Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have been cast as the lead roles in the upcoming film adaptation of “Wicked,” the popular Broadway musical about the unlikely friendship between two witches from the Land of Oz. The two friends are Glinda (who later becomes Glinda the Good Witch), who will be played by Grande, and Elphaba (who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West), who will be played by Erivo.
The stars announced the news on their Instagrams on Thursday, as both of them uploaded screenshots of their excitement from their video call with Jon M. Chu, who signed on to direct the movie in February. Chu also directed “Crazy Rich Asians” and “In the Heights.”
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A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande)
“thank goodness 💘 @jonmchu @cynthiaerivo @wickedmovie,” Grande captioned her post.
“Pink goes good with Green 💚💚💚 @wickedmovie @jonmchu @arianagrande,” Erivo captioned hers.
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A post shared by Cynthia Erivo (@cynthiaerivo)
Production for the movie is expected to begin in the U.K. in the summer of 2022.
“Wicked” premiered on Broadway in 2003 and was met with critical acclaim and commercial success. The original cast starred Kristin Chenoweth