'Wicked' Movie Gets 2019 Release Date: Will Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth Reprise Roles?

It's been 77 years since the Wizard of Oz movie premiered and 13 since Wicked did the same on Broadway, and the two stories of Oz have become classics ever since -- but the latter will only now make it to the big screen! After years of holding the rights, Universal has finally announced they're adapting the musical to the big screen with a 2019 release date, but will the original witches return?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal announced last Thursday that the adaptation to the long-running Broadway hit would be making it to the big screen on December 20, 2019, directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), but with the film still over three years away from its release date, casting remains unclear.

The original Broadway production, which premiered in 2003, starred Idina Menzel as Elphaba (known to Wizard of Oz fans as the "Wicked Witch of the West") and Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, "the Good Witch." The two actresses were nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, with Menzel ultimately taking home the prize.

In the years since the two departed the musical, both actresses have found further success in Broadway, television and film: Menzel famously reprised her Rent role in the film adaptation and went on to voice Elsa in the Disney Oscar-winning smash Frozen (which means she was the first person to record "Let It Go"), while Chenoweth has done a lot of television work, including a role in the short-lived show Pushing Daisies and most recently playing Maleficent in Disney's Descendants. The two actresses also had roles in musical show Glee.

So far, it's unclear if the two will be reprising their roles.

Vanity Fair reports that there have been attempts to figure out a film adaptation to the show since 2010, and at some point Lea Michele (who played Menzel's daughter on Glee) and One Direction star Harry Styles were both rumored to play roles, namely Elphaba and love interest Fiyero, known in Wizard of Oz lore as the Tin Man.

So far, there are no rumors as to who could be playing Glinda, or even if Michele and Styles are still attached to the roles. Still, Styles is currently on break from his work in the most popular boy band in the world and seemingly taking a turn towards acting (he's filming a part on Christopher Nolan's upcoming Dunkirk), so who knows?