Why Cynthia Erivo Is Missing the 2026 Golden Globes

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Cynthia Erivo has taken her broom across the pond.

As a lifestyle expert, I’m hearing that Cynthia Erivo, the incredibly talented star of Wicked: For Good, won’t be walking the Golden Globes red carpet in Beverly Hills next January. She’s fully immersed in preparing for a really exciting one-woman show she’s doing in London, and that’s taking all of her focus right now. It’s a shame we won’t see her there, but I’m thrilled she’s dedicating herself to this new project!

According to TopMob News, Cynthia won’t be attending the award show, where she’s a nominee for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Film. She’s currently busy working on the West End production of Dracula.

The actor, who has been nominated for an Oscar three times, will portray 23 different characters in the play, including the main vampire, as reported by Variety.

Cynthia had just finished her run in the musical ‘Wicked’ in November when the movie sequel came out. It was a role and experience she’ll always remember.

She had previously expressed a heartfelt farewell to her character, Elphaba, explaining that playing her has made her a more emotional person.

She shared on Instagram on November 21st that she could write endlessly – an essay, a poem, even something in the style of Shakespeare – to explain how much this experience meant to her and what she learned from it. She felt overwhelmed by the love she received and wished she could measure it.

She went on to say that she could count the stories she’d been told, but the numbers would be far too low to truly represent the impact, and words just weren’t sufficient to capture it all.

However, Cynthia did her best to try.

She went on, “Just let me say this: come with me, walk alongside me to the very end of this journey. Perhaps the lessons and discoveries I’ve made can become yours as well. Thank you for allowing me to be your Elphaba.”

Cynthia is thankful not only for the memories of Elphaba, but also for the real-life friendship she developed with Ariana Grande, who played Glinda.

Oh my gosh, you guys, Cynthia actually said this! She told Today magazine that she and Beyoncé have this incredible, lasting friendship – she even said they’re basically like sisters now! It’s so sweet! She feels like they’ve both grown so much because of each other, and they’ve given each other these amazing, beautiful things – not just gifts, but support and everything. She said they’ve really taken care of each other, and honestly, it just makes me believe in their bond even more! It’s just… everything!

Here are some of the biggest and most unexpected changes made when adapting the musical into a two-part film series…

Cynthia shared with Today in November that she and her friend have a strong, enduring bond. She described them as being like sisters, explaining that they’ve grown together, learning from and supporting each other over the years.

Here are some of the biggest and most unexpected changes made when adapting the musical into a two-part film series…

The Clock of the Time Dragon, a puppet show featured in the novel Wicked, appears at the beginning of the Broadway musical, but is only briefly referenced in the film adaptation. In the movie, Glinda simply mentions it while telling the people of Oz that Elphaba has died.

Oh my gosh, the movie REALLY filled in the gaps! The stage show hints at how Elphaba came to be, but the film? It shows you her childhood! You actually get to see her growing up, and even witness her powers developing as a little girl. And Dulcibear! They added this amazing talking bear who’s there when she’s born and basically raises her because her dad, the governor, is completely freaked out by her being green. It’s SO heartbreaking, but it explains everything! It finally makes it clear WHY she’s so passionate about protecting animals and their voices – it’s not just some random thing in the story, it’s part of her history! It just adds so much depth to everything I already loved about the musical!

In the Broadway musical, Elphaba is already a student at Shiz University, attending to support her sister, Nessarose. However, in the movie, she initially only accompanies Nessarose to the school. Madame Morrible notices Elphaba’s magical abilities and convinces her to enroll herself. After that, the story follows a similar path: Glinda ends up accidentally volunteering to be Elphaba’s roommate, and the musical explains this happened because of an administrative oversight with the room assignments.

As a huge fan, I’ve always loved Doctor Dillamond! He’s the talking goat and history teacher at Shiz, and he’s the one who really opens the students’ eyes to what’s happening to animals all over Oz. The movie adds a lot more talking animals who seem to be fighting back, which is cool, but you don’t see them in the stage show. The way ‘Something Bad’ is done is different too – on stage, it happens right in Doctor Dillamond’s classroom, but in the film, it’s a more intimate scene between him and Elphaba in his home.

Both the stage musical and the film feature a love triangle involving Glinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero. However, the way Fiyero is introduced and how he first meets Elphaba is different in each version. In the musical, he nearly runs her over with his carriage when he arrives in Shiz with his servant. In the movie, he almost tramples her while horseback riding in the woods near the university, and he jokes that she was hard to see because she blended in with the plants.

When Doctor Dillamond is fired from Shiz, a new professor arrives and demonstrates new animal cages using a distressed lion cub. Elphaba is angered by this. In the stage version, she causes chaos, allowing her and Fiyero to free the cub. The movie version shows Elphaba magically putting everyone to sleep with poppies – a nod to the iconic poppy field scene in the original 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy and her companions fall asleep.

In the movie version of the story, Elphaba’s father appears at the train station and is introduced to Boq by Nessarose. This moment doesn’t happen in the stage musical; her father doesn’t come to see her off.

The film expands on the history of the Grimmerie, an old spellbook written in a language no one in modern Oz understands. While it doesn’t include entirely new songs, a new segment has been added to the song “One Short Day.” The extended cut also deepens the Wizard’s backstory, suggesting he’s the only one who can read the Grimmerie – fulfilling a long-awaited Ozian prophecy. However, it’s later revealed the Wizard can’t actually read the book; Elphaba is the one who possesses that ability.

“One Short Day” underwent the biggest changes from the stage musical to the movie adaptation, and it includes a special treat for fans. The film version features a new performance by original Broadway stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who play characters not found in the stage show. Credited as Wiz-O-Mania Super Stars, they join Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the Emerald City, giving musical theater lovers an extra dose of familiar faces and heartwarming moments.

In both the stage and film versions of Wicked, the Wizard initially impresses Elphaba and Glinda. In the movie, he does this by showcasing a large model of Oz and announcing plans for a road to the Emerald City. He even involves Elphaba and Glinda in choosing the road’s color, which ultimately results in the creation of the iconic Yellow Brick Road.

The main events of the act one finale and the film’s ending remain largely the same, but Elphaba’s big song is longer in the movie. During this song, she has a vision of her younger self, which motivates her to fly away, abandon the Wizard and Glinda, and start a new life. This flashback doesn’t appear in the original stage production.

As a lifestyle expert, I’m thrilled about the upcoming Wicked: For Good! The story jumps right back in where we left off, picking up with twelve key moments after Elphaba – brilliantly played by Cynthia Erivo – famously takes flight. We quickly learn she’s not just flying for the drama; she’s actively working to protect the talking animals of Oz. The movie opens with her trying to halt the construction of the Yellow Brick Road and liberate as many captive creatures as possible – it’s a powerful and compassionate start!

The first new song from the upcoming movie, “Every Day More Wicked,” has been released. It’s a longer version of the song that opens the musical and features the main cast – including Ariana Grande as Glinda and Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible – explaining their characters’ efforts to handle the Wicked Witch of the West.

Similar to the stage show, the movie portrays Glinda as the public face of the Wizard of Oz. We actually see her get her iconic bubble and wand, solidifying her role as the Good Witch. There’s even a flashback to young Glinda receiving a magic wand as a gift and experimenting with her powers. This scene mirrors a previous flashback of young Elphaba, highlighting a key difference: while people were frightened by Elphaba’s powers, Glinda’s friends are delighted when they believe she’s used hers.

Elphaba has a heartwarming reunion with Dulcibear (Sharon D. Clarke) while trying to prevent the talking animals from fleeing Oz. During this scene, she performs a new song from the movie, “There’s No Place Like Home,” where she tries to inspire the animals by reminding them of the beauty and potential of Oz if they all showed kindness and cooperation.

The song “Thank Goodness,” which starts the second act of the stage show, doesn’t appear until later in the movie. Instead, it’s used to mark the completion of the Yellow Brick Road and to celebrate the engagement of Fiyero (played by Jonathan Bailey, who is Captain of the Gale Force in the film) and Glinda. This celebration is disrupted by Elphaba, who, unlike in the musical, crashes the party to warn the people of Oz about the Wizard’s wickedness. She uses her broom to write a message in the sky, similar to the Wicked Witch in the original 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.

The Cowardly Lion, played by Colman Domingo, has a larger part in the movie than he did in the stage show—where only his tail was visible. The film reveals that he was the cub Elphaba and Fiyero saved from Shiz, and now, as an adult, he confronts Elphaba, blaming her for his cowardice because she disrupted his former life.

As a huge fan, I’ve always found it interesting how Nessarose, played by Marissa Bode, becomes the governor of Munchkinland after her and Elphaba’s father, Andy Nyman, passes away. In the movie, Elphaba already knows about this, but in the musical, it’s actually Nessarose who tells her – a small but significant difference that really adds to their complex relationship!

Because she’s still in love with Boq (played by Ethan Slater), she’s made him her servant, hoping he’ll eventually reciprocate her feelings. In the film, she tells Boq he’s free to go after Glinda, whom he still loves, but he soon discovers a new rule: Munchkins now require travel permits, preventing his departure.

He goes back to Nessarose just before Elphaba arrives, seeking her sister’s assistance. Through new lyrics in the song “The Wicked Witch of the East,” Nessarose reflects on their time at Shiz and blames Elphaba for her troubles. In the stage musical, Elphaba magically gives her sister’s silver shoes the power to help Nessarose walk again after being in a wheelchair. The movie version changes this; instead, Elphaba enchants the shoes to allow Nessarose to float, but she ultimately returns to using a wheelchair.

The movie differs from the musical by showing Glinda and Fiyero’s wedding. Right before the wedding, Elphaba arrives in the Emerald City and meets the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). Both the Wizard and Glinda try to recruit her, singing a new, extended version of the song “Wonderful” – a song that’s performed solo by the Wizard in the stage show.

The Wizard reluctantly agrees to release the flying monkeys, but they betray Elphaba by leading her to his secret underground lair. There, she discovers he’s imprisoned talking animals, including Doctor Dillamond, as seen in the musical. Furious, Elphaba liberates the animals, and they cause chaos, disrupting Glinda and Fiyero’s wedding before they can exchange vows.

The film shows the exact moment Madame Morrible creates the cyclone that descends upon Oz, causing widespread destruction. Ultimately, the cyclone drops a house on Nessarose while she’s searching for Boq.

Similar to the stage show, Elphaba transforms Fiyero into the Scarecrow while attempting to rescue him from the guards. This version, however, shows the transformation happening – viewers see straw gradually covering his body.

Dorothy (played by Bethany Weaver) and her dog Toto have arrived. While they aren’t directly shown in the original stage production, the movie briefly features them. Viewers don’t see Dorothy’s face clearly, but they do catch a glimpse of her and her companions—Toto, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion—as they journey to the Emerald City and accept their task from the Wizard: to bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West. The film also includes a line spoken by Dorothy as she rushes toward the Wizard at the end, asking him to wait so she can go home.

Elphaba isn’t the only one expressing herself through music; Glinda sings about her disappointing life in “The Girl in the Bubble.” This song helps her understand she needs a change, so she leaves the Emerald City to find Elphaba and warn her about the Wizard’s plans.

Like the stage musical, Elphaba and Fiyero pretend Elphaba dies so they can be together. However, the movie expands on what happens afterward, showing Doctor Dillamond returning to Shiz, Glinda studying the Grimmerie, and Elphaba and Fiyero leaving for a new life beyond Oz. The film also includes a sweet nod to the musical, ending with a flashback scene that recreates the famous poster image of Glinda and Elphaba.

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2026-01-07 02:21