WICKED Author Gregory Maguire Says Lesbian Subtext is ‘Intentional’ [Video]

WICKED author Gregory Maguire has confirmed that lesbian subtext between Glinda and Elphaba is an intentional feature of their relationship.

In an interview with Them, Maguire said, “That was intentional, and it was modest and restrained and refined in such a way that one could imagine that one of those two young women had felt more than the other and had not wanted to say it.”

He expounded, “I wanted to make Oz seem as real as Middle Earth. I wanted it to have a depth of culture, a depth of history and a depth of complexity, of experience that was more analogous to the world in which we live. And that meant it had to have varieties of sexual experience.”

During the film’s promotional tour, star Ariana Grande responded to theories around the nature of the relationship between the characters, suggesting that her character “might be a little in the closet.”

She shared …