Jon M. Chu considered himself a fan of “Wicked” long before he was hired to direct the big-budget film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical.

So the question was where, not whether, to pay tribute to Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the stage roles of Elphaba and Glinda in the two-part film, the first of which hit theaters on November 22. After much deliberation among the forces of Oz, it was decided that they would appear in the film as the stars of Wizomania, an elaborate show within the show set when Elphaba (Cynthia). Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) visit the Emerald City during the song ‘One Short Day’.

“I told them, ‘I want you to experience for the first time what you have given us.’ I saw Idina and Kristin while they were giving a workshop at the Curran Theater (in 2003). I’ll never forget being blown away by their performances,” Chu recalls, lounging on the couch at Manhattan’s Bowery Hotel in an appropriately green sweater. “When they were on set, I think reality hit them and things came full circle for them.”

“Wicked,” which introduced classics like “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good” into the Broadway pantheon, chronicles everything that happens before Dorothy lands in Oz and strolls down that iconic Yellow Brick Road. Set before, during and after “The Wizard of Oz,” the story charts the unlikely friendship of the green Elphaba (later known as the Wicked Witch of the West) and the perky, pink-loving Glinda (eventually Glinda the Good ). “Part One” tells the story of their time together at Shiz University, where they are forced to become roommates and eventually become best friends. The second film, which debuts on November 21, 2025, picks up after Elphaba gains full control of her powers and is declared an enemy of the state by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).

As “Wicked: Part One” appeared on the big screen, Chu surrendered Variety in a spoiler-filled chat about Menzel and Chenoweth’s cameos, sacred lines that were (and weren’t) cut from the script… and whether we’ll see more of Dorothy in “Part Two.”

“Wicked” was originally developed as one film. What did those earlier versions look like?

When I walked in, everyone was already debating in a high-octane way: should we do this in two films? Other scripts that tried to fit it into one movie cut a lot of songs and changed the story in ways that didn’t quite make logical and emotional sense. You can get away with that on stage, but film audiences are more difficult. As we took each script apart, I asked certain questions that sparked a lot of discussion. It became inevitable that we had to commit to two films.

I imagine it took no convincing to get Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in the film. But how did you find the right time to record them?

They wouldn’t just come and do it whatever. Our inner circle came up with all kinds of things to present to them. Does Kristin play Glinda’s mother? Are they one of the people who say, “The magician will see you now”? It always felt disappointing. We had to give them something big. We had a section in “Wizomania” that needed a backstory that we didn’t need in the show: What is the Grimmerie? And insight into how the wizard came to Oz. I thought, ‘What if we do this part as a play? It was supposed to be an amusement park ride, like “It’s a Small World,” which was a fun concept. But if it’s a show, then it’s kind of meta. Idina and Kristin play the two most famous actors in Oz. They become glamorous and people can applaud them. Stephen Schwartz immediately knew what to do and added Idina’s Elphaba war cry and the interplay of pushing each other out of the way. It’s fun to play off the knowledge of two megastars on the show.

Some quotable lines and lyrics, such as ‘we’ll be late for Wizomania’, have been removed. Were those tough decisions considering how well fans know the show?

When you don’t have a live audience to play to, some of the comedy doesn’t quite work. I remember Ari reading that we used the phrase “the magician will see you now!” didn’t have. There was a reason for it; they were more advanced in geography. We didn’t have it in rehearsals and every time that moment came, they sang it anyway. Ari said, “I promise you, we to have to have it.” So I thought, ‘Okay, let me find out. We built it in so that there are now two entrances, but it was worth it.” There were constant debates. Early on in the show, when Glinda says, “It’s good to see me, isn’t it?”, she says, “You don’t have to answer. That’s rhetorical.” But when she said the line in the movie, the joke didn’t land. Not because of the way she did it. But because there is no audience to give feedback on it. We posted fake Ozian comments, but it was too meta, too early. That was scary to remove because it looks like a Bible line.

Why did you include an homage to “The Wizard of Oz,” in which Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion walk the Yellow Brick Road?

“The Wizard of Oz” is potentially a dream. It’s a world where there are no real stakes. Knowing that Elphaba and Glinda live in a world with real stakes, we had to re-establish with the audience that this was real. So we dropped everyone at the crime scene, perhaps the most famous crime scene ever in film and literature, with the iconic hat in the puddle. We see the entire landscape of Oz. It’s this living, breathing place with real cultures, so we immediately establish that this is not a dream world. Seeing those four characters also evokes something in you; you connect those characters to this place. And we’ll revisit those characters in movie two.

Will Dorothy be a character in “Part Two”?

In the show, Dorothy is around. They have to intersect, and you can only tease it so much. I won’t say if she’s necessarily a character in movie two. There’s a part of me that wants everyone’s Dorothy to be the Dorothy he or she wants. And yet there is interaction and some crossover. So I’ll leave that to ‘Part Two’.

Is it true that MGM owns the copyright to the Yellow Brick Road and the Ruby Slippers? Did you need permission to reference it?

We had boundaries of what we could refer to or not. We never use the ruby ​​slippers. Nessa wears crystal slippers as in Frank L. Baum’s book, Gregory Maguire’s book and the show. I don’t think the phrase “yellow brick road” is written, but the shape of the road certainly is. We couldn’t make the spiral. We had to create a circle that continues to show that this is not where the road ends.

How did you decide where to add new characters and expand the plot?

We’ve gone backwards from ‘Defying Gravity’. What is Elphaba’s superpower? Her superpower is her relationship with nature and gravity. Okay, so then you need to know more about her childhood. We added a scene where she is young. Is it because she is green or because she has this power that everyone is afraid of her? It’s a bit muddy in the show. It must be because of her power And hair green. So then we had to show the power. So when she’s born, everything flies up. She expresses her frustrations and fear through this relationship with gravity. When she is bullied as a child, she does not yet know how to control it.

We also see Glinda telling Elphaba, “I know you were down there” (about her powers), even though everyone believed Madame Morrible. It shows that Glinda is actually smart and aware. She’s not such an idiotic character. Those things were important for character building. You also have to show the passage of time, which is difficult to do in the show and took up space.

When the first footage from the film was released, people on social media said the photos were dark.

Yes. Tell them to turn up the brightness on their phone!

I was curious to hear your reaction because I knew the film is bright and colorful and not necessarily reflective of those photos.

I specifically chose those images. It was so early and we had just started shooting. I wanted images that were evocative and provocative to show that this is not a happy, poppy story. We didn’t even have the effects done. The background was blue. I had to have VFX put in the air. I was coloring it on my iPhone. We don’t do this through a real process. I like to play in the shade, but I had the brightness on my iPhone very high. When I released the photos, literally from my iPhone, I realized, “Oh, not everyone really turns the brightness up that high.” I felt bad for doing that. There was no passage through the studio.

How did you decide how to stage and slow down parts of “Defying Gravity”?

The nightmare of my life is thinking about ‘Defying Gravity’. Things move very quickly in the show. She walks away from the wizard and says, “I hope you’re happy.” It happens so quickly that it doesn’t feel like the end of the movie and it doesn’t feel earned. Her entire journey leads here. Doing it live was helpful. I didn’t know how long it would take for them to implement these rules. We cannot add more words to ‘Defying Gravity’. So what if she thinks she’s ready to fly, but she’s not, and she falls? That changed things for us.

It was very scary. The whole time I was thinking, “Okay, we’ll test this and see how offended people are by it.” We definitely worked it into not spreading it So a lot of. My own brain said, “I just want to make sure it’s the quick version.” is not really works now.” We made those versions too, and we say, “No, we actually need all of this. This is much bigger than just a song. This is about the end of a film and the journey of a character we invested so much in.”

(Producer) Marc Platt said, “Wow, you’re really destroying the song….” We had those moments. We pumped up the tires the whole time. There was no stone left unturned, not one thing we didn’t question because we knew how important this was. That’s why it kept me awake at night.

Is there a song that you felt benefited from going from stage to screen?

‘Something Bad’ is hard to do on stage. It’s in the classroom and Dr. Dillamond has nothing to do. So the idea that they had a secret meeting with all these animals, and that the animals were not upright, creepy human animals, but actually animals, helps us empathize with them more. There is a community that is affected by this, and they keep a secret record of all these incidents that are happening. Oz has a darker underbelly.

Marketing for ‘Wicked’ has been next level. How will you maintain the momentum for “Part Two” in November 2025?

I don’t know, but “Part Two,” I’ll say because I cut “Part Two” together, is a doozy. You get the meat. I didn’t know the context of where we would be in society now. It becomes eight times more relevant than before when you talk about the truth and the consequences of making right or wrong choices. It’s intense.