With the highly anticipated release of Wicked: For Good just a month away, excitement has been mounting notably around a significant casting reveal. Director Jon M. Chu recently teased fans about a special guest lending their voice to the Cowardly Lion, sparking widespread speculation. The mystery was solved with the announcement that Oscar-winning gay actor Colman Domingo will bring the Cowardly Lion to life in the sequel. Domingo shared the news on social media with a playful video surrounded by plush lions, joining an already stellar, queer-empowered cast including Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, and Bowen Yang as Pfannee.
Wicked: For Good, serving as a prequel and sequel hybrid to the original Wicked and The Wizard of Oz, explores the journey of Elphaba before she became the notorious Wicked Witch of the West. A notable narrative progression for the sequel involves a time jump wherein a young Dorothy ventures into Oz, meeting the now-grown Cowardly Lion who can speak but remains characteristically timid. This development ties closely to the narrative arc in the musical’s Act II and offers a fresh angle on the classic story.
Domingo’s casting as the Cowardly Lion is particularly significant because it subtly honours the queer-coded legacy of the character. Historically, the Cowardly Lion was brought to life by Bert Lahr in the iconic 1939 MGM adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. Lahr, a vaudeville and Broadway veteran, evolved his performance during the era known as the Pansy Craze, a time when flamboyance and gender play found expression in mainstream entertainment before being suppressed by the Hays Code. His portrayal of the Cowardly Lion was a theatrical subversion of traditional masculinity; his lion was a dandyish, effeminate figure sporting a lisp and a flair for dramatic, flowery gestures. This queer undertone has long been embraced by LGBTQ+ audiences as part of the film’s enduring cultural resonance.
The queer subtext of The Wizard of Oz extends beyond the Cowardly Lion. The story’s themes of friendship, identity, and being outsiders—embodied by the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion’s chosen family—have made it a cherished touchstone within LGBTQ+ history. Icon Judy Garland, who famously played Dorothy, became a gay icon partly due to the film’s subtext and her status as a symbol of resilience and hope. The phrase Friend of Dorothy emerged as a discreet code within gay communities, further linking the film to queer cultural legacy.
Source: Noah Wire Services
