Every Wizard Of Oz Character Who Appears In Wicked

The two-part movie adaptation of the smash hit Broadway musical Wicked features many characters from L. Frank Baum’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which became Judy Garland’s famous 1939 movie. Wicked tells the story of Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo in the movie), a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West, long before Dorothy arrives in Oz. Gregory Maguire’s novel upon which the musical is based illustrates the complex politics of power and perception in Oz that lead to Elphaba being labeled as its villain, despite her close friendship with Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande).

The Wicked movie faces many challenges, namely living up to such a beloved musical. However, the Wicked movie’s cast includes actors of unrivaled talent who will be able to create versions of the original Wizard of Oz characters that are just as complex and intriguing. Wicked includes several twists and turns that lead to the return of characters such as Dorothy and her traveling friends, revealing new details about their individual stories and motivations.

8 Elphaba/Wicked Witch Of The West

Elphaba is the protagonist of Wicked.

Eventually, Elphaba feels that she has no choice but to be the Wicked Witch they want her to be.

The Wicked Witch of the West serves as the main villain of The Wizard of Oz, in which she is a flat character. The Wizard of Oz’s movie’s iteration of the Wicked Witch is motivated by a desire to reclaim her dead sister’s ruby slippers and is willing to murder to achieve this. Other characters warn Dorothy away from her, but they never go into detail about what she has done to become the terror of Oz. In contrast, Wicked reframes all the Wicked Witch’s actions throughout Wizard of Oz.

Oz’s government calls Elphaba wicked to protect the Wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) reputation when she discovers that he has no magical powers. Before this, her only crime was stealing a spell book from the Wizard, while gossip and propaganda spread the word of her supposed evil deeds. Eventually, Elphaba feels that she has no choice but to be the Wicked Witch they want her to be. She becomes enraged and desperate enough to imprison Dorothy and threatens to kill her if she does not surrender the slippers that are silver in the Wicked movie.

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7 Glinda The Good

Glinda becomes Elphaba’s best friend at school.

In Wizard of Oz, Glinda the Good Witch is a kind guiding figure to Dorothy who sends her down the yellow brick road to see the Wizard and, in the end, tells her how to get home. The movie depicts her as having no relationship with the Wicked Witch. In Wicked, Glinda and Elphaba’s friendship begins when they both attend Shiz University. While they initially detest each other and have drastically different ideologies, they become best friends. This relationship is further complicated when they fall for the same man.

Glinda knows that the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) are tarnishing Elphaba’s reputation unjustly. Glinda and Elphaba part ways during “Defying Gravity” because Glinda does not want to become a fugitive as well and stays behind, which Elphaba respects. Glinda is a nuanced figure in Wicked because she knows the truth but still enjoys Oz’s adoration. She serves as a kind of narrator — posing questions like “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” — and eventually stands up to the Wizard and banishes him from Oz.

6 Nessarose/Wicked Witch Of The East

Nessa is Elphaba’s younger sister who rules Munchkinland.

Nessarose “Nessa” is Elphaba’s younger sister who becomes the Wicked Witch of the East. Her role is brief in Wizard of Oz, as she is killed by Dorothy’s house landing in Oz. In Wicked, Nessa and Elphaba’s father blames Elphaba for Nessa needing to use a wheelchair: To prevent Nessa from also being born with green skin, he forced their mother to eat flowers while pregnant, which caused Nessa to be born prematurely. He never shows Elphaba any affection and favors Nessa, gifting her the famous slippers when he drops his daughters off at Shiz.

Nessarose’s slippers are eventually enchanted to help her walk. That’s why they hold magic Dorothy can use later.

After school, Nessa returns home and inherits her father’s position of governor of Munchkinland. She becomes the Wicked Witch of the East through her sense of entitlement. She hates and refuses to help Elphaba and refuses to accept that the Munchkin Boq (Ethan Slater) never loved her. Nessa’s spoiled attitude has disastrous consequences, and her ultimate fate contributes to Elphaba’s feelings that she cannot do anything right.

5 Fiyero/Scarecrow

Prince Fiyero ends up in a love triangle with Elphaba and Glinda.

Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is a renegade prince who also attends Shiz. He has been kicked out of several schools previously and turns Shiz on its head with his laissez-faire party philosophy. Fiyero and Glinda almost immediately get together based on being the two most popular people in school. However, Elphaba gets to know Fiyero and discovers his more thoughtful side, and falls in love with him. She believes that he will never return these feelings and is destined to be with Glinda, feelings she expresses in the song “I’m Not That Girl.”

Elphaba and Fiyero’s relationship changes after Elphaba has spent some time on the run and Fiyero is more angered by the Wizard’s lies than Glinda. Fiyero ultimately recognizes his feelings for Elphaba and runs away with her. He is later arrested for aiding her and Elphaba attempts to save his life with an incantation, singing “Let his bones never break / And however they try / To destroy him / Let him never die” during the song “No Good Deed.” She inadvertently turns him into the Scarecrow who travels with Dorothy, and they are reunited at the end of the show.

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4 Boq/Tin Man

Boq is a Munchkin who attends school with the rest of the cast.

Boq is a Munchkin who also attends Shiz, and is immediately smitten with Glinda. Glinda, only interested in Fiyero, suggests that it would impress her if Boq invited Nessa to an upcoming dance instead. This leads to Nessa’s long-standing, unrequited love for Boq. After school, Boq also returns to Munchkinland and serves Nessa. It is implied that she becomes a tyrannical leader but still tries to maintain a friendly relationship with Boq, but he keeps her at arm’s length.

When Glinda becomes engaged to Fiyero, Boq tells Nessa of his intentions to leave to profess his love for her. This angers Nessa, who casts a spell to make Boq fall in love with her but accidentally causes his heart to start shrinking. Elphaba does what she can to save Boq’s life and is forced to turn him into the Tin Man. This incident is supposedly why he has no heart. Nessa blames this turn of events on Elphaba, and Boq is later seen leading a mob against Elphaba, proclaiming that he is seeking revenge.

3 The Cowardly Lion

The Cowardly Lion has a brief cameo in Wicked.

A subplot of Wicked is Elphaba’s concerns about the anthropomorphic animal citizens of Oz losing their ability to speak, which she learns about from her Shiz professor Dr. Dillamond, a humanoid goat. Dillamond is eventually taken away from his job and is replaced by a cruel teacher who brings a caged lion cub to class. Elphaba rescues the lion and presumably sets it free, and it goes on to become Dorothy’s Cowardly Lion.

When Boq is rallying the mob, he tells them of the Lion that “If she’d [Elphaba] let him fight his own battles when he was young / He wouldn’t be a coward today.” While this is a contrived origin story and reason for anyone to pursue revenge against Elphaba, it would be odd if the Scarecrow and Tin Man were referenced in the show and not the lion. It is also possible that the Lion will have a different backstory in the movie, since the Wicked trailer suggests Dorothy’s arc will change.

2 The Wizard Of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard is a complex figure in Wicked.

The Wizard is not necessarily characterized as malevolent. He tells Elphaba he stepped up as Oz’s leader because the people desperately wanted someone to believe in.

Like in most versions of the story, the Wizard of Oz came from the real world to Oz and rose to become the kingdom’s ruler. However, in Wicked, Elphaba is appalled when she discovers this. She previously idolized the Wizard because of his supposed power and believed he was the key to helping the animals of Oz. When Elphaba arrives at Shiz and demonstrates natural magical talent, Madame Morrible volunteers to teach her and says that the Wizard will want to meet Elphaba — as he needs a real sorcerer to help hide the truth.

However, the Wizard is not necessarily characterized as malevolent. He tells Elphaba he stepped up as Oz’s leader because the people desperately wanted someone to believe in. He also emphasizes the show’s themes of perception and labels during the song “Wonderful.” He sings: “A man’s called a traitor or liberator / A rich man’s a thief or philanthropist / Is one a crusader or ruthless invader? / It’s all in which label is able to persist.” This song comprises an underrated but impactful moment in Wicked.

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1 Dorothy Gale

Dorothy has a small role in Wicked, but this could change.

In the Wicked Broadway musical, Dorothy is only heard crying offstage when she is imprisoned by Elphaba and a silhouette of her is seen tossing a bucket of water to melt Elphaba. However, the fact that Dorothy appears in the Wicked trailer at all is telling because she is not supposed to be in the first act of the show. The movie could plausibly open with a prologue of a recreation of the scene where Dorothy and her friends meet the Wizard.

Dorothy doesn’t contribute that much to the story thematically, but this could change in the Wicked movie. Dorothy sees Oz as an idealistic fantasy, starkly contrasting with how Elphaba sees her home. Elphaba imprisoning Dorothy illustrates how far she has been pushed into villainy, a moment which could be elaborated upon. Continuing to reimagine and reframe all the characters from The Wizard of Oz will make for an entertaining and nuanced story.

Wicked vs. Wizard Of Oz: Which Has The Better Characters?

Custom Image by Yailin Chacon

The Characters of Wizard of Oz are iconic because of the movie’s place in pop culture history. The characters in the movie, of course, are inspired by the characters in L. Frank Baum’s novels, but aren’t quite as fleshed out as the characters in the book series. In Wicked, the characters have the chance to have a more developed backstory. In Wicked, both the Gregory Maguire book and the Broadway musical, some of the character appearances are more like Easter eggs than fully formed characters. Elphaba, Glinda, and even the wizard, however, are great examples of how the characters can be explored.

…characters are given much more depth, making the
Wicked
characters better.

The Wicked Witch of the West has long been a caricature of the evil witch in pop culture. How she becomes that way is what Wicked explores – not to mention whether she’s ever really evil at all. Glinda is seen as the epitome of good in Wizard of Oz, but no one person is perfect, so Wicked allows the audience to see the darker parts of her. Here, the wizard isn’t just the charlatan he appears to be in Wizard of Oz, but someone who is focused on holding on to his power over the people. All three of the characters are given much more depth, making the Wicked characters better.

Ultimately, fans of either property are going to prefer one version of the characters over the other. Without Wizard of Oz, the audience wouldn’t have a reference point for who the characters become in Wicked. Without Wicked, the audience wouldn’t get to see how experience and outside perception could shape the characters they know.

Wicked PGAdventureFantasyMusical
Wicked adapts the Broadway musical into a two-part film, following the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, born with green skin, and Glinda, a popular aristocrat, in the Land of Oz. As they navigate their contrasting paths, they evolve into Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Director Jon M. Chu Release Date November 22, 2024 Writers Gregory Maguire , Winnie Holzman , Dana Fox , L. Frank Baum Cast Cynthia Erivo , Ariana Grande , Michelle Yeoh , Jeff Goldblum , Jonathan Bailey , Ethan Slater , Marissa Bode , Bowen Yang , Bronwyn James , Keala Settle , Peter Dinklage , Aaron Teoh , Grecia De la Paz , Colin Michael Carmichael , Adam James , Andy Nyman , Courtney Mae-Briggs , Sharon D. Clarke , Jenna Boyd Expand
Wicked: Part Two Not Yet RatedDramaFantasyMusical
Wicked: Part Two is the sequel to the 2024 film adaptation of the popular Broadway stage musical. The film explores the origins of the Wicked Witch of the West, known as Elphaba, as the world of Oz is told from a brand new perspective.

Director Jon M. Chu Release Date November 26, 2025 Writers Winnie Holzman , Gregory Maguire Cast Ariana Grande , Cynthia Erivo , Jonathan Bailey , Ethan Slater , Marissa Bode
The Wizard of Oz PGMusicalFantasyFamilyAdventure
Based on Frank L. Baum’s book of the same name, The Wizard of Oz follows young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) as she’s swept away to the magical land of Oz. Upon arriving, she falls afoul of a witch, then enlists the help of a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion in order to find the Wizard and get home to her family.

Director Victor Fleming Release Date August 25, 1939 Writers Florence Ryerson , Noel Langley , Edgar Allan Woolf Cast Margaret Hamilton , Jack Haley , Judy Garland , Bert Lahr , Ray Bolger