There’s no place like Universal’s home network. Oscar-nominated stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are set to lead a one-time-only live Wicked special that will air Thursday, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, the network announced Wednesday. Peacock will stream the two-hour Wicked event special starting Nov. 7, two weeks before new movie Wicked: For Good flies into theaters on Nov. 21.
First announced at the NBCU Upfront presentation in May, NBC’s Wicked special will see Erivo and Grande joined by their co-stars and other surprise guests to perform songs from 2024’s Wicked “and maybe, just maybe, a little bit from the upcoming” Wicked: For Good, according to a press release.
Alongside Erivo as green-skinned witch Elphaba Thropp and Grande as Shiz University’s most popular student, Galinda/Glinda, 2024’s Wicked stars Jonathan Bailey as the Winkie Country Prince Fiyero, Ethan Slater as the Munchkin Boq, Peter Dinklage as the voice of goat professor Dr. Dillamond, Michelle Yeoh as Shiz U’s Dean of Sorcery Studies Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Director Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Tony Award-winning 2003 stage musical — itself based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West — grossed more than $750 million at the worldwide box office, becoming the biggest Broadway musical adaptation of all time when it released last November. The film went on to become Universal’s biggest PVOD title of all time and Peacock’s biggest Pay 1 streaming launch ever.
Ben Winston, Emmy Award-winning producer of the Grammy Awards and The Late Late Show with James Corden, is executive producing for Fulwell Entertainment (An Evening with Elton John and Brandi Carlile). Raj Kapoor (The Oscars, An Evening with Dua Lipa) also serves as executive producer.
When it makes its way to Peacock, the Wicked special will join a lineup of content that includes a sing-along version of the film, the Making Wicked documentary special, the musical-focused Wicked: The Real Story, the Wicked: On Set with Jon Chu docu-mini special, and Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked, a 42-minute behind-the-scenes special celebrating the first installment of Chu’s two-part film adaptation.
In Wicked: For Good, Elphaba (Erivo), now demonized as The Wicked Witch of the West, lives in exile, hidden within the Ozian forest while continuing her fight for the freedom of Oz’s silenced Animals and desperately trying to expose the truth she knows about The Wizard (Goldblum). Glinda, meanwhile, has become the glamorous symbol of Goodness for all of Oz, living at the palace in Emerald City and reveling in the perks of fame and popularity. Under the instruction of Madame Morrible (Yeoh), Glinda is deployed to serve as an effervescent comfort to Oz, reassuring the masses that all is well under the rule of The Wizard.
As Glinda’s stardom expands and she prepares to marry Prince Fiyero Tigelaar (Bailey) in a spectacular Ozian wedding, she is haunted by her separation from Elphaba. The Good Witch attempts to broker a conciliation between Elphaba and The Wizard, but those efforts will fail, driving Elphaba and Glinda only further apart. The aftershocks will transform Boq (Slater) and Fiyero forever, and threaten the safety of Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), when a girl from Kansas comes crashing into all their lives.
As an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, Glinda and Elphaba will need to come together one final time. With their singular friendship now the fulcrum of their futures, they will need to truly see each other, with honesty and empathy, if they are to change themselves, and all of Oz, for good. Wicked 2 opens only in theaters November 21.
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