Featured Image Credit: Universal
Topics: TV And Film, Wicked, Celebrity, LGBTQ,
Kya Buller
When news first dropped that iconic musical Wicked was set to get the silver screen treatment and be directed by John M. Chu, fans couldn't wait to find out who had been cast.
Following news that Ariana Grande would be playing Galinda (later Glinda the Good), and Cynthia Erivo would be portraying Elphaba (later The Wicked Witch of the West), it was obvious that the film - which has been split into two parts - were going to be a bonafide hit.
Further cast members include Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang and Marissa Bode.
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Beyond the cast being incredibly talented, as a whole it has been lauded for the scope of LGBTQ+ representation among them.
All in all, six members of the cast are openly part of the LGBTQ+ community - leading some to assert that the release of Wicked is a huge moment for queer people.
Rumoured to be dating actress and producer Lena Waithe, Erivo said in an interview with The Standard, regarding her song 'The Good': "It’s not necessarily autobiographical. But I am queer."
When asked about coming out by British Vogue, she added: “The consequence is that some young Black queer actress somewhere will know coming in that she’s not alone.”
Bailey, who starred in Bridgerton and Crashing before starring as Wicked's Fiyero, came out as gay publicly in 2018.
In 2021, he told the Standard: ‘I’d say I’m not openly gay. I’m just gay," before continuing: "I knew that I wanted to be visible about my sexuality, because in all the territories that Netflix goes out in, there might be a boy somewhere that goes, 'Wait, what?' Which is what I didn’t have when I was young.
"All I know is that I’m happy to keep working really hard and if there are opportunities for representation, and to make that point, then that’s something I’ll always strive to do."
Yang plays Pfannee, a munchkin and close friend of Glinda's, in Wicked.
He is an openly gay man who was heartbreakingly made to go through sessions of conversion therapy when his parents discovered his sexuality.
He told the New York Times he eventually landed in a 'place of standing firm and being like, ‘This is sort of a fixed point, you guys. I can’t really do anything about this. So either you meet me here or you don’t meet me'.'
24-year-old Bode made her film debut as Nessarose Thropp in Wicked.
In a post shared to Instagram in February 2024, she wrote about her girlfriend: "Happiest Valentine’s Day to the prettiest, smartest, most understanding gal I know @laurennbrooks. You mean the world to me and more."
James plays Shenshen, a friend of Glinda's at Shiz University.
She married her wife, Katherine-Alice James, in 2023.
The year prior, James announced her engagement on Instagram, writing: "Surprise of a life time !!! In Switzerland for work, and I dragged @hotchocolateandcwtches with me for a free holiday.....and she repayed me with a proposal."
Finally, Clarke provides the voice for Elphaba's Nanny Bear, Dulcibear, who comforts her as her family reject her for being green-skinned.
She married writer and director Susie McKenna, and tied the knot on stage at the Hackney Empire.