Sabrina Carpenter is finally going down the rabbit hole.

The "Espresso" singer, 26, is set to star in and produce a musical film inspired by "Alice in Wonderland" for Universal Pictures. "Hustlers" filmmaker Lorene Scafaria is writing and directing.

For Carpenter, the project is a long time coming, as the singer has been trying to make an "Alice in Wonderland" musical since even before becoming a full-fledged pop superstar over the past few years.

Carpenter was first announced to be starring in and producing an "Alice in Wonderland" musical all the way back in October 2020. The film was at the time in development at Netflix, which described it as a "contemporary re-imagining" of the Lewis Carroll classic "set against the backdrop of a music festival called Wonderland." It's unclear if this plot has been retained for the new version of the project.

The Grammy winner has also discussed her love of "Alice in Wonderland" over the course of her career, telling Interview magazine in 2021 that it's her favorite film. "Over the years, my fans will bring me 'Alice in Wonderland'-themed things," she said at the time. "Someone actually sent me an original illustration from one of the original sketches from 'Alice in Wonderland,' which is crazy."

In a previous appearance on "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show," Carpenter said she pitched the movie to Netflix and described Alice as "one of my dream roles." She also discussed potential casting in an interview with GQ in 2022.

"It's going to be a different version of the Alice we all know," she told the magazine. "Someone asked me if I could have a dream cast and I said Harry Styles and Childish Gambino. Also Kate McKinnon, she's amazing. Alice has so many characters who are so diverse, so the cast could be anyone."

"Alice" looks set to be the biggest acting role in years for Carpenter, who is now best known for her pop music career but who rose to fame starring on the Disney Channel sitcom "Girl Meets World." Her other acting work has included the films "The Hate U Give" and "Tall Girl," and she played Cady Heron in "Mean Girls" on Broadway.

For Universal, the "Alice" movie could be an effort to repeat the success of "Wicked," another movie musical starring a hugely successful pop singer with a background in acting, Ariana Grande. "Wicked" producer Marc Platt is also producing Carpenter's "Alice" film.

Carpenter, who is currently on tour, is coming off the release of her seventh studio album "Man's Best Friend," which was recently nominated for album of the year at the Grammys. She also hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the first time in October, and her other upcoming work includes a guest starring role in a new "Muppets" special on Disney+ from Seth Rogen.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Sabrina Carpenter's major new film role is a long time coming

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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