Wins or no wins, the cast of Wicked were feeling as wonderful as the Wizard of Oz himself at the 2025 SAG Awards.
Most of the principal stars of the movie musical adaptation stepped out to celebrate the film’s success at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall red carpet in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 23. Wicked led this year’s film nominations with a total of five, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.
Cynthia Erivo scored a nod for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her role as Elphaba, while her costar Ariana Grande was up for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for her role as Glinda. Jonathan Bailey, who played Fiyero, rounded out the cast’s nominations in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role category.
While many of the cast and director Jon M. Chu celebrated the film during Sunday’s ceremony, Wicked ultimately ended the night with a total of zero wins. The film lost Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture to the cast of Conclave Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture to The Fall Guy. Erivo, Grande and Bailey — the latter of whom did not attend — lost in their acting categories to the likes of Demi Moore, Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin, respectively.
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Wicked, which hit theaters in November 2024, is an adaptation of the long-running 2003 Broadway musical; the show itself was based on the 1995 book of the same name by Gregory Maguire, which serves as an imagined prequel to L. Frank Baum‘s The Wizard of Oz and the classic 1939 film.
Wicked tells the backstory of green-skinned Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and Galinda, the future Glinda the Good Witch, during their time as students at Shiz University. After starting as rival roommates, the two turn into unlikely friends as Elphaba’s magical abilities catch the attention of The Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
While Wicked follows the events of the stage show’s first act, the upcoming sequel, Wicked: For Good, will follow Act 2. Like the original show, the story is expected to pick up with Elphaba helping the persecuted animals of Oz in secret after fleeing the Emerald City. Glinda, meanwhile, finds herself on the opposing side of her best friend as she becomes a figurehead for The Wizard.
“Wicked 2 is definitely a lot darker in a lot of ways,” Marissa Bode, who plays Elphaba’s younger sister, Nessarose, exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this year. “So, I’m excited for that aspect of it.”
She added, “There’s a time jump for sure, and I’m excited to see visually – because I haven’t really seen any of the footage yet – how the characters have changed for good or maybe not for good.”
Erivo, 38, previously defended splitting Wicked into two parts for the big screen. “What’s wonderful about the show is that you get an insight into why this woman becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, but you have only three hours to do it in. With us, you have two movies,” she told Entertainment Weekly in February 2024. “In this first movie, you get to really get to know [Elphaba] as a young lady and what pushes her to the thing that we get to know. The story gets to be opened. You really get to experience magic, and we can do that.”
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Erivo also said doing two movies instead of one allowed for Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship to be explored more than it is on Broadway. “We’ve expanded on their relationship as friends. That’s a really important special thing that you have in the show, but here you really get to go with them in that,” she explained. “We’ve got something really special.”
Wicked will begin streaming on Peacock Friday, March 21. Wicked: For Good hits theaters on Friday, November 21.
