Lin-Manuel Miranda’s long-gestating film adaptation of Dave Malloy’s Octet is officially gathering momentum, with rehearsals underway and a starry eight-person ensemble now confirmed. The project marks Miranda’s second feature as a director after tick, tick… BOOM!, and brings one of the most distinctive contemporary musicals of the past decade a step closer to the screen.
Set in a church basement, Octet follows a support group for people grappling with digital dependency. The story centres on eight strangers who lock away their phones and attempt to confront the compulsions, anxieties and emotional disconnection tied to life online. Malloy’s original musical premiered Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre in 2019 and quickly built a reputation for its unusual structure, intimacy and urgent themes around internet addiction and human connection.
The newly announced cast pairs major screen names with performers deeply rooted in musical theatre. Amanda Seyfried will play Jessica, Rachel Zegler will take on Velma and Sheryl Lee Ralph will portray Paula. They are joined by Phillipa Soo as Karly, Gaten Matarazzo as Toby, Jonathan Groff as Henry, Tramell Tillman as Marvin and Paul-Jordan Jansen as Ed.
The ensemble is notable not only for its profile but for its musical pedigree. Soo and Groff both have close ties to Miranda’s Hamilton, while Matarazzo has recent Broadway credentials and Zegler has further cemented her stage reputation with her West End run in Evita. The casting suggests Miranda is assembling performers who can navigate the film’s demanding vocal writing as well as its emotional precision.
Miranda has made no secret of his passion for the material. In announcing the project, he said he had been obsessed with Octet since seeing its original production in 2019 and has spent the past six years working with Malloy to adapt it for the screen. Malloy is writing the screenplay based on his stage work and will also executive produce, ensuring the film remains closely connected to the musical’s original voice and vision.
For Miranda, the film continues a growing body of work translating stage musicals to screen with care and ambition. After the critical success of tick, tick… BOOM!, Octet offers a very different challenge, one built less on spectacle than on ensemble storytelling, interior conflict and the strange emotional architecture of life lived through devices. Its premise may be simple, but its questions feel sharply contemporary, asking what remains of us when we finally log off.
No release date has yet been announced, and the project remains in the early stages of production. Still, with rehearsals underway and an acclaimed cast now in place, Octet has moved from long-discussed adaptation to one of the most intriguing movie musical projects currently taking shape.
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