‘Wicked’ Director Jon M. Chu Has Baby #5 on the Way: ‘She Could Come Any Day Now’ (Exclusive)

“Wicked” director Jon M. Chu chatted with “Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi as he was honored at the 2024 WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards.

Chu shared his excitement over the musical movie, while revealing his main focus at the moment is his baby on the way.

“I've just finished the movie, so I'm sort of just letting everything go and just starting to enjoy it,” he said. “I have a new baby coming, so in my head, that's what I'm focused on. She could come any day now. It's going to be a little daughter.”

He added with a smile, “I could leave tonight — you never know — so we got to get this thing started.”

Jon, who is married to Kristin Hodge, added that this is his fifth baby, revealing, “My third kid during ‘Wicked.’”

The Innovator Awards came on the heels of a special screening for the Broadway Glinda and Elphaba actresses, and he gushed over Kristin Chenoweth’s support.

He described Kristin as the “classiest, most graceful person I've ever met. She couldn't be more loving. She sends us love texts and video messages all the time, so to have someone supporting you like that, I mean, it only makes us want to work harder for her and really make her proud.”

Jon also raved that fans will be “shocked” by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s performances, saying, “We can't wait. We've been holding this secret for many years now, and even when we were shooting it, we knew something special was happening. I think people are going to be shocked by Cynthia's performance and Ariana's performance and rediscover these already mega stars in new ways and open up a new chapter for them.”

He said of the dynamic, “When two people love each other and they are such different types of people... in this kind of story, it only helped us find these characters in unique ways that we couldn’t have in any other way.”

“Wicked” opens November 22.