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| Author | Gregory Maguire |
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| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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The Wicked Years is a series ofrevisionistdark fantasy novels written by American authorGregory Maguire. It is inspired byL. Frank Baum's 1900 novelThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with elements also based on the1939 film adaptation byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer and otherOz-related books.
Unlike Baum's original novels,The Wicked Years is aimed at mature audiences and presents adystopian, more cynical version of theLand of Oz than featured in other adaptations.[1] The series explores several sociopolitical issues, namely thediscrimination of sentient animals and racial tensions between various ethnic groups, and features many of the originalWizard of Oz characters re-imagined as antagonists or neutral parties. The first novel in the series,Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, follows protagonistElphaba Thropp through her evolution into thetitular villain, while also highlighting the consequences her relationships and actions have on the land in her lifetime and beyond.
In 2003, the firstWicked novel was loosely adapted into a stage musical,Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz (or simplyWicked), which became thefourth-longest-running Broadway show andsecond-highest-grossing stage musical of all time.[2] The musical's success inspired its owntwo-part film adaptation, consisting ofWicked (2024) and its upcoming sequelWicked: For Good (2025).[3]
There are four main novels inThe Wicked Years, each referred to as a "volume".
The first volume in the series wasWicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which was published in 1995. It details the life of the infamous villain fromThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whose birth name is given here asElphaba Thropp. The story is divided into five sections, following Elphaba through the social ostracism she faces because of her green skin, her schooling years withGalinda Upland (the futureGood Witch of the North), herradicalization in response to the persecution of Animals in Oz, and her final years as the Wicked Witch before being vanquished byDorothy Gale. The novel was successful, and was later adapted into a2003 stage musical, in turn adapted into a two-part film.[3]
The second volume,Son of a Witch, was published in 2005. It details the life of Elphaba's son,Liir, over a decade-long period after the events of the first novel, as he searches for his half-sister Nor and incidentally finishes some of his mother's work.[4]
A third volume,A Lion Among Men, was published in 2008, and was the first to bear theWicked Years subtitle. It gives the backstory of theCowardly Lion fromThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz (here given the name 'Brrr') in parallel with the history of Yackle, a mysterious oracle introduced in the first novel who has an inexplicable connection to Elphaba. Their biographies overlap with the events ofWicked andSon of a Witch, with the present-day narrative set around eight years after the latter..[4]
The fourth and final volume,Out of Oz, was published in 2011. Set immediately after the end ofLion,[4] it focuses on Liir's daughter, Rain, as the Land of Oz descends into war.
In 2021, Maguire continued the story ofThe Wicked Years with a sequel series calledAnother Day, following Rain and her adventures in a new land known as Maracoor. The first book,The Brides of Maracoor, sees Rain join the titular brides, a flagellant community of quasi-nuns who spend their days weaving "the nets of time".[5] A second book,The Oracle of Maracoor, was published in 2022, and the final book,The Witch of Maracoor, was published in October 2023.[6]
Outside of the tetralogy,The Wicked Years also includesTales Told in Oz (2012), ashort story collection exploring the folklore of Oz; andElphie: A Wicked Childhood (2025), aprequel focused on Elphaba's childhood. In March 2025, William Morrow Paperbacks published the first volume of agraphic novel adaptation ofWicked, with illustrations byScott Hampton.[7]
While vacationing in 1996, composer and lyricistStephen Schwartz came acrossWicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and saw the potential in a dramatic adaptation.[8] At the time, the novel's rights were in the hands ofUniversal Pictures, which intended to develop a feature film.[9] After those plans fell short, Schwartz persuaded Universal and then-head of productionMarc Platt on adapting the novel for the stage instead, to which they agreed withDavid Stone additionally joining as co-producer.[9][10]
Schwartz and writerWinnie Holzman developed the plot outline over the course of a year.[11] While the musical retained much of the characters, story, and thematic elements from Maguire's novel, several changes were made to make it more digestible for general audiences, rather than the adult demographic the novel was originally intended for.[10] Greater emphasis was placed on the relationship between Elphaba and her roommateGalinda Upland (later known as Glinda the Good), with Schwartz stating: "Primarily we were interested in the relationship between Galinda—who becomes Glinda—and Elphaba... the friendship of these two women and how their characters lead them to completely different destinies." Other modifications included Fiyero becoming theScarecrow; Boq becoming theTin Woodman and his feelings for Glinda continuing beyond their time at Shiz; Doctor Dilamond being fired instead of murdered; andMadame Morrible going to prison instead of dying. Notable omissions included Elphaba's time in the Vinkus, Fiyero's wife and children, and Elphaba and Fiyero's child, Liir.
By 2002, a crew had been assembled for the musical:Joe Mantello as director,Wayne Cilento as choreographer,Eugene Lee as set designer,Susan Hilferty as costume designer, andKenneth Posner as lighting designer.Kristin Chenoweth andStephanie J. Block portrayed Glinda and Elphaba in the developmental workshops before the latter was replaced byIdina Menzel. Tryouts were held atSan Francisco'sCurran Theatre in the spring of 2003,[12] and the mixed critical reaction resulted in modifications to the book and songs. Broadway previews began at theGershwin Theatre on October 8, before the musical officially premiered on October 30.
In the 1990s, actressDemi Moore won a bidding war to produce (through her company Moving Pictures) and star in a feature film adaptation ofWicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, withUniversal Pictures assisting in the purchase of rights from Gregory Maguire. Other actresses who expressed interest in adapting the novel includedWhoopi Goldberg,Claire Danes,Salma Hayek, andLaurie Metcalf, and they had also been considered for the roles of Elphaba and Glinda along withMichelle Pfeiffer,Emma Thompson, andNicole Kidman. Despite the project attachingLinda Woolverton as screenwriter, it failed to move forward after unsuccessfully courting a director (withRobert Zemeckis considered at one point) and Universal deeming its estimated budget of $35–37 million "implausible". Stephen Schwartz soon persuaded Universal to adapt the novel for the stage, and Marc Platt took over as producer after Moore departed from the project.[13]
In a 2009 interview, Maguire revealed he had once again sold the novel's rights toABC,[14] which announced a miniseries adaptation ofWicked independent from the musical in January 2011. It was to be produced by Salma Hayek and her production company, though no further developments were announced.[15]
| Film | U.S. release date | Directed by | Screenplay by | Produced by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wicked | November 22, 2024 | Jon M. Chu | Winnie Holzman[a] Dana Fox | Marc Platt David Stone | Released |
| Wicked: For Good | November 21, 2025 | Post-production |
Following the success of the Universal-distributedLes Misérables (an adaptation of the1980 musical and1862 novel), Marc Platt announced a feature film adaptation of theWicked musical had entered development. Talks had begun in June 2009, with candidates includingLea Michele,Amy Adams, and original stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel as leads; Holzman and Schwartz returning as writers; andJ. J. Abrams,Rob Marshall,James Mangold, andRyan Murphy as directors.[17] In June 2016, Universal announcedStephen Daldry to be directing the film and issued a tentative release date of December 20, 2019.[18]
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Scheduling conflicts, partly due to theCOVID-19 pandemic andits impact on the film industry, resulted in a delay to December 22, 2021,[19] before the film was removed from Universal's release schedule in April 2020; Daldry exited the project later in October.[20][21] In February 2021,Jon M. Chu was announced as the film's new director.[22] Production staff that joined in the following years included Schwartz, Holzman,Dana Fox (who also co-wrote the script with Holzman), David Nicksay, and Jared LeBoff as executive producers;Alice Brooks as cinematographer (in her and Chu's second collaboration, following theIn the Heights film adaptation);[23]Nathan Crowley as production designer;[24]Paul Tazewell as costume designer;[25] andJohn Powell as score composer.
In November, singer-actressesCynthia Erivo andAriana Grande were cast as Elphaba and Glinda.Jonathan Bailey joined as Fiyero in September 2022, andJeff Goldblum joined as the Wizard in December; that same month, supporting roles were given toEthan Slater,Michelle Yeoh, newcomerMarissa Bode,Bowen Yang,Bronwyn James,Keala Settle, Aaron Teoh, and Colin Michael Carmichael.Peter Dinklage joined as Dr. Dilamond in April 2024.
Principal photography began on December 9, 2022, at the newly-built Sky Studios Elstree inBorehamwood, England. Filming was set to wrap in July 2023 before the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike forced a hiatus until November. Filming resumed and concluded between January 24 and 26, 2024. Production was done with heavy use of large-scale practical sets, including nine million tulips planted around theMunchkinland set, ayellow brick road paved with real mud, and a life-sized train to theEmerald City. Visual effects were handled byIndustrial Light & Magic andFramestore, while editing was done byMyron Kerstein (in his and Chu's third collaboration) usingAvid Media Composer. Post-production was completed by September 2024.
The film, officially titled on-screen asWicked: Part I, held its world premiere at theState Theatre inSydney on November 3, before releasing in the United States on November 22. It grossed$756.2 million worldwide on a$150 million budget, becoming thefifth-highest-grossing film of 2024 and dethroningOz the Great and Powerful (2013) andMamma Mia! (2008) as the highest-grossingOz film and highest-grossing film based on a Broadway musical, respectively. Critical reception was positive, with praise for Chu's direction, the production values, and performances of the cast; the film has since appeared in lists of thebest musical and fantasy films of the 21st century.[b]
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On April 26, 2022, Chu announced the decision to split the film adaptation in two parts, stating:
As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of 'Wicked' into a single film without doing some real damage to it ... As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one 'Wicked' movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of 'Wicked' as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.[31]
Schwartz echoed Chu's sentiment in June, while also confirming a new song was in the works for one of the two parts:
We found it very difficult to get past 'Defying Gravity' without a break ... That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene to follow it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic ... Even as a very long single movie, it required us cutting or omitting things that we wanted to include and that we think fans of the show and the story will appreciate. What we have discussed is that changes need to be 'additive', to use (producer) Marc Platt's term. They need to add something to the story or the characters. They can't just be changes to do something different. I feel confident that by the time the movie is made, if we all continue to have the same degree of input, I could have a conversation with anyone who has a question about any of the changes made from the stage show and justify why I think it's better for the movie.[32]
In November 2022, Schwartz revealed the second film would include two new songs "to meet the demands of the storytelling."[33] Chu prioritized finishing post-production on the first film in order to understand how the second would continue the story. The process had resumed by November 2024, and the following month, the film — which had tentatively been brandedWicked Part Two — was officially titledWicked: For Good, sharing its subtitle withthe musical's penultimate number.[34] Its first trailer was attached to a one-night, theatrical re-release ofWicked on June 4, 2025, before premiering online later.[35] The film is currently due for release on November 21, 2025.
In November 2024, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman said they had discussed the possibility of "something" more associated with theWicked film adaptation, but that it would not necessarily be aWicked Part Three orFour.[36]
TheGrimmerie (a variation on the wordsGrimoire andgramarye) is afictional book ofspells inThe Wicked Years universe. In both the original novels and the stage musical, the Grimmerie is written in a language that the people ofOz cannot read; in the novels, this is because the book came fromEarth and is written in English, whereas in the musical, it is said to be written in the "lost language of spells".The Grimmerie is also the title of a behind-the-scenes book about the musical, published in 2005 (ISBN 1-4013-0820-1).
In the novel, the Grimmerie contains information on varioussupernatural creatures, includingangels and an entire section on "Evil Particulars" (i.e.demons), methods of poisoning water and breeding a docile population, as well as diagrams of instruments oftorture and weapons which Elphaba considers "too vile to use". It also contains:
In the musical, the Grimmerie is a pivotal instrument in Elphaba's magical powers. It contains a variety of incantations, written in a strange language, that allow her to perform various spells throughout the musical; the contents are considerably less gruesome than those of its novel counterpart.
