Cynthia Erivo reveals she was behind the choice for Elphaba to have micro-braids in Wicked

Cynthia Erivo has opened up about some of the amazing details she brought to the role when she bagged Elphaba in Wicked, and she has now told us that one of the most distinct things about Elphaba’s design was the fact she came up with the idea that Elphaba should have micro braids for her hair style. In the entire history of Wicked, Cynthia Erivo is only the second Black woman to play the character.

In a new interview with Variety, Cynthia Erivo shared how Elphaba in the Wicked film came to have the distinctive and instantly iconic micro braids she has in the movie, and how she really pushed for it to be the way that we all saw in the final product.

“I asked if we could reimagine that hair as micro-braids because I knew you’d still have the movement, and you could still have the length, but there was a texture that was slightly different to what you would normally see on stage,” Cynthia Erivo told the publication.

“It was a direct connection between me as a Black woman and Elphaba as a green lady,” Erivo continued. She has opened up a few times about the ways Elphaba “connected to the person underneath me”.

She also told Variety earlier that she hopes her portrayal is “a bit of a love letter to everyone who feels different, who feels out of place, to all of the Black women who have walked into rooms and felt like they haven’t been welcomed. To anyone who’s walked into a room and felt like they haven’t been welcomed.”

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“I am really glad to be the conduit through which this character has been brought to the world.

As well as the distinct push to have her hair as micro braids, Cynthia Erivo had previously told PEOPLE how she used Elphaba’s nails as another detail to soak into the Wicked character.

“I was doing the research for this character, and I noticed that the original Wicked Witch had nails,” she said. “I wanted a progression. How she grows as a witch and a woman. Some people wear makeup, I always have my nails done. It’s like another extended way of expressing myself.”

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