WickedAuthor Gregory Maguire Confirms 'Intentional' Lesbian Subtext Between Glinda and Elphaba

Mar. 15, 2025

Gregory Maguire and the cover of ‘Wicked’.Photo:Amy Sussman/Getty; William Morrow

Amy Sussman/Getty; William Morrow

Wickedauthor Gregory Maguire is opening up about his famous book.Inan interview withThempublished on Dec. 9, the author spoke about his 1995 novel,Wicked, which was the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical, as well as the new movie starringAriana GrandeandCynthia Erivo.Maguire, whose book is itself an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s children’s novelThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz, says that he was inspired to writeWickedin part as a way to examine the evil that exists in the real world. Creating a complex fictional universe also meant adding sexuality to the story, Maguire says.“I wanted to make Oz seem as real as Middle Earth,” he said. “I wanted it to have a depth of culture, a depth of history and a depth of complexity, of experience that was more analogous to the world in which we live. And that meant it had to have varieties of sexual experience."

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in ‘Wicked’.Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Fans have speculated about the LGBTQ+ undertones of the story long beforeCynthia ErivoandAriana Grandehit the screen. Maguire’s novel features a scene in which Elphaba and Glinda kiss, and though it wasn’t included in the musical, the author says it was all part of the plot.“That was intentional, and it was modest and restrained and refined in such a way that one could imagine that one of those two young women had felt more than the other and had not wanted to say it,” Maguire said.

“Or perhaps because a novelist can’t write every scene, perhaps when the lights were out and the novelist was out having a smoke in the back alley, the girls had sex in the bed on the way to the Emerald City. I wanted to propose this possibility, but I did not want to make a declarative statement about it,” the author added.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Maguire, who is gay himself, also addressed the parallels between the book and the AIDS crisis, which he says was on his mind while writing the novel.

William Morrow

Maguire has written eight books in theWickeduniverse, including theAnother Daytrilogy. His latest novel,Elphie: A Wicked Childhood,will be published in 2025.

source: people.com