New Wicked trailer takes us back to the Emerald City as Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba goes up against Jeff Goldblum's Wizard of Oz

(Image credit: Universal)

The first full-length trailer for Wicked is here, promising an emotional roller coaster through the world of Oz. A short teaser was released back in February, but this new clip gives us a much better look at director Jon M. Chu's big-screen take on the hit Broadway and West End musical (which is in turn based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire).

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In the trailer, outcast Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and popular Glinda (Ariana Grande) meet for the first time as new students at Shiz University, and headmistress Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) allocates the pair as roommates.

Glinda isn't too happy about this, as she was "promised a private suite," and things get off to a rocky start for the pair. We discover that Glinda is the reason Elphaba wears that iconic pointy black hat, too, but it's not a gift given out of kindness: Glinda doesn't want it anymore, and jokes to her friends that she "would give it away, but I don't hate anyone that much", before encouraging Elphaba to wear it to a dance. She soon regrets her decision to humiliate her roommate, though, and the duo strike up an unlikely friendship.

At Shiz University, we also get another look at Jonathan Bailey's Fiyero and Peter Dinklage's Dr. Dillamond, who's both a professor and a goat and tells us that a "true sorcerer" is a rare thing these days. Elphaba might be just that though, with Morrible telling her that she's "remarkable" – but this poses a threat to the powers that be.

We get a better glimpse at the Emerald City and Jeff Goldblum's Wizard of Oz, who's also got a vendetta against Elphaba aided by a team-up with Morrible. "The way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy," we hear him say, and that enemy to unite the people just so happens to be a certain green-skinned witch…

Wicked arrives on the big screen on November 28 in the UK and on Thanksgiving in the US. In the meantime, check out our picks of the other best upcoming movies on the way in 2024. For more on the trailer, check out our interview with director Jon M. Chu.

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.