{"id":131665,"date":"2025-11-13T19:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/131665\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T19:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:58:13","slug":"cynthia-erivo-on-the-hidden-corners-spell-stations-and-secret-softness-of-elphabas-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/131665\/","title":{"rendered":"Cynthia Erivo on the Hidden Corners, Spell Stations, and Secret Softness of Elphaba\u2019s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Wicked: For Good,<\/a> in theaters November 21, Elphaba becomes Oz\u2019s most wanted. After being branded the Wicked Witch and hunted across the land, she vanishes into the forest and builds herself a hideaway. But rather than constructing a grotto, as Elphaba does in the stage show, production designer Nathan Crowley<\/a> envisioned her lair as a nest woven into a mother tree, a canopy refuge tucked into the circular, rotating branches of Oz’s western forests.<\/p>\n

The space took six weeks to build, with crews twisting and weaving wood from local forests into fluid, sculptural shapes. Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba, worked with Crowley and his team to envision each corner of it.<\/p>\n

\"CozyAirbnb<\/p>\n

The interior of Elphaba\u2019s retreat on Airbnb.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all allowed me to be a part of the process of discovering and creating it and making it Elphaba’s,\u201d Erivo tells ELLE Decor. \u201cSo all the little details, the little corners where she does her spells, where she has her tinctures\u2026 all of those things were personalized by me.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she walked onto the finished set for the first time, it \u201cfelt really personal, really homey,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

When she walked onto the finished set for the first time, it \u201cfelt really personal, really homey,\u201d Cynthia Erivo says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s completely at odds with the cold, dark lair you’d imagine for someone recently dubbed as \u2018wicked.\u2019 \u201cI found the space to be so comforting and cozy, which says to me that [Elphaba] wants things that are close and warm,\u201d Erivo says. \u201cI love that about her, and it’s something that we don’t really get to know until this part of the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

The retreat shows us where Elphaba lands emotionally. She’s isolated, hunted, and labeled a villain, but she’s also built herself something both protective and personal. \u201c[The nest] felt like it had a lot of magic in it,\u201d she says. The ceiling is covered in poisonous flowers: \u201cIf you come in through the roof, if you touch those flowers, you will hurt,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo that place was a place of protection and peace and rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shelter<\/p>\n

But beneath that protective layer is something softer. The details reveal who Elphaba is when no one’s watching: Erivo\u2019s favorite corner is the fire pit and chair, where Elphaba practices spells. There’s a loom for creating warm, knitted pieces, and a dedicated broom maintenance corner\u2014\u201cthat broom was really something that she took care of,\u201d she says. Maps and propaganda posters are scattered throughout, and there\u2019s a sink with no water, just oils.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place just for [Elphaba],\u201d Erivo says. \u201cShe does a lot of her thinking and a lot of her planning there, but it\u2019s also a home. It’s where she rests.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a testament to the nest\u2019s impact, Airbnb has recreated<\/a> it in Thousand Oaks, California. The Airbnb version<\/a> comes stocked with real artifacts from the film, like Elphaba’s hat, her broom, and the sacred Grimmerie, a powerful spellbook filled with ancient magic. On December 3, Erivo will host 20 fans there for tea by the fire.<\/p>\n

\"MapAirbnb<\/p>\n

Posters in Elphaba\u2019s retreat on Airbnb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they feel a little bit cozy,\u201d Erivo says of her guests. \u201cI hope that they feel a little enchanted by it. I hope they feel a little curious because there’s loads of different details to take a look at that on first glance you miss if you don’t look really closely.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what she really hopes they take away is something deeper. \u201cIt’s a conversation about rest and sanctuary,” Erivo says. \u201cAnd I think that is something that maybe people don’t necessarily equate Elphaba with. She’s a person who also needs that too, and needs safety, and needs warmth, and needs rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Julia Cancilla is the engagement editor (and resident witch) at ELLE Decor, where she oversees the brand’s social media platforms and writes the monthly ELLE Decoroscope column. She covers design trends, pop culture, travel, and lifestyle. Her work has also appeared in Inked magazine, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Wicked: For Good, in theaters November 21, Elphaba becomes Oz\u2019s most wanted. After being branded the Wicked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7157,82301,637,146,1345,85,46,1975,82300],"class_list":["post-131665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-content-type-default","tag-contentid-b0ff0d7a-6da9-4b00-a685-3bde56552e1c","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-hasproduct-true","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-locale-us","tag-shorttitle-cynthia-erivo-on-elphabas-secret-forest-hideaway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}