If the time it’s taken for Universal to get their film adaptation of Wicked off the ground is any indication, then we could be waiting a very, very long time for a movie version of Hamilton (musical nerds, take heart: Lin-Manuel Miranda is filming the show before he leaves). Today brings some long-awaited good news for fans of Wicked, however, as Universal has officially set a 2019 release date for the project. Grab your broomsticks, or whatever you need to rejoice properly.

THR reports that the studio has set a December 20, 2019 release date for Wicked, their film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical which originally starred Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. Stephen Daldry (The Reader) has long been attached to direct the film based on a script by Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life) and composer / lyricist Stephen Schwartz.

The musical is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which offers a reimagined origin story of the famous antagonist from The Wizard of Oz. The tale is told from the perspective of Elphaba, a green-skinned, misunderstood witch who forms an unlikely friendship with a fellow witch named Glinda. Despite their differences, opposing political views (and an unfortunate romantic rivalry), Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship endures even after the former is publicly disgraced.

With live-action (and occasionally darker) remakes of classic fairy tales proving quite successful at the box office — in particular, Disney’s Maleficent — now seems like the ideal time to get Wicked off the ground. And now that Menzel and Chenoweth have moved on, it’s going to be really interesting to see who Universal casts in the leading roles. Kristen Bell has long been a fan-favorite, but that seems a little too easy, no?

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