently blew the doors off the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in Sweeney Todd.
Hymns for the Hyper-Connected: Translating ‘The Monster’ to Film
For those who missed its 2019 debut at the Signature Theatre, Octet isn't your standard high-kicking, jazz-hands affair. It is a dark, intimate, and startlingly relevant look at our collective digital malaise. The story centers on a support group for internet addiction—the "Friends of Saul"—who gather in a church basement to share their struggles with everything from doomscrolling and online gambling to the soul-crushing void of social media validation. By choosing this for his next project, Miranda is taking a massive swing at a high-concept piece of art that feels tailor-made for our current hyper-connected, yet deeply lonely, cultural moment.
What makes Octet such a daring choice for the screen is its fundamental structure. In the original stage production, the performers stood in a circle, their voices weaving together to mimic the sounds of the digital world—the pings of notifications, the whir of a dial-up modem, the static of a lost connection. Translating that to a visual medium requires a director who understands how to make a stationary group of people feel dynamic. Miranda proved with Tick, Tick... Boom! that he has a knack for visualizing the internal creative process, and Octet offers him a chance to do the same for the internal chaos of the internet age.
Dave Malloy is adapting his own work for the screenplay, ensuring the biting wit and philosophical depth of the original remains intact. Malloy is a composer who thrives on the edges of the traditional musical; his Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 turned a slice of Tolstoy into an immersive electropop opera. In Octet, he tackles "The Monster"—the term the characters use for the internet—with a score that is as catchy as it is unsettling. The film will likely dive deep into the specific “hymns” each character tells, from the woman obsessed with a conspiracy theory to the man who can’t stop watching "cringe" videos.
The casting of Tramell Tillman and Paul-Jordan Jansen signals that Miranda is looking for actors who can handle the darker, more rhythmic underpinnings of the score. Tillman, who became a household name playing the chillingly enigmatic Mr. Milchick in Apple TV+’s Severance, has exactly the kind of controlled intensity needed for a character grappling with the loss of self-identity. Jansen, a veteran who won a Jeff Award for his performance in Sweeney Todd, brings the vocal weight necessary to anchor a group that has no bass guitar or percussion to rely on.
The logistical challenges of an a cappella film are significant. Typically, film musicals rely on pre-recorded tracks, but to capture the intimacy of Octet, there is speculation that Miranda might opt for live singing on set. With this specific group of vocal powerhouses, the risk is significantly lower. Whether they are huddled in a circle in a dusty hall or wandering through stylized digital landscapes, the focal point will always be the blend. We aren't just waiting for a movie; we are waiting for the definitive sonic document of what it feels like to live in 2026. If anyone can make a movie about internet addiction feel like a transcendent religious experience, it’s the man who convinced the world that a cabinet battle about national debt could be a rap banger.
