Where Does ‘Wicked’ Fit Into the Oz Timeline?

The first official trailer for Wicked was finally released on February 12, 2024—to quite the buzz and mixed opinions, ranging from enthusiasm about the little snippet of vocal performances we got to hear to dismay at how excessive CGI once more just renders every scene incredibly flat. 

The movie is the first part of a duology directed by Jon M. Chu of Crazy Rich Asians fame. It’s adapted from the blockbuster musical of the same name, which premiered on Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre in October 2003 with its plethora of iconic songs, “Defying Gravity” above all.

So is Wicked a prequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?

Both Wicked the movie and Wicked the stage musical are loosely based on the 1995 book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by American author Gregory Maguire. (Maguire’s book, of course, is itself loosely based on the work of L. Frank Baum.)

And as the book’s subtitle suggests—as well as the musical’s, which reads “The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”—the plot follows the women who will go on to become the witches, both good and wicked, that Dorothy Gale will encounter during her time in the Land of Oz. So yes, Wicked is indeed a prequel to Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation, starting around forty years before Dorothy arrived in Oz via tornado. 

Wicked is primarily centered on the life of the Wicked Witch of the West—whose real name is revealed to be Elphaba Thropp—which is expanded beyond the one-dimensional villain she appears to be in L. Frank Baum’s original novel. 

In fact, one might say that the main point of Wicked is that Elphaba wasn’t born wicked at all but had a series of considerable odds stacked against her—her green skin being the first of them—which led to her being “othered” by her peers. That in turn fed her radicalization and ended up with her hiding out in a castle in Winkie Country where she is finally confronted by a little girl from Kansas, her dog, and her three unlikely friends.

Elphaba (originated on Broadway by Idina Menzel and played in the movie adaptation by Cynthia Erivo) and the other characters around her—the most important of them all being Glinda, played by Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway and by Ariana Grande in the upcoming movie—all move in a story that talks of deep friendship, love and hate, propaganda, and the power of manipulating the truth to create monsters.

There’s still some time to wait, though, before we can see this story play out on the big screen. Wicked Part One comes out on November 27, 2024.

(featured image: Universal)