“Wicked” director Jon M. Chu reflected on how the feature could take on greater significance in the aftermath of the election.

In an interview with NBC News, he pointed out that Oz’s works have always appeared during times of national change and reckoning: World War I, September 11 and now the 2024 election. He said he hopes people will receive a message of resilience and can pick up on connectedness.

‘The Wizard of Oz’ was always a bit prophetic in a way,” Chu said. “It was written at a time when America was in transition. At that time the depression had just ended and they were about to go to war. And so the question is always what does the American dream look like when the road ends and what are the possibilities of what comes next.”

‘Wicked’, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is an adaptation of the successful Broadway musical, which is loosely based on the 1995 novel of the same name. The film and the novel expand on the novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ from 1900 and its 1939 film adaptation, ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

NBC News and NBCUniversal, the distributor of “Wicked,” share Comcast as a parent company. ‘Wicked’ provides a sympathetic revisiting of the Wicked Witch of the West, named Elphaba, who sets out to tackle the Wizard and his propaganda against her and the animals of Oz.

Born with green skin, Elphaba lives a life of discrimination until she befriends Glinda, the good witch, and goes on an adventure to meet the wizard. She is then branded evil again and ostracized when she rejects his request to do his magic. she finds bids immoral.

Chu said the musical adaptation, which premiered on Broadway in 2003, also happened to be released at a momentous time.

“When ‘Wicked’ came out, it was a reexamination of that,” Chu said. “That was right after September 11th and about to start a war. So again a time when America is in transition.”

The release of the upcoming film follows newly elected President Donald Trump’s election victory, which Chu said amplifies the film’s message. “This is the road we are on,” Chu said. “And there’s no yellow brick road and maybe no magician either. Being uncomfortable, maybe yelling at each other a little, forgiving each other, having a little mercy for each other is the only way out.

Chu also said he was surprised by the timing of the project when it came to him.

“When this came across my desk, it was during the pandemic and I felt like, wow, this thing is so prophetic,” Chu said. “How does it know we would experience this? We doubted all the stories of America, of the world. Who is in control? Who tells? What does a hero look like? What does a villain look like?”