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Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the WICKED Adaptation

Here's everything to know about the new adaptation of Gregory Maguire's WICKED, including that it's being split into two movies!

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Emily Martin

Contributing Editor

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at emily.ecm@gmail.com.

View All posts by Emily Martin

Wicked is finally coming out at the end of this month, and we can’t remember the last time we’ve been this excited for a movie. You probably already know that Wicked is a film adaptation of a Broadway musical, based on the novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire. But here are some other things about the movie you may not know!

wicked movie poster

Wicked will be divided into two movies. The first film will adapt the first half of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked. The second film, which comes out in November 2025, will cover the second half.

The film is directed by John M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights. Chu missed the recent Wicked premiere in Los Angeles, but the director had a very good reason. He was welcoming his new daughter into the world! What a huge month this is for Chu!

British actress Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba, the “Wicked” Witch of the West. Erivo is probably most well-known for playing Celie in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, another musical adaptation of a novel. The actress shaved her head for the filming of Wicked.

Actress and pop singer Ariana Grande co-stars as Glinda the Good. Grande is currently nominated for a Grammy Award for her latest album Eternal Sunshine. Still, despite her successful music career, Grande has announced that she plans to focus on acting following the release of Wicked.

Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, who also worked with director John M. Chu in Crazy Rich Asians, plays Madame Morrible in Wicked. At the film’s Los Angeles premiere, Yeoh admitted she was unfamiliar with Wicked before Chu asked her to read for Madame Morrible. “I knew Wizard of Oz, who doesn’t,” Yeoh explained. “But not Wicked, because I hadn’t been going to the theaters and not doing what I love which is watching musicals, for quite a while I hate to say.”

Another big star you’ll see in the Wicked movies? Jonathan Bailey. Yes, Lord Anthony Bridgerton himself is in this movie. In fact, Bailey was rehearsing for the role of Fiyero in Wicked while also filming Bridgerton and the miniseries Fellow Travelers, based on the novel by Thomas Mallon.

Are you as excited about Wicked as we are? You can see the movie in theaters everywhere on November 22. Check out the trailer while we wait!