Following up on its predecessor’s blockbuster success, Wicked: For Good is one of the most anticipated releases of 2025. Wicked became a pop culture phenomenon upon its theatrical debut last year, decades after the Broadway musical it is based on premiered. Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the film reinterpreted the history of Elphaba and Glinda, the witches from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation.
Elphaba (Erivo) and Glinda (Grande) become unlikely friends after a rocky start as college roommates, only to face a crossroads when a run-in with the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) puts them on opposite sides of a political divide. It’s a heartbreaking turn for the friends, as they share a tearful goodbye. Elphaba takes a stand against the Wizard for mistreating the Animals of Oz, while Glinda remains behind and becomes a central figure in the Wizard’s regime.
This seminal moment, which features the smash hit song “Defying Gravity,” serves as the finale of Wicked, but it is only the halfway point of the stage show. As such, For Good will chronicle the latter half of the musical, a decision made by director Jon M. Chu and the other creatives behind the film to better reflect its themes and develop its characters.
“Wicked part one sort of plays as a structure for us to break in movie two,” Chu said. “Movie one was about this fairytale, was about the things that we’re taught by watching movies, or reading books, or what our parents taught us when we’re young. And these hopes and these dreams, and then the reality of it not being what we thought. And then having the courage to step out and being who you are. That’s a great thing you have on a calendar, what you tweet out, or what you have on a t-shirt, or… but that’s not reality. Movie two is reality. Movie two is what happens after.”
Elphaba’s story in For Good sees her isolated from her former friends, family, and the greater population of Oz, vilified for standing up for her beliefs. Per Chu, this shaped how the filmmakers approached her arc in For Good. He explained: “When you realize, ‘oh standing up, that’s a lot… that’s a lot more lonely.’ You don’t have a lot of friends, there are a lot more whispers.“
Because Elphaba and Glinda are on opposite sides of this ideological war, their friendship is in tatters throughout act two of the musical, made worse by Fiyero, played by Jonathan Bailey in the film version, being torn between the two women. While Glinda has the support of the Wizard and his followers, Elphaba is branded as the Wicked Witch of the West and has to fight her battles alone.
Despite this, the film’s marketing has teased a reconciliation between the friends, making it all the more heartbreaking to remember just how The Wizard of Oz ends. Wicked: For Good releases in theaters on November 21, 2025.
Wicked: For Good
- Release Date
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November 21, 2025
- Runtime
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137 Minutes
- Director
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Jon M. Chu
- Writers
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Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire