Lady Gaga and Shawn Mendes were nearly cast in Wicked, it has been revealed – find out more below.
Wicked – which arrives in cinemas this week (November 22) – stars Ariana Grande as Glinda, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero. However, according to a Page Six report, that wasn’t always the case.
Per an anonymous source, Wicked – now helmed by Jon M. Chu – was originally set to be directed by Stephen Daldry. Before finally exiting the film in 2020 due to scheduling conflicts, Daldry had a completely different cast in mind for two of its major roles.
Daldry’s version would’ve like featured Lady Gaga as Elphaba and Shawn Mendes as Fiyero. Page Six‘s source claims Daldry and Gaga had met several times to discuss her role, and that she “was essentially cast in his version” before it fell through.
Since Daldry’s exit from the film, Gaga turned her focus to Todd Philipps’ less-than-favoured Joker sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. While her performance was praised, the film has been received poorly and performed much worse than expected at the box office.
She most recently released ‘Disease’, the first single off her upcoming album, was announced to join the cast of Wednesday season two and just hours ago was announced as one of the headliners for Coachella 2025.
In a four-star review of Wicked, Nick Levine wrote for NME: “By the end, you won’t quite be levitating off your seat but you’ll definitely be enchanted enough to stream the soundtrack on the way home. Funny, colourful and full of empathy for outsiders, this film really is the Shiz.”