Jonathan Bailey has dropped some spoilers for the much-anticipated sequel to Wicked – and fans will notice some big changes from the original stage production.
“There really is lots of new stuff,” he told GQ. “When [Fiyero] leaves with Elphaba and they go to her lair where she’s staying – on stage you just accept that she’s living in a pit of dry ice, but in the film it’s really beautifully realised and thought out by the departments and Cynthia and me.”
Wicked: For Good, whose first trailer has just been released, will see Cynthia Erivo return as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariana Grande as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.
Also reprising their roles are Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, and Marissa Bode as Nessarose.
The film is based on the play adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which itself was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation.
Elphaba, who left Shiz Academy at the end of the first film, will return in For Good, but this time pitted against her former friend Glinda after being declared an enemy of the state.
The first trailer gave fans a glimpse into an Oz at war, and introduced classic Wizard of Oz characters Dorothy, the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow.
Bailey also reflected on the surreal nature of the sets while filming: “Being slightly off the M1 in Munchkinland, with Ari [Arianna Grande] singing a beautiful mezzo soprano, and then seeing cars pulling up on the hard shoulder trying to record it. And then seeing men in the sky, [which] turned out to be microlights and drones. It was like Independence Day.”
Director Jon M Chu confirmed that both Grande and Erivo will have new, original songs in the sequel, along with fan favourites “For Good” and “No Good Deed”.
