Ariana Grande asked Lorne Michaels to cast Bowen Yang in ‘Wicked’

Call her the casting queen: Ariana Grande almost literally had to cast a spell for Bowen Yang to join “Wicked.”

Grande said during Yang’s “Las Culturistas” podcast that she had to personally pitch “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels to have Yang film the musical adaptation during the weekly sketch series. Yang had to fly back and forth between the “Wicked” production in London and the show in New York City.

“I was so excited that you could do it. I called Lorne (Michaels),” Grande told Yang. “Well, because I knew it was a huge, massive ask, and probably an impossible one. And I had nothing, no decision whatsoever to pitch him.”

She added that Michaels “made it work for Yang,” to which Yang said, “It’s the only time I’ve ever made a pouty face for him to say, ‘I really want to do this.’ ‘ And then he said, ‘Okay.’

Yang previously told Vanity Fair that being part of both the series and the feature film at the same time was “mentally fraying.”

“Whatever you think of the situation, you think it’s unique to you, but you think you might be the exception to the rule. Lorne is here to say, ‘Actually, it might not be that good for the body ‘flying back and forth between New York and London to shoot a movie,'” Bowen said. “(It) was an incredible experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I really thought I could do it hacking. I thought, okay, I got my nootropic gels that I’m going to suck on on the plane, and I’m going to have my little CBD drinks that will help me fall asleep and beat the jet lag I had all this stuff in the armory, and none of it could really tide that over turn.

He added: “It really hit me on a somatic level – I thought, wow, my body refuses to lift an arm, or whatever. It really got to that point where mentally it was a little frayed. It was a tough summer, between the strikes and the constant bouncing back and forth.”