Where was Wicked filmed? Wicked’s filming locations explained

Whether it was planting a field of 9 million multicolored tulips on the outskirts of Munchkinland or bringing the Emerald City to life without the use of CGI, the job of realizing acclaimed musical Evil on the big screen proved to be a massive task for director Jon M. Chu (In the Heights), production designer Nathan Crowley (Interstellar), and their talented production army of dedicated craftsmen in the United Kingdom.

The two-part adaptation was so large in fact that it required the use of 17 sound stages between three studios, as well as four large backlot sets. And if that’s not impressive enough for you, here’s another amazing little trivia straight out of Oz: Two of the sets were the size of four American football fields – each!

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“These expansive, practical sets—many as tall as 50 feet and covering the entire stage footprint—allowed for 360-degree shooting with minimal blue-screen work,” according to the official production notes provided by Universal images. “This approach gave (director of photography Alice) Brooks unprecedented freedom to illuminate real, tangible spaces, enhancing the film’s visual authenticity and scale.”

Where was Evil filmed?

According to Time Out, Evil‘s primary filming hub was Sky Studios Elstree just outside London, with overflows requiring sound stages at nearby Elstree Studios and Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden – the latter of which served as the long-standing home of the Harry Potter film. The sets were, of course, used for interior locations, which included everything from Shiz University’s revolving library to the wizard’s inner sanctum in the heart of Emerald City.

The Munchkinland village that opens the film (“No One Mourns the Wicked”) was a practical building built in the bucolic town of Ivinghoe. The 9 million tulips leading to Munchkinland, meanwhile, were planted in Norfolk with planning from local florist Mark Eves and location manager Adam Richards. “I knew it could work because I grew 500 acres of corn on it Interstellar“, Crowley said during an interview with Black. “I knew I could… with the right farmer.”

Part of the Venice-like waterways leading to Shiz University was achieved with a trip to Seven Sisters Country Park in East Sussex. “L. Frank Baum wrote a lot about how Oz was connected by waterways, but we’d never seen that,” Chu explains in the production notes. “Water plays such an iconic place in the story of the Wicked Witch. I love that you take these boats in to get to school; we built all that for the film.” The establishing shots from East Sussex were then seamlessly blended with the arrivals dock and entrance courtyard at one of the studio’s back lots.

“This project stands as a testament to the remarkable skill and dedication of our exceptional art, locations, greens, set dressing and construction teams,” adds Crowley. “It is highly likely that I will never encounter a set of this enormous complexity in my career again.”

Wicked Part One is in theaters now. Get tickets at Fandango. Wicked Part Two hits theaters on November 21, 2025.