Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Talk WICKED Friendship: 'We Needed to Lead This With Love'

Since working together on the set of Wicked, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo became fast friends. The duo- playing Glinda and Elphaba in the two-part adaptation- are the cover story in the October edition of Vanity Fair. In the piece, they revealed that they made it a priority to not repeat the alleged rivalry that occurred between Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in the original Broadway production.

“We communicated like the f*cking champions of communication of the world,” Grande told Vanity Fair. “I’m so grateful for it because we kind of looked at this and we said, ‘Oh, that’s not an option. That’s not going to happen to us,’ ” she said, referring to any kind of possible feud.

"We needed real connection, and we needed to lead this with love—even in the moments that are supposed to be fraught with tension within the piece,” Erivo said about their real-life relationship. 

Despite their positive approach to the material, certain moments were more difficult to film than others. One such scene was the Ozdust Ballroom sequence, where Erivo's Elphaba is publicly humiliated by the students of Shiz University when given her characteristic black hat. 

"It’s just not a fun thing—if you are doing it as truthfully as possible—to have to do over and over again,” Erivo said, adding that she "had a big old breakdown" when filming that scene in particular. "There are days when she [Grande] is gonna need space, and there are days when I’m gonna need space. But because we love each other very dearly, it’s okay.”

"We both really took the time to get to know the other person and where we’ve been. What our little wounds are. What our little things are," Grande confirmed.

About WICKED

The Wicked film adaptation stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. Joining them is Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard. 

Marissa Bode will portray Nessarose, Elphaba's younger sister. The cast of characters also includes Pfannee and ShenShen, two conniving compatriots of Glinda played by Emmy nominee Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live) and Bronwyn James (Harlots), and a new character created for the film, Miss Coddle, played by Tony nominee Keala Settle (The Greatest Showman). Aaron Teoh joins as Avaric with Michael Carmichael as Nikidik. Emmy-Winner Peter Dinklage is set to play Dr. Dillamond in the film.

Part One of the film will be released on November 22, 2024, with the second part hitting theaters on November 21, 2025. Pre-save the official soundtrack here. Also, be sure to check out BroadwayWorld's comprehensive guide to the Wicked movie!