Wicked's New Prequel Reveals





Elphaba is considerably younger than I initially believed, according to Gregory Maguire's Wicked prequel novel Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, which is finally available. The 2025 prequel novel delves even deeper into the Wicked Witch's past than Wicked, which tells her backstory. It delves deeper into her family dynamics and illuminates her early years by following her life from the time she is a toddler until she applies to Shiz University. This fascinating new release is not to be missed by anyone who wants to learn more about what makes Elphaba who she is.

Elphaba's age at the book's conclusion, however, might surprise readers who are more familiar with the Wicked film or musical. Elphie emphasizes the character's youth, but her time at Shiz University gives the impression that she is older. To be fair, the Wicked musical and the film both make changes to Elphaba's age, which is one of the changes made to Maguire's book. This makes it even harder to determine Elphaba's age. While Maguire's book maintains that "counting birthdays in Oz is not an exact science," it also serves as a reminder that the original character is only a teenager.

When Elphie applies to Shiz University, she discloses that Elphaba is only sixteen years old.

In Elphie, Elphaba's father tells her that he has kept her "alive these 16 years or so" before she departs for Shiz University, and she grows from being about three or four to sixteen years old. Furthermore, considering how young she is, her enrollment seems a little unexpected. The lead character in Wicked seems a year or two too young to be enrolling, possibly because Shiz University is presented as a fictional institution. It is a little more plausible that she is approaching her 17th birthday at the end of the prequel, given her age in Maguire's original series.

But Elphaba appears older than she actually is for reasons other than just the university environment. Although the musical softens the mature themes in Maguire's Wicked books, the fact that Elphaba is still a teenager makes them feel even more sinister. Throughout Maguire's story, time does pass, and by the end, Elphaba is well into adulthood. Even if that is the age at which Maguire's series begins, it is difficult to imagine Wicked's lead being so much younger after seeing the musical and film adaptations.

The Supposed Role of Old Elphaba in Wicked

Elphaba is only a teenager at the beginning of Maguire's books, which surprised me, but by the end of Elphie, her age does correspond with that of his other books. In Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba starts school at Shiz University at the age of 17. Therefore, it isn't really that off-base for her to be 16 when she applies to the institution. This is particularly true when you take into account that throughout Elphie, Maguire frequently refers to Elphaba as being between two ages, rather than describing birthdays as specific turning points.

Because of this fact, she might be on the verge of becoming a teenager in the upcoming Wicked prequel. Although 16 is a significant age difference from the ages of her musical and film counterparts, that is a plausible enough explanation for the minor age shift at the end of Elphie. The character is aged by several years in the Wicked musical, making her 20 years old, and this is also the case in the movie adaptation. This seems more in line with the university setting of the story. The actors' ages, however, guarantee that she and Glinda appear to be fully grown adults.

How old are the actors portraying Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked?

Casting actors in their late 20s and early 30s guarantees that Elphaba and Glinda in the Wicked adaptations will feel older than their book counterparts. When Idina Menzel made her Broadway debut as Elphaba in 2003, she was 32 years old, and when Kristin Chenoweth played Glinda, she was 35. The cast of Wicked also includes 31-year-old Ariana Grande as Glinda and 38-year-old Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (37 at the time of the film's release).

Elphaba's age at the start of the books is even more startling because the actors are more than ten years older than their characters, which furthers the sense that Elphaba and Glinda are adults in Wicked. When Elphaba first arrives at Shiz University, it is almost impossible to tell from the adaptations alone that she is a teenager. Thankfully, any ambiguity regarding her age in the original material is resolved in Elphie: A Wicked Childhood.

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