Ariana Grande expands on her comment about Wicked’s Glinda being a ‘little queer’
Ariana Grande has addressed her comments about her Wicked character Glinda being “a little queer”. (Getty)
Wicked actress and singer Ariana Grande has expanded on her comment about her character Glinda being “a little queer” after fans suggested the witch was “queer-coded”.
Jon M. Chu’s movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked was released in theatres in November 2024 to glowing reviews.
The film follows the main characters, Glinda (Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Ervivo), after they meet at Shiz University and share a room. Though the pair dislike each other at first, they develop a friendship and ultimately meet the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
After fans previously reflected on their relationship, which some onlookers speculated could be more than platonic, Grande told Gay Times that her character “might be a little in the closet”.
In a new interview, however, the star elaborated that her character’s “love” for others “goes beyond gender”.
“I think she’s a person who loves so much, and I do think that it goes beyond gender, and I think that’s a common theme in Oz,” she told Variety on 2 January 2025. I also think that the ways in which she loves Elphaba so much, and that forgiveness and that unconditional love that they share — I think they’re in love with each other. I know, yes, it’s platonic …”
“But we’ll talk about it more in-depth in movie two.”
Of course, if the original 1995 book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire is anything to go by, then the two witches are suggested to be more than just “two best friends”.
When asked about the sapphic tension between the characters and whether that was intentional, Maguire previously said to Them: “That was intentional, and it was modest and restrained and refined in such a way that one could imagine that one of those two young women had felt more than the other and had not wanted to say it.”
Wicked: Part One is out now in cinemas. Wicked: For Good is set to hit cinemas on 21 November 2025.
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