Why Peter Dinklage Didn't Have The Best Time Working On Wicked

Making big-budget blockbusters can be an isolating process, especially if you're a performer used to working with other actors and physical sets who is, all of a sudden, confined to a recording booth or something similar. This is what Peter Dinklage experienced when he worked on "Wicked," Jon M. Chu's massively successful (and Oscar-winning) adaptation of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's long-running Broadway musical. (The musical itself is based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West," which is based on L. Frank Baum's stories set in Oz, so the whole thing is basically a Russian nesting doll of adaptations, but I digress.) In the film, Emmy-winner Dinklage plays Doctor Dillamond, a talking goat who teaches at Shiz University and earns the affection of the young green-skinned witch Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), but according to an interview Dinklage had with Cinema Express in November 2024, he didn't totally love the experience, because he was not physically on set.

"It was a bit of a lonely process, recording in a sound booth apart from the rest of the cast, but it's such an honour to be part of something this universally loved and amazingly creative," Dinklage said before saying that he has a personal family connection to the show. "My daughter has seen the Broadway show five times, and her friends still want to go for every birthday party."

Plus, as Dinklage put it, the story is so universal that he felt its impact even without performing with his co-stars. "'Wicked' resonates because everyone feels like an outsider at some point," he continued. "It's about defining your independence and strength within that feeling of isolation. Above all, it teaches kindness, which is the most important thing."

Whether or not Peter Dinklage reprises his role in the second half of Jon M. Chu's "Wicked" story, "Wicked: For Good" (which underwent a title change after the first one came out) remains to be seen, though he is listed as a cast member (well, as a voice performer) on the film's IMDb page. Still, we can reasonably assume that his role will be very limited based on the fact that, in "Wicked: Part One," Doctor Dillamond is taken into custody by evil Oz officials because he's a talking animal.

As Doctor Dillamond explains to Elphaba earlier in the film, talking animals have been a part of the fabric of Oz for years, but the government is taking an increasingly bigoted approach to the non-human population and trying to suppress their ability to speak; in fact, many of Doctor Dillamond's animal friends tell him they're simply fleeing. When Doctor Dillamond is hauled out of a classroom at his workplace of Shiz University in front of all of his students, Elphaba is incensed, and it only confirms that she has to continue fighting for the animal population of Oz. If we see Doctor Dillamond in "Wicked: For Good," he might be a bit worse for wear; in the musical, Elphaba's reunion with him in Act 2 isn't particularly happy (I won't spoil it here).

Of course, you probably know Peter Dinklage from his career-defining (and Emmy-winning) role on "Game of Thrones" as Tyrion Lannister, a highborn and powerful man often referred to as "the Imp" who may just be one of the smartest characters on the entire show. (Well, he is until the show's later seasons when he develops a case of the stupids with everybody else, but that's a different tale for a different time.) Other than that, Dinklage has recently shown up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as Eitri), the Oscar winner "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," and the "Hunger Games" prequel "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," which released in 2023. 

Even though Dinklage felt lonely while making "Wicked," he did say — in that same Cinema Express interview — that as an actor who's fought stereotypes and grown proud of his physical differences over the years, he feels personally inspired by "Wicked" nonetheless. "Elphaba's story of finding her strength resonates with me," Dinklage told the outlet. "I've taken ownership of my physical uniqueness as an actor. I've turned it into something empowering. People might look at me, but now it's for the right reasons—because they've seen something they enjoyed. That's a strength that comes from owning who you are."

That's a really wonderful takeaway for Dinklage, and hopefully, we'll see Doctor Dillamond just a little bit in "Wicked: For Good." For now, you can stream "Game of Thrones" on Max if you want to watch Dinklage perform in person.