First look: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are magical in first Wicked teaser

The first official trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of the beloved musical is here and it’s just as magical as we’d hoped. 

Here’s what we know so far.

Plot

First premiering on Broadway in 2003, the musical is based on the novel Wicked; The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, a reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, it’s told from the perspective of the witches of Oz, and recounts the unlikely friendship between Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West. Meeting as roommates at Shiz University, initially, they clash – Glinda is popular and bubbly while Elphaba is reclusive and misunderstood because of her green skin – but they eventually put their differences aside and become good friends. As Grande puts it, their relationship is defined by “a really selfless love and friendship. They’re both each other’s first real friend, a person who accepts them for everything that they are.” Erivo agrees. “Once they figure out that they’re actually different sides of the same coin, they see each other clearly.” 

As the story progresses, we learn that Elphaba isn’t the villain the subsequent movie makes her out to be and it’s the Wizard who wrongly portrays her as evil to save his own reputation.

According to reports, the upcoming adaptation will largely honour the source material however there is one big difference; the Wicked movie will give Dorothy a much bigger presence than the stage musical (her character is never properly shown in stage productions). 

Originally announced as one film, the project has since been split in two with the first part ending where the stage show’s first act ends. “As we prepared the production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of Wicked into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” director Jon M Chu previously said of the decision. 

“We found it very difficult to get past ‘Defying Gravity’ without a break. That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene followed it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic,” composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz added in his newsletter, The Schwartz Scene.

“So, for these two reasons, plus the excitement of doing something that’s never been done before with a musical, we have decided to do two movies.”

Filming on part two wrapped up last month after production was stalled due to strikes in Hollywood. 

Cast

Aside from Grande and Erivo, the movie stars many other famous faces including Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Marissa Settle, Bronwyn James, Adam Yang and Bowen Yang.

Music

For many, the music is the highlight and you can rest assured that the film won’t disappoint on that front with Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the stage musical and original music/lyrics respectively, also involved in the film adaptation. For Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo, she’s most excited about fans hearing “For Good” and “The Wizard and I”. “‘For Good’ is one of the most… it’s really special to us,” she told ET Online. “It just – it was a really special day. We filmed it over a week [and] we felt like it was a lot for the both of us, in our hearts, you know?”

“And I’m really, really excited for ‘The Wizard and I’ because, like, it’s a full epic moment. There’s so much in there that feels good… There are all really special moments within this movie and even the numbers without songs are really special as well.”

Trailer

After months of waiting, we finally have a first look – with the teaser first airing last night during the NFL championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Featuring a snippet of the song “Defying Gravity”, it introduces us to both Glinda and Elphaba with shots of Shiz University and a little bit of the Emerald City too. 

Release date

The good news is, Wicked will be released this year. The bad news is, we’ll have to wait until November 27 for Part One with Part Two expected to premiere one year later in late November/early December 2025.
Feature imagery via @arianagrande