Colman Domingo Joins Wicked: For Good as the Voice of the Cowardly Lion
“Wicked: For Good,” the sequel to the 2024 Broadway musical adaptation of the same name sans subtitle, is set to be released in less than a month. Most members of the first film’s star-studded cast will be reprising their roles. These actors include Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Peter Dinklage, and Jeff Goldblum. Now, a new distinguished name has been identified as the voice of a longtime Oz fan favorite who had only a brief appearance in the first film.
Colman Domingo to Round out the Trio
However successful and/or acclaimed “Wicked: For Good” proves to be (its predecessor scored highly on both counts), it’s unlikely that any Oz adaptation will ever match the timelessness of 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz.” That film’s protagonist, Dorothy Gale, is nowhere to be found in “Wicked” save for a prologue cameo, but it did afford viewers a depiction of two of Dorothy’s three beloved companions in their early years. Jonathan Bailey (“Bridgerton“) portrayed the prince who will become the brainless Scarecrow, while Ethan Slater (“SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical”) played a Munchkin destined to turn into the heartless Tin Man. (Both actors will reprise their roles.)
The famous Cowardly Lion, the third companion to be encountered by Dorothy in the 1939 film, appears in “Wicked” as a cub. He has no lines at all; indeed, he is brought to class in a cage by the unsavory Professor Nikidik (Colin Michael Carmichael) as a demonstration of the supposed virtues of caging animals so that they cannot learn to speak. The appalled student Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) subsequently rescues him, and now we can be certain that the cruel professor’s plan did not work on the cub’s young mind.
In the sequel, the Cowardly Lion will be an adult, and Colman Domingo will voice him. Domingo is an actor whose three-decade career includes two Broadway musicals—2008’s “Passing Strange” and 2011’s “The Scottsboro Boys”—as well as two consecutive Academy Award nominations for his lead roles in 2023’s “Rustin” and 2024’s “Sing Sing.” His other prominent film credits include 2018’s “If Beale Street Could Talk,” 2020’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and 2023’s “The Color Purple.”
A First Look at Wicked: For Good’s Cowardly Lion
The final trailer for “Wicked: For Good” dropped on September 24, and it provides some brief but clear images of the Cowardly Lion. Without dialogue emanating from his mouth, he appears about as fantastical as the lions in a Serengeti documentary. Such photorealistic CGI has been used to depict all the talking animals in “Wicked,” which plays like Universal’s equivalent of the last decade’s string of CGI-filled live-action Disney remakes (albeit one that remakes a live-action classic originally made by a different studio).
On October 20, the same day Domingo’s casting was announced, the “Wicked” Instagram account released an inspired little clip (no longer than 15 seconds) in which the actor holds a stuffed lion in front of the camera before lowering it to reveal his smiling face. “See you in Oz,” Domingo declares with a wink.
“Wicked: For Good” will be released wide on November 21.
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