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Safwan Azeem
Published 47 minutes ago
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Sign in to your Collider account follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapLess than a week after the Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande sequel Wicked: For Good stormed the box office with a $150 million domestic and $226 million worldwide debut, HarperCollins has unveiled a surprise spin-off: Galinda: A Charmed Childhood, a new novel by Gregory Maguire that will arrive September 29, 2026.
According to Screen Rant, this would be positioned as a sister volume to Elphie: A Wicked Childhood (March 2025). The book traces Galinda’s (Grande) early years, long before Shiz University, before she rebranded herself as Glinda and became the glittering force audiences know from stage and screen. Limited deluxe editions with stenciled edges and designed endpapers are already available for preorder. And what makes this announcement hit so hard, so fast, is how directly it answers questions Wicked: For Good only had time to tease.
In Wicked: For Good, the childhood flashbacks only give us quick glimpses of a young Galinda: a girl desperate to learn real magic and to be adored by everyone in the room. In Galinda: A Charmed Childhood, however, Maguire takes that same idea and stretches it into a full psychological portrait. The novel is set in Galinda’s early years inside a highborn but financially strained household, where she’s both pampered and ignored, and pours her energy into district dance competitions while staying blind to the social tensions building around her family’s business, as her father quietly navigates rivalries and resentment. The book tracks how Galinda’s sheltered, self-absorbed childhood slowly bends her toward the path that will eventually lead to Shiz, to Elphaba (Erivo), and to the carefully constructed “Glinda the Good” persona fans already think they know.
Why Galinda’s Book-Only Canon Changes Everything for the ‘Wicked’ Universe
It’s important to note that Galinda: A Charmed Childhood exists in Maguire’s book continuity, not the Broadway or film canon. That frees it to be sharper, stranger, and more politically textured than a straight movie tie-in, while still riding the cultural momentum of Wicked: For Good. For the franchise, this is a strategic next step as the latest film installment dominates the mainstream conversation, and novels quietly deepen Oz into a multi-generational literary universe (from The Wicked Years to the later Another Day books). With another Wicked universe movie quietly circling in development and details still under wraps, Galinda: A Charmed Childhood steps in as the next confirmed destination for fans who don’t just want another rewatch.
Galinda: A Charmed Childhood arrives in Fall 2026 — on September 29, 2026, precisely. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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Wicked: For Good
PG
Drama
Fantasy
Romance
8
10
Release Date
November 21, 2025
Runtime
137 Minutes
Director
Jon M. Chu
Writers
Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire
Cast
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Cynthia Erivo
Elphaba
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Ariana Grande
Glinda
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