Everything We Know About Wicked, If You Dare to Find Out

Frenemies. Photo: Universal Pictures

Good news! She’s deaaaaaaaad really alive. Over a decennary aft the accumulation squad connected the freakishly palmy Broadway philharmonic began gathering with filmmakers back successful 2010, the archetypal of 2 Wicked movies is really being released a week early. While those archetypal meetings reportedly included imaginable directors similar Rob Marshall (boring!), Ryan Murphy (but helium would privation Lea Michele), and J.J. Abrams (the sci-fi boy?), Stephen Daldry was officially hired, with a December 2019 merchandise day acceptable backmost in 2016. Obviously, this did not occur. Cats got that merchandise day instead, and that went great. Then, Jon M. Chu of Crazy Rich Asians, Step Up 2: The Streets, and In the Heights fame took implicit arsenic manager successful 2021. Since then, the movie has been positively dancing done life, releasing a afloat trailer May 15. Below, everything you request to cognize astir these soon-to-be-popular movies, now that the archetypal enactment has a caller date.

… For not showing a azygous sung-through scene. We get to spot Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Galinda (pre-name change) go roommates and frenemies, but however are we expected to cognize they hatred each different without a rousing introductory opus that rivals Kendrick Lamar levels of disdain? We’ll conscionable person to settee for the infamous “Defying Gravity” riff (Erivo’s version) arsenic Elphaba fulfills her destiny to conscionable the Wizard successful Emerald City. “Something atrocious is happening successful Oz,” the witch portends. Don’t you mean “wicked?”

Yeah, films. After years of nary Wicked movie, we’re getting 2 Wicked movies. Wickeds? Wicki? Wickeople? “As we prepared this accumulation implicit the past year, it became progressively wide that it would beryllium intolerable to wrestle the communicative of WICKED into a azygous movie without doing immoderate existent harm to it,” Chu said in a connection posted to societal media connected April 26, 2022. “So we decided to springiness ourselves a bigger canvas and marque not conscionable 1 WICKED movie but TWO!!!!” Okay, truthful … why? “We recovered it precise hard to get past ‘Defying Gravity’ without a break,” Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz said in an email newsletter successful June of 2022. “That opus is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and immoderate country to travel it without a interruption conscionable seemed hugely anti-climactic.” Plus, it was going to beryllium precise long, and “it required america cutting oregon omitting things that we wanted to see and that we deliberation fans of the amusement and the communicative volition appreciate.” Look, if it means that the Act Two opener “No One Mourns the Wicked (Reprise)” volition really get a way aft it was tacked onto “Thank Goodness” successful the archetypal formed recording, past we volition instrumentality it! Or, arsenic Ben Affleck, king of Boston, would say: That would beryllium wicked.

Well, here’s the goooood newwwwwsss. Our “Dear Old Shiz” alumni volition beryllium played by Tony victor Cynthia Erivo and Grammy victor and theater-geek-at-large Ariana Grande, playing Elphaba and Glinda (formerly Galinda), respectively. Also successful the formed are Bridgerton prima and Olivier Award victor Jonathan Bailey arsenic Fiyero and Tony nominee Ethan Slater arsenic Boq. Michelle Yeoh volition beryllium the film’s Madame Morrible. Marissa Bode volition beryllium playing Elphaba’s sister Nessarose, a notable departure from the signifier version, arsenic Bode is simply a idiosyncratic with a disability. The Broadway mentation of the amusement has solely formed non-disabled actors for the wheelchair-bound role. SNL star and Emmy nominee Bowen Yang volition play Pfannee, 1 of Galinda’s friends, alongside Bronwyn James arsenic ShenShen. Tony nominee Keala Settle, Aaron Teoh, and Colin Michael Carmichael are playing Miss Coddle, Avaric, and Nikidik, respectively. Jeff Goldblum is acceptable to play the Wizard. Until precocious Dr. Dillamond, big goat and vocalist of “Something Bad,” was without an actor. Instead, the relation is presently being played by a puppeteer, Yang revealed connected an occurrence of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. The puppeteer (named Louisa) “has been doing astonishing enactment reads,” according to Yang. After much speculation, the GOAT goat was revealed to beryllium Peter Dinklage. Moving forward, we indispensable accidental to Mr. Jon M. Chu that, arsenic agelong arsenic you enactment distant from casting the force of restaurateurs, we’re happy.

You don’t request to person a vision astir similar a prophecy to spot what the Wicked movie is going to look like. Instead, we person a fewer archetypal look images to take from that tin foretell each kinds of antithetic looks for the film, depending connected what you privation to see. The astir authoritative of the radical were a acceptable of quality pics tweeted retired by Chu, showing Elphaba and Galinda with shrouded backdrops. Some radical connected Twitter made amusive of these pics for the cinematography being excessively dark, but Chu himself responded, saying, “Don’t worry, colour is successful my DNA … this is conscionable the archetypal tease. Plenty of clip to amusement much … enactment tuned.”

Other on-set shots already look, to punctuation a antithetic erstwhile Chenoweth vehicle, a full batch brighter. Shots from the acceptable that weren’t technically released done authoritative sources amusement brightly colored sets and a pretty-in-pink Ari walking done Munchkinland. This adjacent included a video shared by Entertainment Tonight, successful which you tin spot and perceive a ponytail-less Grande successful afloat pinkish getup singing her precocious notes from the opening song. What the cinematography volition look like, nary 1 tin say. But it would beryllium a shame not to amusement disconnected the vibrant colors they’ve got going on.

Elphaba &
Glinda &
Dillamond &
Gladiator

The archetypal Wicked movie volition present beryllium released a week early, connected November 22, the aforesaid time arsenic Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington. The merch for this year’s Barbenheimer is going to beryllium … creative.

Originally, some Wicked films were going to beryllium released connected Christmas Days. However, Chu tweeted retired connected March 14 that the archetypal movie is defying gravity, due to the fact that the merchandise day was really moved up. “We are heavy into accumulation connected WICKED and mundane we get much and much excited to stock with u the mischief we’ve been up to,” the manager said. “So … We’ve decided to get it to you each a small earlier than planned. OUR NEW RELEASE Date is NOV 27th 2024! A small Thanksgiving treat!” The 2nd movie was primitively scheduled for merchandise connected Christmas 2025, but present it’s being bumped up. On June 20, Warner Bros. confirmed the sequel volition beryllium retired implicit Thanksgiving 2025 (specifically, November 26), per The Hollywood Reporter. Might arsenic good commencement yelling astir it now. AAAAAAAAH!