Wicked: Part One – Release date, plot and trailer for musical adaptation

The film, which has been split into two parts, explores the origin story for two Wizard of Oz characters: Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo).

Grande recently revealed why she used her full name, Ariana Grande-Butera, in the film’s credits.

Speaking to The Streaming Service, Grande explained: “I just feel like this experience was such a homecoming for me. I feel like I came home to myself in a lot of ways, through what I learned from Glinda, from Elphaba.

She continued: “That was my name when I went to see the show when I was 10-years-old, and it felt like a really lovely way of honoring that. It felt really full circle, and it just felt like something I wanted to do.”

Alongside Grande and Erivo, Wicked: Part One, which is being directed by In the Heights filmmaker Jon M Chu, also boasts Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum among its star-studded cast.

A full-length trailer for the first film landed earlier this year, treating audiences to their first proper look at the first part of the musical adaptation.

Though Universal had previously released a teaser trailer during the Super Bowl, the second clip gives fans an even more in-depth look at what's to come for Erivo's Elphaba, Grande's Glinda and Jonathan Bailey's Fiyero.

Both trailers heavily tease Erivo and Grande's rendition of Defying Gravity, but the film will also feature new songs written by original Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz.

"It's just been a privilege to be able to write with the voices of Cynthia and Ariana in mind," he recently told RadioTimes.com.

Intrigued? Read on for everything you need to know about Wicked: Part One.

Wicked movie UK release date

Wicked: Part One has shifted release dates a few times.

The film was originally slated for 27th November, but will now come out on Friday 22nd November 2024 in the UK.

This release date change will mean it no longer goes head-to-head with fellow musical Moana 2, but it will instead come out on the same day as Gladiator 2, the hotly-anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott's 2000 film.

With Wicked and Gladiator 2 sharing a release date, and strikingly different tones, could we be in for Barbenheimer round two?

Gladiator 2 star Paul Mescal certainly hopes so, telling Entertainment Tonight: "Wickdiator doesn’t really roll off the tongue, does it? I think my preference would probably be Glicked, if it has a similar effect to what it did for Barbie and Oppenheimer."

Meanwhile, if you're wondering how long you'll have to wait after the first film before the second part is released, Wicked: Part Two is currently slated to arrive almost exactly a year later, on Friday 26th November 2025.

That's certainly a longer wait than the 15-minute interval between Acts One and Two in the theatre!

Wicked movie cast

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande lead the cast as Elphaba and Glinda respectively – and they're not the only big names to feature in the film.

Oscar–winner Michelle Yeoh takes on the role of headmistress Madame Morrible, Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey plays roguish and carefree prince Fiyero, and Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum plays the legendary Wizard of Oz.

Meanwhile, Tony nominee Ethan Slater plays an altruistic Munchkin student named Boq, Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang plays Glinda's college friend Pfanne, Marissa Bode makes her feature-film debut as Elphaba’s favoured sister Nessarose and The Greatest Showman's Keala Settle plays a character called Miss Coddle, who is new for the film version.

Here's a list of all the main cast members:

• Ariana Grande as Glinda
• Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba
• Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero
• Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard
• Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible
• Ethan Slater as Boq
• Marissa Bode as Nessarose
• Bowen Yang as Pfannee
• Bronwyn James as ShenShen
• Keala Settle as Miss Coddle
• Aaron Teoh as Avaric

Wicked movie plot: Is it a musical prequel to the Wizard of Oz?

Wicked is an adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical of the same name, which kicked off on Broadway in 2003.

The play is itself an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is a prequel to L. Frank Baum’s novel The Wizard of Oz (1900) and its film adaptation, 1939’s The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland.

So yes, Wicked is essentially a musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz, exploring the origin stories for Elphaba and Glinda.

The first film will portray the events that occur in the first Act of the stage play – closing with the show's most famous song, Defying Gravity.

The official synopsis calls it the "untold story" of Elphaba – "a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power" – and Glinda, "A popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart."

It continues: "The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths.

"Glinda's unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power, while Elphaba's determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences on her future.

"Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfil their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West."

Wicked movie trailer

You can check out the full-length below.

We've also dropped the teaser tailer here.

Wicked: Part One comes to cinemas on Friday 22nd November 2024.

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