1.
Lady Gaga was reportedly the first choice to play Elphaba in a 2016 version of the film directed by Stephen Daldry. A source told Page Six, “They had meetings, the two of them, about the character and who she would be. [Gaga] was essentially cast in his version, and then it fell through.” Then, in 2020 Stephen departed from the project due to scheduling conflicts.
3.
Amanda Seyfried shared that she auditioned to play Glinda. At the same time, she was filming her Hulu miniseries, The Dropout, for which she won an Emmy. “I have dreams that I’m still auditioning for Wicked,” she said.
4.
Dove Cameron revealed that the Wicked audition process was “one of the longer processes” she’s been through. She didn’t explicitly say which role she auditioned for, but has said in the past that Glinda was the “role of a lifetime.”
5.
Cristin Milioti revealed that she auditioned for Elphaba. She had two weeks to prepare and was obsessing over the ending riff in “Defying Gravity” the entire time. When it came time to sing it at her audition, she said, “I opened my mouth wide, I took a deep breath. The sound that escaped me is something I will hear on my deathbed.”
6.
Phylicia Pearl Mpasi revealed that she auditioned for the movie. In a YouTube video posted to her channel, she tearfully spoke about how this movie made her feel seen as a Black woman and hopes it can do the same for other young women. “I’m acting like I’m in it, and I’m not,” she said. “I did audition, didn’t get it. It’s fine, Cynthia’s going to be, oh she’s going to be stellar.”
7.
Nick Jonas auditioned for Fiyero and added that he was actually in the running alongside his brother Joe. “We’ve never talked about this publicly, but we both auditioned for the same role — Joe and I,” Nick said. “It was for Wicked, actually.”
8.
Joe Jonas said that it was weird auditioning against his brother but in the end he wanted one of them to be cast. He said he told Nick, “Go in there and kill it. It has to be one of us.”
9.
Renée Rapp revealed that she auditioned to play Glinda. “Ariana’s gonna be — can I cuss? — She’s gonna be fucking amazing. I’m so excited,” she said on Watch What Happens Live.
10.
Ryan McCartan auditioned to play Fiyero. He previously played the role on Broadway in the show’s 15-anniversary cast. On The Stage Door podcast, he said, “Jon [M. Chu], you didn’t cast me in the movie, even though I worked so hard. That’s fine, no hard feelings. Confirmed I did audition… One of the many, many things I haven’t booked.”
11.
Spencer Sutherland confirmed he got a “double callback” to play Fiyero. “I thought it was a great audition,” he said. “When I got a couple of callbacks, I was like, ‘Oh shit, this is real.'” He said he didn’t know how many other actors were also being considered at the time.
12.
Mean Girls star Taylor Louderman auditioned for the movie and took to Instagram when the casting news finally became public. “yyyy did I even audition or think I had a chance?!” she wrote on her IG story, alongside a screenshot of the Deadline casting announcement. She later shared a candid selfie with text saying, “This business…you can’t care too much about any role you’re auditioning for (or you could get hurt & won’t come back) but you have to care enough to give it your all. I cared too much this time. I hope its okay that I’m sharing this.”
13.
Finally, Ariana Grande was obviously cast as Glinda in the movie, but she also auditioned to play Elphaba. She explained that she sang for both roles in her audition but “secretly knew” she was a better fit for Glinda.