After nearly 10 years of development, is The musical, a theatrical staple since its 2004 Broadway debut, , based on ’s 1995 novel , tells the interconnected story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch long before ’s Dorothy Gale dropped in. In the prequel, the two aspiring witches meet while students at Shiz University, navigating friendship, romance, magical training and learning to embrace their own identities. You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly Check our latest news in
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Apple News that , known for directing and , had been tapped to the adaptation of . and , respectively. Keep scrolling to find out everything we know so far about the highly anticipated movies: Getty Images(2) ‘Wicked’: Everything to Know About the Ariana Grande-Led Films Based on the Broadway Musical After nearly 10 years of development, is The musical, a theatrical staple since its 2004 Broadway debut, , based on ’s 1995 novel , tells the interconnected story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch long before ’s Dorothy Gale dropped in. In the prequel, the two aspiring witches meet while students at Shiz University, navigating friendship, romance, magical training and learning to embrace their own identities. that , known for directing and , had been tapped to the adaptation of . and , respectively. Keep scrolling to find out everything we know so far about the highly anticipated movies: Shutterstock (2) The Stars It was announced in November 2021 that the star and the “Positions”
Singer had landed the impressive roles of Elphaba and Galinda, roles which were originated by Menzel and Chenoweth on Broadway. The casting news even after she tweeted in 2011, “Loved seeing again… amazing production! Made me realize again how badly I want 2 play Glinda at some point in my life! #DreamRole.”
Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock The Director The filmmaker was enlisted to helm the project in February 2021, writing via Instagram, “Thank you , , and Universal Pictures for trusting in me to translate this incredible story for all the fans and future fans of Elphaba and Glinda. I will protect this vigorously and hopefully bring a few new surprises along the way.” Alastair Muir/Shutterstock Production Dates The film is slated to begin production in June 2022 in the U.K., according to an October 2021 report from . Alastair Muir/Shutterstock Making Plans The director previously teased his work on the musical during a June 2021 interview with . “Yes, of course, we're going to have Oz, and you're going to be in this crazy world, and you're going to revisit this innocent place and you're going to see that it's not as innocent as it had been in the past,” Chu told the outlet. “But you're also going to see that the relationship between these two
Women [Elphaba and Glinda] is more real than ever, that we're going to be that close to them. We're going to root for them to try to get into that school or when one crosses the other. You're going to hate the other one at some point. You're going to want them to make up at another point, and you're going to feel when they separate. That's the most important thing. The spectacle? That's the easy part, we can hire a lot of people to do that. It's those little moments … That’s what's going to make that." Alastair Muir/Shutterstock Getting Musical The original musical songs — including the likes of “Popular,” “Defying Gravity” and “One Short Day” — have become classics in their own right. However, composer Steven Schwartz revealed his intentions to pen “at least two” new songs for the filmed version. Schwartz told in May 2017 that there are “new songs planned” and the movie won’t be an exact replica of the Broadway show. “There are things that work on stage but won’t work on film. In order to do something that will work on its own merits, you have to do something different," he said at the time. “The only concern is people who would be coming expecting to see a filmed version of the play. They’re not going to see that.” Magnus Sundholm/Shutterstock
James Corden Scandal More than 30,000 fans signed a petition begging Universal Pictures not to cast , who recently appeared in the Cats movie, in the movie adaptation. "James Corden in no way shape or form should be in or near the production of Wicked the movie," the petition, hoping for 50,000 signatures, reads. "That’s pretty much it." Alastair Muir/Shutterstock A Long Time Coming Following the musical’s acclaim within its early Broadway run, Platt and Universal started developing a film project nearly a decade before Grande and Erivo’s casting was announced. The Daldry-directed flick was to premiere in December 2019 before further delays set the project back.
YouTube Getting Musical Erivo teased one of her character’s most iconic duets during a March 2022 appearance on . She sang a rendition of “For Good” with an employee of the CBS talk show during a round of "Instant, Mystery Duets." Jordan Strauss/AP/Shutterstock Will She Be Green-ified? “I haven’t seen myself as Elphaba yet,” Erivo told in April 2022. “We’re sort of trying to decide, like, how green we’re gonna go and, like, what the stages are and whether or not it changes as she changes. [John Chu is] really open to making this as creative as we possibly can. He asked me at one point if I wanted to be actually green or CGI green and I was like, ‘I’d like to actually be green because I’m not sure that the CGI will sit the way you need it to sit.’ I want it to still feel like it’s my skin.” She added: “I will feel like I’m playing this character [with green-painted skin] as opposed to looking at myself as I am now and then they fill in the green. I think it will help me perform because I will know when I look at my hands, I’ll see someone who is green.” ITV/Shutterstock Two Movies Chu announced in April 2022 that the film adaptation would be split into two movies. "Here's what happened: As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” the director wrote in a statement via Twitter. “As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one movie but TWO!!!! With more space, we can tell the story of as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.” David Fisher/Shutterstock Release Dates The first movie will hit theaters on November 27, 2024. The second will premiere one year later on November 25, 2025. Courtesy of Cynthia Erivo/Instagram (2) Behind-the-Scenes Love Before kicking off filming, Erivo and Grande have proved they are already as close as Elphie and Galinda. The Tony Award winner posted a sweet July 2022
Instagram video in which the pair embraced after her Royal Albert Hall concert in
London. Rob Latour/Shutterstock Singing Her Heart Out In September 2022, Erivo opened up about the challenges of recording some of the musical's iconic songs for the big screen. "I've been listening to it, and I've sung it. I kind of just go with it naturally," she told about preparing to record "Defying Gravity," 's most well-known number. "There's the temptation to push and to do too much with it. I don't know that that's what my method will be. I think my method will be to communicate the meaning of the song as much as I can." Brett D. Cove/Splash News Ready to Dance Through Life Chu confirmed in September 2022 that star Jonathan Bailey would join the cast as leading man Fiyero. “He’s perfect, they’re perfect. They’d be perfect together. Born to be forever….. I am too excited to pretend this hasn’t been happening. We have a Fiyero,” the director excitedly tweeted at the time, shortly before Bailey and Grande applauded the news via their respective Instagrams. Courtesy of Ariana Grande/Instagram Pink and Green Besties “I love you @cynthiaerivo,” the “Dangerous Woman” singer captioned a September 2022 Instagram Story of the two women’s dancing shoes. While Grande’s Galinda wore delicate pink ballet slippers, Erivo opted for black slip-ons and green socks. Courtesy of Cynthia Erivo/Instagram Rehearsals in Progress “Somewhere in Oz,” Erivo captioned an October 2022 selfie with her fellow witch. MediaPunch/Shutterstock From Broadway to Boq Ethan Slater, best known for his Tony-nominated role of SpongeBob SquarePants, is set to play Shiz University student Boq (and Nessarose’s eventual love interest) on the big screen. “@EthanSlater it is an honor to have you attending [Shiz University],” Chu gushed via Instagram Story in December 2022. “I’ve been a big fan of yours for a long time and I can’t wait for the world to see you bringing Boq to life!" Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Headmistress in Charge will portray the role of Shiz University's headmistress, Madame Morrible, reported in December 2022. Shutterstock (3) Who Will Round Out the Cast? completed its casting with and joining the film. Bode will portray Nessarose, Elphaba’s sister, while Yang and James are set to play fellow classmates Pfannee and ShenShen, respectively. Settle, for her part, landed the role of Miss Coddle, and Teoh will play Avaris. Carmichael, meanwhile, was cast as Nikidik. Youtube Ready to Meet the Wizard “I was just on the set of . I’m not supposed to talk about that. But it’s been out and about,” Jeff Goldblum said during a March 2023 appearance on , without revealing who he will be playing. “I was
shooting one day and I found myself tearing up in fear, a childhood fear came back to me.” Charles Sykes/Bravo Doctor Dillamond Will Be 'Cast Later' During a June 2023 appearance on , Yang confirmed that the talking goat and Shiz University professor Doctor Dillamond will indeed be in the films, much to 's chagrin. "The goat is staying, unfortunately, the goat is in," the personality said as Cohen groaned and rolled his eyes. When asked who was portraying the role, Yang replied: "Right now it’s a lovely puppeteer. They’re going to cast her later, but right now it’s a puppeteer named Louisa and she’s been doing amazing line reads.” Rob Latour/Shutterstock Impacted by the SAG-AFTRA Strike Chu confirmed via
Twitter in July 2023 that production had been halted amid the SAG-AFTRA strike, in which the actors are not able to work until the union and the AMPTP come to a resolution. “Not done yet. Just paused until the strike is over and we can finish the last pieces of the movie,” he tweeted. “We were only a few days away from being done so we were SO close. It’s been very painful to put a halt to it all but we will be back! And we will finish properly strong when the time is right. My heart goes out to our cast and crew who were cut short of what we came here to complete together.” Chu also noted that the release dates “shouldn’t be affected” by the delayed production schedule. Karwai Tang/WireImage A Mind-Blowing Adaptation “I think the fans of the original musical should prepare to get their minds blown,” Bailey told in November 2023. “It's such a psychologically rich material. And we know it as really exciting theater with an incredible score and amazing numbers, but when you put it on film, the reality of these characters and the nuances of their psychology, it's just going to blow everyone's mind.” Bailey, who plays Fiyero, told on his “Radio Andy” show earlier that month that he filmed , Netflix’s and USA’s concurrently. Courtesy of Jon M Chu/Instagram That’s a Wrap After taking a filming hiatus during the SAG-AFTRA union strike in late 2023, they resumed production after the winter holidays. Filming concluded in January 2024. “Thank you to the massive crew and cast and @universalpictures pictures for supporting the most ambitious cinematic production I have ever been a part of or, frankly, ever witnessed,” Chu gushed via Instagram. “We built real Munchkinland! A multi-level Shiz University Campus! I walked and shopped in a real Emerald City and met the actual Wizard head that moved in real time!! And to fill that space with the insane LIVE vocals of [the entire cast]?!! Most of the year my jaw has been on the floor and [my] heart in the clouds.” Grande also marked the end of filming the “wildly large production” with her own
Social Media tribute. “With so many brilliant human beings who worked so so hard in every department … every single person that worked on these films was not only the absolute best at what they do but made every single day for over a year feel so incredibly safe,” she penned via Instagram Story. “My heart sincerely, physically aches that I will not be sharing every day with this crew anymore. Thank you for your brilliance and the many handholds and hugs along the way.” Universal Pictures The
trailer Universal Pictures released the official trailer for in February 2024 during the
Super Bowl. In the clip, Grande's Glinda and Erivo's Elphaba met for the first time as viewers got a glimpse at the colorful world of Oz. Sophy Holland/Universal Pictures/Vanity Fair First Look Photos In March 2024, gave fans a first glimpse at the entire Wicked cast in costume, as well as solo shots for characters such as Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero, Madam Morrible and The Wizard. One photo featured a first look at Glinda and Elphaba’s early days at Shiz University as Grande and Erivo posed on their characters’ respective sides of their magical dorm room. Getty Images(2) Belting on Set Despite the soundtrack being prerecorded by the cast, Chu told in March 2024 that Grande and Erivo insisted on singing live on set. “When we were shooting it, those girls were like, ‘F—k the pre-records. We’re going live. … That’s what we do.’” In order to view the gallery, please allow