"Wicked: For Good" originally had more crucial role for Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James — and why it changed Patrick GomezNovember 27, 2025 at 11:00 PM 0 Universal ShenShen (Bronwyn James), Glinda (Ariana Grande), and Pfannee (Bowen Yang) in 'Wicked: For Good'Key Points Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James star in 'Wicked: For Good' as friends of Ariana Grande's Glinda — playing Pfannee and ShenShen, respectively. Director Jon M. Chu originally envisioned the two characters helping Glinda in a pivotal moment of the film.
- - "Wicked: For Good" originally had more crucial role for Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James — and why it changed
Patrick GomezNovember 27, 2025 at 11:00 PM
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Universal
ShenShen (Bronwyn James), Glinda (Ariana Grande), and Pfannee (Bowen Yang) in 'Wicked: For Good'Key Points -
Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James star in 'Wicked: For Good' as friends of Ariana Grande's Glinda — playing Pfannee and ShenShen, respectively.
Director Jon M. Chu originally envisioned the two characters helping Glinda in a pivotal moment of the film.
The filmmaker shares why he changed his mind, and how he kept the sentiment alive in a smaller way.
As Pfannee and ShenShen, Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James steal many a scene in Wicked: For Good — but they originally had a more pivotal role in the film.
The characters are constantly by Glinda's (Ariana Grande) side, having graduated from school-friends of the popular Shiz student in the first film to her aides in the Emerald City in the second.
Pfannee and ShenShen are seen helping keep Glinda's schedule, and they attend her ill-fated wedding. They come across as status chasers, but their devotion to the "Good Witch" almost went even further.
Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu reveals to Entertainment Weekly that Pfannee and ShenShen were almost involved in Glinda's escape to Fiyero's castle in an effort to warn Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) of the coming quartet of "witch hunters."
"There was a moment where I was like, 'Oh, I want them to help her out — to get the horse or open the door or distract the soldiers so she can get out,'" he says. "But then that took away from Glinda's journey, so I knew that it had to be just Glinda."
That said, it was still important to Chu that Pfannee and ShenShen's ideals were clear to the audience — something that was distilled down to a short moment during "March of the Witch Hunters," where the two are seen looking on at the hateful mob in horror.
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"We added that for them because I was like, 'Are they in on this or not? I really don't want them to be in on this,'" Chu explains. "This is the new generation.... I wanted that group of students, no matter how good or bad they were in the last movie, to have the conscience here."
"Even just looking out and watching the witch hunters and being a little bit appalled by that gave us just the little breadcrumb to say, 'Okay, they're going to come through at the end,'" Chu concludes. "It allowed us to know, 'All right, there's a conscience.'"
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: November 27, 2025 at 08:45PM on Source: MARIO MAG
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