is wicked a prequel to the wizard of oz

Wicked is widely considered a prequel to The Wizard of Oz.

It tells the story of what happened in the Land of Oz before Dorothy arrived, focusing on the early lives of Elphaba (who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (who becomes Glinda the Good Witch) and how they came to be the characters we know from The Wizard of Oz.

  • Source Material: The musical and the recent films are based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, which is a revisionist retelling and prequel to L. Frank Baum’s original 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the 1939 film adaptation.

  • Plot Connection: The story explains Elphaba’s green skin, how she earned the title “Wicked,” and even gives backstories to characters like the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.4 The end of the Wicked narrative directly leads into and even overlaps with the beginning of Dorothy’s journey.