Wicked star Bowen Yang teases ‘bisexual energy’ in upcoming film
Bowen Yang will be playing Pfannee in Wicked. (Getty)
Bowen Yang, who will be starring in the upcoming musical film Wicked, has teased the “unspoken bisexual energy” in Fiyero’s character.
Speaking on the Las Culturistas podcast, hosted by Yang and his Fire Island co-star Matt Rogers, he gave some insight into the highly anticipated movie and Fiyero’s character as played by Jonathan Bailey.
“I’m not going to spoil it. [Bailey] gives an unspoken bisexual energy to Fiyero in the movie. It’s incredible,” Yang said after Rogers pointed out the Bridgerton star’s “tushy” character poster for Wicked.
Wicked follows the “untold story” of Elphaba, a powerful witch who is discriminated against due to her green skin, and her friendship with Galinda, a blonde woman who has never known anything other than privilege.
The two battle against difficult expectations after meeting at university. Their friendship gets complicated after they both appear to be interested romantically in Fiyero while they also deal with an insidious plot that could change their world forever.
Yang will be playing the character Pfannee – a university students – alongside Bailey as Fiyero, Ariana Grande as Galinda, and Cynthia Ervivo as Elphaba.
Yang also suggested that his character and Fiyero “might have a moment” in the film but wouldn’t elaborate on what that might look like.
Several details about Wicked has come out in recent months as the cast and the marketing department are ramping up their efforts to spread the word before its November 22 release.
In fact, this isn’t even the first time Yang himself has opened up about his character in Wicked and the movie as a whole.
During another episode of Yang’s podcast released in February, he said that he was showing his range by playing Pfannee as the character is both gay and “a hater”.
“I’m playing a hater for the first time. He’s not just any gay guy – Pfannee is a hater. This guy sucks! Frankly, he’s racist. He sees a green person (Elphaba) and he goes, ‘I’m gonna f***ing ruin that person’s life,” Yang said.
He also spoke about how he and director Jon M. Chu collaborated in depth on the characterisation so that Pfannee would shine on screen, with Yang adding: “I think we arrived at something really interesting. I can’t wait for you guys to see.”
Part 1 of Wicked is in UK theatres on November 24.
