After many, many years in the making, the new Wicked movie is finally very nearly here.
The long-awaited film adaptation of the award-winning musical is coming later this year, with
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande bringing the beloved characters of Elphaba and Glinda to the big screen.
While the film version of Wicked was first announced back in 2016, it’s taken the better part of a decade to hit our screens, with the story actually set to be delivered in two instalments.
Here’s everything we know so far about the first of those films…
When was the Wicked film first announced?
Talks about a potential big screen adaptation date as far back as 2015, but it was officially confirmed in 2016, with its original theatrical release slated for December 20, 2019.
However, it’s no secret that the film has run into some delays along the way, which pushed it back a few years.
Back in April 2022, director Jon M. Chu revealed exactly why the film had taken so long.
“As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of Wicked into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” he wrote in a statement shared to X.
“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 Wicked movie but two!!!! With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.”
At the time, the director pledged alongside his cast to “create nothing less than an experience that honours its foundation for all the fans who’ve waited for this movie, and to offer a thrilling, fantastical world full of dynamic character that invites in those who are familiar”.
Who else is in the cast?
Alongside Cynthia and Ariana (who received the seal of approval from the musical’s original broadway stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth), Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey will play love interest Fiyero, while Jeff Goldblum will play the Wizard.
Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh of Everything Everywhere All at Once fame will also join her first musical as Madame Morrible, who is the headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University.
The cast also includes SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical actor Ethan Slater (who also happens to be Ariana’s rumoured boyfriend, after the pair met on set) as Boq, Game Of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage as Dr. Dillamond, a goat and professor of history at Shiz University.
The extended cast, meanwhile, includes Marissa Bode as Nessarose, SNL comic Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Bronwyn James as ShenShen and The Greatest Showman’s Keala Settle as Miss Coddle (a new character created for the film).
Aaron Teoh and Colin Michael Carmichael will also appear as Avaric and Professor Nikidik.
What is Wicked actually about?
The movie will tell the same story as the musical, which reimagines the classic The Wizard Of Oz from the perspective of its witches.
It follows two witches – the popular and bubbly Glinda, and the green-skinned and academic Elphaba – and the challenges they face over the course of their unlikely friendship, which ends with Elphaba becoming the Wicked Witch Of The West, and Glinda (formerly Galinda) the Good Witch of the South.
The cast has already teased that fans can definitely expect some new touches when the film hits our screens, though.
“I think it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before,” Cynthia told Entertainment Tonight in 2022. “I think we’re going to enjoy the magic of it. We’re going to try and put our own spin on what we know already and show you a story about two women [who] are sisters.”
Is there a trailer?
Yes – and at three and a half minutes long, there’s plenty to feast your eyes on. Check it out for yourself below:
When is the Wicked movie released?
Wicked part one is out on 27 November 2024, while the follow-up is slated for release almost a year to the day later, on 26 November 2025.