Despite their contrasting personalities, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba Thropp and Ariana Grande’s Glinda Upland strike an unusual friendship and embark on a magical ride in the official trailer of Jon M. Chu’s upcoming musical fantasy Wicked.
Dropped by Universal Pictures on Wednesday, the three-minute-32-second-long trailer begins with Ariana’s voiceover saying, “Are people born wicked? Or, do they have wickedness thrust upon them?”
Soon, we see a popular witch named Glinda, clad in a pink dress, coming across the green-skinned Elphaba on their first day at Shiz University. The video shows how Elphaba is misunderstood due to her skin colour and is yet to discover her true powers. Glinda, on the other hand, is driven by her privilege and ambition, and is yet to be true to her own heart.
Michelle Yeoh’s headmistress Madame Morrible appears in the next scene, and later becomes the first person to witness Elphaba’s extraordinary magical powers. Glinda and Elphaba’s differences lead to many light-hearted as well as dark moments. However, their friendship takes a turn for the worse after Elphaba realises her powers and unwittingly steals the spotlight from Glinda.
Following their encounter with the Wizard of Oz, played by Jeff Goldblum, Elphaba starts getting viewed by others as their enemy. With everyone turning their back on her and Glinda, the two friends team up for their magical adventures in order to fulfil their destinies as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, respectively.
The trailer also teases Ariana and Cynthia singing Defying Gravity, the signature song from the 2003 Broadway musical version of Wicked. In the beginning of the video, we hear Ariana recreating Kristin Chenoweth’s song Popular from the Broadway musical while scenes of her bonding with Cynthia play on the screen.
The cast of Wicked also includes Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James and Keala Settle in key roles. The trailer of the upcoming film was shown at this year’s Super Bowl as well as Cinemacon.
Adapted from Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s eponymous Broadway musical based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch, Wicked chronicles the events prior to Dorothy’s arrival in L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Wicked is the first chapter of a two-part film series. While the first part will premiere on Thanksgiving Day on November 28, the second part is slated to hit theatres on November 26, 2025.
