With the arrival of The School for Good and Evil on the streaming platform, Netflix is giving their YA audience everything they could’ve asked for and then some. The movie, directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), is an adaptation of a book of the same name, which first hit bookshelves in 2013. It launched a seven book saga that ended with One True King in 2020. This means that if the movie does well, there’s more than enough source material for a sequel.
Like the first book, the movie follows best friends, Sophie and Agatha, who are chosen to attend the School for Good and Evil. The script was written by David Magee and Soman Chainani, who worked on Mary Poppins Returns (2018).
The movie features an all star cast including Scandal star, Kerry Washington, Patti Lupone, and Cate Blanchett. Let’s take a look at some of the familiar faces in The School for Good and Evil.
9 Kerry Washington As Professor Clarissa Dovey
The former Shondaland actress took on the role of Professor Clarissa Dovey, the Dean of The School of Good. Professor Dovey has ties to popular fairy tale figures including Cinderella, for whom she is the Godmother. Clarissa and Theron's character Lady Lesso are longtime best friends in the books, and their relationship is explored in the Netflix adaptation.
8 Charlize Theron As Lady Lesso
Charlize Theron plays Lady Lesso, the Dean of the School for Evil and the mentor of Sophie, one of the main characters in the movie. Her classes teach students how to find nemeses in the Hogwarts-like school that instructs its students on how to survive fairy tales. Theron is no stranger to this kind of role; she played The Evil Queen, Ravenna in The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016).
7 Laurence Fishbourne As School Master
Laurence Fishburne is also a part of the all star cast where he plays the school master, though it’s unclear for which school. According to the books, the School Masters are identical twin brothers named Rafal and Rhian Mistral. Both of them have white hair and are part of the legend of the School for Good and Evil. The Matrix star has quite a few projects in the works including John Wick: Chapter 4 which is expected to be released in 2023.
6 Michelle Yeoh As Professor Emma Anemone
Michelle Yeoh plays Professor Emma Anemone, a teacher for the School of Good, specifically teaching a class called Beautification. In the novel, the character wears tons of heavy makeup, has cannery yellow hair, and wears high, decorative clothing.
The Shang Chi star is at the peak of her career, with many big projects soon to be released including Avatar: The Way of Water and three additional sequels. She’s also starring in The Witcher: Blood Origin, which is set for a Christmas day release on Netflix.
5 Sophia Anne Caruso Is Sophie In The School For Good And Evil
Sophie Annee Caruso takes on one of the main characters in The School for Good and Evil. She plays Sophie, a “Reader” who is placed in the School of Evil, opposite to her best friend Agatha, who is described as feeling awkward and out of place unlike Sofie who is seen as beautiful and confident.
As Lydia Deetz, Caruso originated the role on Broadway's take on Beetlejuice, in addition to playing Emma on CBS’ supernatural thriller, Evil.
4 Sofia Wylie Is Agatha In The School For Good And Evil
The film's main protagonist, Agatha, is played by Sofia Wylie from the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Like her best friend Sophie, she is another “Reader” chosen to attend the School for Good and Evil. Though, unlike Sophie, Agatha is picked to attend the School of Good.
3 Kit Young As Rafal
Netflix’s Shadow and Bone breakout actor Kit Young is also among the cast, where he plays Rafal who according to the book is a School Master. The actor is set to reprise his role of Jesper Fahey in the second season of Shadow and Bone and also appears in the upcoming movie The Beautiful Game.
2 Patti LuPone As Mrs. Deauville
Legendary stage actress and Hollywood icon, Patti LuPone also appears in the movie as Mrs. Deauville. She is the owner of Mrs. Deauville's Storybook Shop according to the book. The Oscar and Tony award-winning actress has starred in Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood series as well as award-winning series drama Pose.
She won a Tony Award for best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical earlier this year, for her role as Joanne in Company.
1 Cate Blanchett Is The Storian In The School For Good And Evil
Even though Cate Blanchett doesn’t physically appear in the movie, she is the voice of the Storian. In the Endless Woods, all fairy tales are written down with the Storian, a powerful and ancient magical artifact.