As Wicked continues to break box office records, fans of Universal Pictures’ musical film starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have been combing through its trailers, intent on finding every single Easter egg. Most notably, there’s a shot of the best friend duo sitting among flowers that has left many wondering if it takes place in Wicked Part Two.
Bowen Yang, who plays the scene-stealing character Pfannee, recently chatted with Trisha Paytas on the Just Trish podcast. There, he admitted Pfannee—the first film’s bestie comedic relief—will return in the second installment. While on the subject of Part Two and beyond, the Saturday Night Live star mentioned that Ethan Slater, who plays Boq, is secretly swole—and we were supposed to see him and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) compete for Galinda’s affections between the sequences of “Popular” and “I’m Not That Girl.”
“Between those scenes, they shot a whole montage just to show the audience that these are all friends now: Fiyero, Galinda, Elphaba, Nessa, and Boq, the five of them running around, hanging out,” Yang revealed of scenes showing the friends bonding while the guys peacock. “The reason why Elphaba has all those poppies is because they cut a thing where they’re in a poppy field and they pick flowers and they’re laughing, having a great time.” That did feel a bit abrupt in the film, that suddenly everyone was cool with one another.
Yang continued, “There was one moment, and there were paparazzi shots of this, because they had to shoot in a park in London of them hanging out, where it’s Boq and Fiyero, Jonathan Bailey and Ethan Slater, ripping their shirts off. And so you were supposed to see Jonathan Bailey in his full shirtless glory, like flexing.” He told Paytas, who was all of us in that moment wishing the film was three hours and didn’t cut that out. “And then Boq, in the story of the movie, being insecure, and wanting to look hot too, and take his shirt off. But then it’s like, ‘wait, Ethan’s got a great body’…” he said.
It seems fans missed out but here’s hoping we get cut scenes in the Wicked Part One home release. Watch the whole conversation below:
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
English (US) ·