Wicked was days from wrapping shooting when the strike began, per director Jon M. Chu
Director Jon M. Chu said it was "very painful" to pause the production so close to the end. In the interim, new shots have been released of the abandoned set.
The green lights have been shut off in the Emerald City—at least for now.
Wicked movie director Jon M. Chu proved that no good deed goes unpunished today. In an Instagram story and subsequent Tweet, Chu voiced his support for the SAG-AFTRA strike, while also acknowledging the “very painful” reality of being forced to halt production “only a few days away from being done.”
“It’s been very painful to put a halt to it all but we will be back! And we will finish properly strong when the time is right,” Chu said in his message.
Per BroadwayWorld, the shoot had approximately 10 days remaining (for Wicked Part 1, that is), with only the song “One Short Day” left to film. Fans of the musical, however, will know that this particular number—which marks Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda’s (Ariana Grande) first very glittery, very green look at the Ozian capital—is less “song” and more “entire scene with costume changes and a break for a puppet show” so it’s a good thing the production didn’t try to rush through it and try to tie a bow on the whole thing.
Chu continued in his post: “My heart goes out to our cast and crew who were cut short of what we came here to complete together. More to come but in the meantime I’m excited to excavate what we have shot for the past year here in Oz (release date [November 27, 2024] shouldn’t be affected). It has been an extraordinary adventure… more to do.”
In his Instagram story, Chu also voiced his support for actors on the picket lines after sending some love to a few tagged members of the cast: “And our other beloved SAG members who are fighting for a fair deal! We stand with you,” he said.
Here’s what the Wicked set looks like now
In a bit of trickery worthy of the wizard himself, the shutdown has actually given us some of our clearest photos of the set so far.
The first two photos depict what is clearly—and quite gorgeously—Munchkinland, the site of what will eventually be first song in the film, “No One Mourns The Wicked,” sung by Ariana Grande’s Glinda. (Assuming Chu doesn’t decide to shuffle things around—fingers crossed.) We’ve already seen a little sneak peak of this particular set in the viral drone footage shared a few months ago of Grande in her pink Glinda ball gown, but now we also have a better look at the village itself—complete Elphaba’s broom (!) if you look just right of center in the shot and, of course, the yellow brick road snaking through it all.
The second, zoomed-out shot mostly serves to give a real sense of scale to this thing (two whole movies’ worth!) but also includes a potential easter egg in the bottom left corner. Is that… the ruins of Dorothy’s house? Unclear, but Wicked, per its tagline, is famously the story of Oz “before Dorothy dropped in” so to incorporate the original heroine fully into the story would be a pretty major change from the original plot.
The third shot is less clear, but it could be one of the halls of dear old Shiz, the prep school where Elphaba and Galinda first discover their unadulterated loathing for one another. The rest is history—but we’ll still have to wait until part 2 drops on November 26, 2025 to learn the whole story, unfortunately. That is if the timeline actually does stay on track.