Twitter is Going Crazy Over Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's Wicked Casting

Move over Timothée Chalamet’s Willy Wonka, because there’s another musical prequel that just rolled into town. Universal Studios has announced the two women who will star in the long-awaited film adaption of the smash-hit Broadway musical, Wicked—Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda.

The adaption of Wicked has been in the works since 2004, just a year after the musical debuted on Broadway. Previously the movie was supposed to premiere this December, but the pandemic significantly delayed the production. In February, Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights’ Jon M. Chu signed on to direct.

Just like with every casting announcement, people have thoughts, but considering Wicked is the second-highest-grossing musical of all time (behind only The Lion King), this news seemed even more impactful and Twitter quickly exploded like it tends to do with opinions, jokes, and suggestions for the rest of the cast.

Of course, many of the expected jokes were made of Grande inserting her famous “yuhs” into the now-iconic lyrics from the musical.

There was also a lot of talk about Grande’s longtime desire to portray Glinda in Wicked. Fans found an interview from 2013 where she discusses her dream of doing so. Grande also recently chose Kristin Chenoweth—who originated the role—as her team mentor on The Voice, where Grande is currently a judge.

And then, of course, there was Grande interpolation of Wicked’s “Popular” in her 2013 song with MIKA, “Popular Song,” which got brought up.

Considering the two main characters have been cast, many moved on to the other roles, and yes, everyone had thoughts.

All around, Twitter has pretty much been on fire over the past few hours due to this announcement, and it’s only the beginning. Filming for the movie begins in the UK this summer, so get ready for 24-hour coverage from that set.