Hannah Waddingham has responded to the rumour that she was, at one point, in the running for a role in the film adaptation of Wicked.

The Ted Lasso star got her start in musical theatre, racking up three Olivier nominations for her work in Spamalot, A Little Night Music and Kiss Me, Kate, as well as appearing in the film Les Misérables.

Because of her background in performing, word somehow got around online that Hannah had auditioned for the supporting role of Madame Morrible in Wicked, which eventually went to Michelle Yeoh.

However, while the British star has conceded she’d loved to have played the part on screen, she’s insisted she never actually auditioned – and by the time she got wind that the movie was happening, Michelle had seemingly already been cast.

“I didn’t!” she confirmed when asked by Variety about the rumours. “This is the funniest thing. We can put this to bed once and for all.”

The Emmy winner continued: “I would have loved to have been seen for that – but it was a fait accompli, as they say.”

She also teased that there is one musical theatre role she’s dying to bring to the big screen, but she’s “keeping it under my hat because I want to do it”.

Hannah is currently gearing up to return to the role of Rebecca Welton in Ted Lasso, after a three-year absence, during which it was thought that the Apple TV+ sports comedy had already come to an end.

In that time, Hannah has made no secret of her hopes for Ted Lasso to return, with the new episodes reuniting her with co-stars Jason Sudeikis, Nick Mohammed and Brett Goldstein.

“We thought we’d mourned the loss, and now it’s rising from the dead,” she said last year, adding that she thought news of the show’s return was “amazing”.

Read Hannah Waddingham’s full interview in Variety here.