Cynthia Erivo has said that she was definitely changed for the better after working with Ariana Grande on Wicked, and in a new interview, the Tony winner hinted that she wouldn’t have necessarily felt the same if anyone else had gotten the pop star’s role in the films.
When the two costars — who play Elphaba and Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s upcoming film adaptations of the Broadway musical, which was based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name — were asked by The New York Times to share their initial reactions to each other’s casting in the project, Erivo was frank.
“Absolutely no surprise whatsoever,” the Harriet star recalled of learning Grande had nabbed the part of Glinda in the joint interview published Wednesday (Nov. 6). “Thank goodness, because it was not the two ladies that I was auditioning with.”
In reaction to Erivo’s subtle shade, the “We Can’t Be Friends” musician replied, “Oh my God!”
Grande also shared her reaction to the “I Might Be in Love With You” artist landing Elphaba in the films, the first of which arrives Nov. 22. “I said, ‘Thank God,’” she revealed.
News that Erivo and the two-time Grammy winner had been cast in Wicked arrived in November 2021. At the time, the duo sent each other congratulatory flowers, with the Pinocchio star writing in a note to Grande, “Congratulations Miss A, The Part Was Made For You, I Look Forward To Sharing This Musical Journey With You.”
The leading ladies went on to work on the duology for two years in London alongside cast members Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang and Marissa Bode. A year after Wicked part one arrives at the end of the month, the second installment will hit theaters in November 2025.
Grande has previously been open about the intensive audition process for Wicked, for which she recently said she had to “erase” her public persona in a recent interview on the Sentimental Men podcast. “People sometimes say to me, ‘You had to audition?’ Of course, are you out of your gourd?” she continued on the Nov. 1 episode. “It’s Wicked! And it requires a totally different skill set than people know me for and have ever seen me do anything like.”
While speaking to NYT, Grande echoed those remarks. “Some members of my team at the time were like, ‘You shouldn’t even have to audition,’ and I was like, ‘You don’t understand, of course I have to. This is something that has to be earned,’” she told the paper. “I have so much to prove, and I threw myself at it in every way that I could.”
