Amanda Seyfried Says Ariana Grande Was “Meant to” Play Glinda in ‘Wicked’

Amanda Seyfried couldn’t be happier that Ariana Grande nabbed the highly sought-after role of G(a)linda in the blockbuster movie musical Wicked. Though the Mamma Mia! and Les Misérables star did audition for the part, she has nothing but praise for Grande’s performance.

“I went hard for that, for sure. And it was a very long process. And everything happens the way it’s meant to,” she told People, calling the movie “fantastic” and adding, “It’s an extravaganza, which is what [Grande] does really well. And [my kids] have been playing the soundtrack nonstop. And everything is as it’s meant to be for sure.”

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Though the creative team has never confirmed this, it’s generally accepted that the search for Glinda, the future Good Witch, came down to Grande (who also auditioned for Elphaba as a courtesy), Disney star Dove Cameron (my personal pick, no shade to anyone), and Amanda Seyfried.

And Seyfried did, as she said, go “hard” for it. “I have dreams that I’m still auditioning for Wicked. Last summer while I was playing Elizabeth [on The Dropout], on the weekends I was auditioning in person to play Glinda in the movie version of Wicked—because I wanted it that much that I was like, ‘You know what? Yeah, I have to play the last scene of The Dropout on Tuesday. I’ll give my Sunday to you.’ I literally bent over backward while playing the hardest role of my life,” Seyfried previously told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022.

But those lengthy auditions, please note, did not include singing “Popular” in a ball gown, as you may have seen online. There’s a video of Seyfried doing Glinda’s signature song, but you can tell it’s not a self-taped audition because, for one thing, she’s trying to remember the lyrics, and for another, she’s clearly in the middle of having her makeup done!

“I think it was during COVID. I was doing a Lancôme shoot in Long Island City. Elizabeth Stewart [was] my stylist,” Seyfried told People of the charming snippet. “I was not auditioning for Wicked yet, but I knew it was, like, coming up.… So I was just f-cking around, really, and I was like, ‘This dress is so Glinda. And Elizabeth was like, ‘Do it.’ And then she posted at some point.”

Though she may not have ended up the movie’s Glinda, there is hope we can get more Singing Seyfried if that Thelma and Louise musical with Evan Rachel Wood ever happens? Please??