With Wicked fans bereft after the conclusion of the latest movie Wicked: For Good, the return to Oz might be closer than they think.
Gregory Maguire, the author behind the original novel, has announced his latest edition in the franchise, the yellow brick road is beginning to look less like a path and more like a multi-lane franchise highway.
The latest novel, Galinda: A Charmed Childhood, is due in September 2026 and dives into the early life of the Good Witch long before she floated into Oz in a bubble. It’s the companion novel to Elphie, Maguire’s Elphaba-centered prequel published earlier this year—but it’s also the author’s ninth book set in this version of Oz.
“Maguire’s novels seem turn-key, ready for adaptation for an existing, waiting audience that’s clamoring for more of what they know they already love,” Stephen Enloe, executive vice president and producer at 11th Hour Productions, told Newsweek.
Maguire has spent decades building an interconnected, generational universe first inspired by L. Frank Baum’s original, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” that now stretches far beyond the original four-book series and the later Maracoor trilogy, which follows Elphaba’s granddaughter Rain. When an author leaves behind this much narrative real estate, Hollywood tends to take notice.
And with audiences already fixated on the two-part movie, the obvious question becomes: Could we see more Wicked stories on screen—and if so, where would studios even begin?
“When studios are looking to adapt a story for film or TV, it is important for them to understand the ‘why’ behind the stories’ success. Fans of Wicked have a strong emotional connection to the story and the beloved characters, so it’s essential for studios to invest in understanding what drives the story’s fandom in order to balance meeting fan expectations,” Alessandra Ferreri, head of content at Wattpad, told Newsweek. She previously VP of Content at Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, where she oversaw book-to-film adaptations
According to Ferreri, the key is to respect the source material but also build something fresh that works for the chosen format and draws in viewers unfamiliar with anything beyond the movies or musical.
A New Look at the Witches
Galinda, Maguire’s latest offering is set for release on September 29, 2026. Before she was Glinda the Good, she was Galinda with a “ga,” the youngest daughter in a high-born family that’s slowly losing its grip on its status.
Maguire’s version of young Galinda is sheltered, indulged, and not nearly as perceptive as she thinks she is—traits that will sound familiar to anyone who’s ever watched Wicked, but which land differently when set against a more precarious family backdrop.
The novel Elphie follows the witch from infancy, shaped by her mother Melena’s impulsiveness and her father Frex’s stern piety, and navigating the jealousies that arise with the arrivals of her siblings, Nessarose and Shell.
She witnesses early injustices toward Oz’s Animal populations and muddles through tentative friendships and a patchwork education before eventually reaching Shiz University, where she will meet Galinda.
These sister books give studios a potential starting point should they ever want to explore Glinda and Elphie in their own rights.
Which Stories Could Come Next?
When you look at Maguire’s back catalogue, several books stand out as strong candidates for adaptation.
1. ‘Son of a Witch’
This is the book most readers bring up first. It follows Liir, believed to be Elphaba’s son, in the aftermath of her death. He’s searching for identity, legacy, and a place in the political mess that follows the Wicked Witch’s downfall. There’s built-in emotional tension—and crucially, a clear link to the Elphaba that cinema audiences already know.
“It raises the questions of what could have been had Elphaba survived. However, considering what has worked in the past with fantasy sequels, and examining the rest of Maguire’s series it might make sense to continue with, “Out of Oz: Oz’s Final Battle and the Legacy of Elphaba.”
3. ‘Out of Oz‘
If a studio wanted to swing big, Out of Oz is the moment to do it. The story follows Rain, Elphaba’s granddaughter, and widens the world of Oz into something more political, more ambitious, and far less predictable.
Enloe said this is the entry that feels most ripe for adaptation.
“Out of Oz is more complex, more nuanced,” Enloe explains. “Told through the eyes of Elphaba’s granddaughter, Rain, it shows how far the series can go into areas audiences don’t expect.”
According to Enloe, It’s the kind of story that shifts a franchise from a character study into an expansive mythos—the same pivot Star Wars made when The Empire Strikes Back invited audiences into a darker, richer universe.
2. ‘A Lion Among Men‘
Maguire’s take on the Cowardly Lion is a tonal departure: darker, more introspective, and heavy with regret. It repositions a familiar character in a morally complicated world, which is exactly the kind of material streaming audiences love.
In A Lion Among Men, Maguire tells the story of the Cowardly Lion, Brrr, whose search for information about Elphaba brings him to Yackle, an aging oracle with questions of her own. As they trade secrets, Brrr’s fragmented past comes into focus: an abandoned cub drawn into political turmoil governing talking Animals.
The novel follows their tense exchange while exploring what Brrr knows of Liir, what Yackle understands about the Clock of the Time Dragon, and whether those branded cowardly or wicked can reclaim their own histories.
4. The ‘Maracoor’ Trilogy
The Maracoor trilogy begins with The Brides of Maracoor, the first in Maguire’s new Another Day series and a spin-off of the Wicked Years.
It follows Rain, Elphaba’s green-skinned granddaughter, who washes ashore on a distant island and is taken in by a community of enigmatic women.
As political tensions rise across Maracoor, Rain’s mysterious arrival unsettles local authorities and raises questions about myth, magic, and threat. The trilogy traces her journey across this unfamiliar land as she gradually finds the path that will eventually lead her back toward Oz.
If any part of the Wicked universe feels designed for the streaming era—it’s these books.
Why Hollywood Is Watching
Fantasy franchises have always come in waves, but we’re once again in a moment where a huge, interconnected literary world is a gift.
After Star Wars proved in the 1970s that audiences would follow a saga across formats, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and nearly every major superhero universe stepped into the same lane. The result: a generation of viewers accustomed to serialized, long-form storytelling on a massive scale.
Oz, interestingly, has been here before. L. Frank Baum wrote 14 Oz novels, creating decades’ worth of material long before expanded universes were fashionable.
The 1939 film became a piece of American mythology thanks to its annual television rotation. And Maguire’s work—with its political shadows, moral twists, and emotionally complicated characters—adds exactly the kind of grit modern viewers gravitate toward.
According to Enloe, viewers today gravitate toward stories that balance nostalgia with a more realistic edge, which puts the Wicked franchise in a strong position.
“As current events have made the world more jaded the acceptance of a grittier depiction of reality in media has become more relatable and well received,” he said.
