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We May Know Who's Going To Play Elphaba In The Upcoming "Wicked" Movie

Don't get too excited, though – the movie doesn't come out until late 2019.

Ellie Bate
by Ellie Bate

BuzzFeed Staff

It's been almost a year since it was announced that Universal's long-awaited adaptation of the musical Wicked will be released in December 2019, and theatre nerds everywhere rejoiced.

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But, of course, everyone wanted to know one thing: Who will be playing the show's iconic main characters, Elphaba and Glinda, originally played by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth?

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The obvious choice for Elphaba was Idina, reigning queen of Broadway and also of Frozen, but apparently she's been told that she's ~too old~.

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"I'm not casting anybody but myself," she said on Watch What Happens Live in January, when asked who she'd cast as Elphaba in the movie. "I'm kidding! No, I'm not really kidding. No, they've told us – Kristin [Chenoweth] and I – that we're 'long in the tooth' a little bit. But I don't know who I would choose."

But now we may have an idea of who will play the Wicked Witch of the West. According to The Sun, ex-Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger is in talks with Universal to take the role.

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Nicole is no stranger to the world of musicals. She earned an Olivier nomination for her role as Grizabella in Cats in 2015, and appeared in Disney's Moana last year.

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She's also worked closely with Andrew Lloyd Webber in the past, and has performed versions of "Love Never Dies" and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina".

BuzzFeed has reached out to Universal Studios for comment on the casting.