Jonathan Bailey says fans are in for a Wicked surprise when the second film is released as it won’t completely follow the stage musical.
The British actor, 37, will reprise his role as Prince Fiyero in Wicked: For Good, which serves as the follow up to last year’s monster hit Wicked.
“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.”
The new flick is due to be released in UK cinemas nationwide from November 21 and 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 back are Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Ethan Slater as Bok and Marissa Bode as Nessarose.
While Bailey didn’t go into further detail, Director Jon M Chu has previously confirmed that both Grande and Erivo will have new, original songs in the sequel, along with fan favourites “For Good” and “No Good Deed”.
He also gave an insight into what it was like filming in a specially errected outdoor set in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, telling the publication: “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 try-ing to record it. And then seeing men in the sky, [which] turned out to be microlights and drones. It was like Independence Day.”
The films are 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.
The buzz around For Good is steadily gaining momentum after a new trailer dropped on Wednesday evening.
It will see Elphaba, who left Shiz Academy at the end of the first film, pitted against her former friend Glinda after being declared an enemy of the state.
The Heroes Issue of British GQ is available via digital download and on newsstands on June 10.
