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The Wicked Years
The Wicked Years is a series of revisionist dark fantasy novels written by American author Gregory Maguire. It is inspired by L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with elements also based on the 1939 film adaptation by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and other Oz-related books.
Unlike Baum's original novels, The Wicked Years is aimed at mature audiences and presents a dystopian, more cynical version of the Land of Oz than featured in other adaptations. The series explores several sociopolitical issues, namely the discrimination of sentient animals and racial tensions between various ethnic groups, and features many of the original Wizard of Oz characters re-imagined as antagonists or neutral parties. The first novel in the series, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, follows protagonist Elphaba Thropp through her evolution into the titular villain, while also highlighting the consequences her relationships and actions have on the land in her lifetime and beyond.
In 2003, the first Wicked novel was loosely adapted into a stage musical, Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz (or simply Wicked), which became the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and second-highest-grossing stage musical of all time. The musical's success inspired its own two-part film adaptation, consisting of Wicked (2024) and its upcoming sequel Wicked: For Good (2025).
There are four main novels in The Wicked Years, each referred to as a "volume".
The first volume in the series was Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which was published in 1995. It details the life of the infamous villain from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whose birth name is given here as Elphaba Thropp. The story is divided into five sections, following Elphaba through the social ostracism she faces because of her green skin, her schooling years with Galinda Upland (the future Good Witch of the North), her radicalization in response to the persecution of Animals in Oz, and her final years as the Wicked Witch before being vanquished by Dorothy Gale. The novel was successful, and was later adapted into a 2003 stage musical, in turn adapted into a two-part film.
The second volume, Son of a Witch, was published in 2005. It details the life of Elphaba's son, Liir, over a decade-long period after the events of the first novel, as he searches for his half-sister Nor and incidentally finishes some of his mother's work.
A third volume, A Lion Among Men, was published in 2008, and was the first to bear the Wicked Years subtitle. It gives the backstory of the Cowardly Lion from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (here given the name 'Brrr') in parallel with the history of Yackle, a mysterious oracle introduced in the first novel who has an inexplicable connection to Elphaba. Their biographies overlap with the events of Wicked and Son of a Witch, with the present-day narrative set around eight years after the latter..
The fourth and final volume, Out of Oz, was published in 2011. Set immediately after the end of Lion, it focuses on Liir's daughter, Rain, as the Land of Oz descends into war.
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The Wicked Years
The Wicked Years is a series of revisionist dark fantasy novels written by American author Gregory Maguire. It is inspired by L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with elements also based on the 1939 film adaptation by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and other Oz-related books.
Unlike Baum's original novels, The Wicked Years is aimed at mature audiences and presents a dystopian, more cynical version of the Land of Oz than featured in other adaptations. The series explores several sociopolitical issues, namely the discrimination of sentient animals and racial tensions between various ethnic groups, and features many of the original Wizard of Oz characters re-imagined as antagonists or neutral parties. The first novel in the series, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, follows protagonist Elphaba Thropp through her evolution into the titular villain, while also highlighting the consequences her relationships and actions have on the land in her lifetime and beyond.
In 2003, the first Wicked novel was loosely adapted into a stage musical, Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz (or simply Wicked), which became the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and second-highest-grossing stage musical of all time. The musical's success inspired its own two-part film adaptation, consisting of Wicked (2024) and its upcoming sequel Wicked: For Good (2025).
There are four main novels in The Wicked Years, each referred to as a "volume".
The first volume in the series was Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which was published in 1995. It details the life of the infamous villain from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whose birth name is given here as Elphaba Thropp. The story is divided into five sections, following Elphaba through the social ostracism she faces because of her green skin, her schooling years with Galinda Upland (the future Good Witch of the North), her radicalization in response to the persecution of Animals in Oz, and her final years as the Wicked Witch before being vanquished by Dorothy Gale. The novel was successful, and was later adapted into a 2003 stage musical, in turn adapted into a two-part film.
The second volume, Son of a Witch, was published in 2005. It details the life of Elphaba's son, Liir, over a decade-long period after the events of the first novel, as he searches for his half-sister Nor and incidentally finishes some of his mother's work.
A third volume, A Lion Among Men, was published in 2008, and was the first to bear the Wicked Years subtitle. It gives the backstory of the Cowardly Lion from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (here given the name 'Brrr') in parallel with the history of Yackle, a mysterious oracle introduced in the first novel who has an inexplicable connection to Elphaba. Their biographies overlap with the events of Wicked and Son of a Witch, with the present-day narrative set around eight years after the latter..
The fourth and final volume, Out of Oz, was published in 2011. Set immediately after the end of Lion, it focuses on Liir's daughter, Rain, as the Land of Oz descends into war.