After a year’s wait, “Wicked: For Good,” directed by Jon M. Chu, came out Nov. 21, 2025. The movie picked up where “Wicked” left off, continuing the story of two best friends, Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, and Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, forced into different sides of the narrative. After Elphaba’s confrontation with the Wizard, she went into hiding and became known as the Wicked Witch of the West, looming over Oz in an attempt to expose the Wizard’s false narrative that he has magical abilities. Glinda stayed in the Emerald City alongside the Wizard and Madame Morrible, played by Michelle Yeoh, and became known as Glinda the Good, as the Wizard manipulates Glinda’s image to portray her against Elphaba’s cause.
Plot and Musical Comparison
With a two hour and 40-minute run time, “Wicked” seemed to drag on. Despite being only 20 minutes shorter, “Wicked: For Good” had a much faster pace, likely because of the lack of exposition. It was presumed the audience knew the world they were being thrust into. The action started immediately and did not seem to stop for the duration of the film.
Together, the movie adaptations span five hours, almost double the length of the original two-hour and 45-minute musical. This was made possible with the liberties that Chu took that deviated from the original. For example, “Wicked: For Good” takes more time to develop Glinda’s character by revealing more of her childhood. In the movie, we see a flashback to Glinda’s birthday as a young girl where she receives a magic wand but is unable to cast any spells. This scene makes Glinda more relatable by showing her lack of magical abilities, deviating from the constant facade of perfection she puts on. The movie also deepens Glinda’s character through an original song, “The Girl in the Bubble,” a turning point for her character where she challenges the comfortable life she has lived so far and decides to make a change.
The movie also includes a wedding scene between Glinda and Fiyero which the original musical does not have. This scene reinforces the idea of Glinda being imperfect despite how she presents herself and allows the audience to feel empathy for her. From her expressions and body language, the audience can see how much Glinda wants the marriage to happen. When things go awry, Glinda is left heartbroken, and the audience pities her.
In “Wicked: For Good,” the animals play a more integral role than in the original. Since the audience has gotten to know these characters, their suppression is more impactful. The greater prevalence of animals enhances the wizard’s wickedness and evokes more of an emotional response when they are stripped of their rights.
Politics
The political undertones present in the first movie reemerged in the finale. “Wicked: For Good,” like the first film, tackles complex issues such as fascism, government manipulation and immigration.
In the film, Madame Morrible has begun convincing citizens of Oz that Elphaba is a bad witch who is trying to hurt the citizens. Morrible sees Elphaba as a betrayal of trust because when it was discovered that Elphaba had powers, Morrible brought her to the Wizard. Once there, they wanted Elphaba to help them with their plan to rid Oz of the animals. Elphaba then decided against this and forged her own path to help the animals, resulting in Madam Morrible puppeteering Oz to believe Elphaba is in the wrong.
In one scene, Elphaba writes “our wizard lies” in the sky using her broom, and Morrible changes the configuration of the letters to say “oz dies.” Again, this is to avoid Oz catching onto the idea that Elphaba is advocating for good.
In another part of the film, Glinda utters “accidents happen” after Nessarose Thropp’s, Elphaba’s sister, played by Marissa Bode, orchestrated death. These instances hauntingly echo modern media manipulation and deflection by the government.
The movie also addresses the issue of immigration in the United States. When Boq, played by Ethan Slater, attempts to leave on a train and start a new life, he finds a sign at the train station restricting travel for munchkins. Because he is a munchkin, he is devastated by the inability to travel. This painstakingly aligns with the current immigration process in the United States, shedding a bitter light on a dividing political theme today.
The original novel and musical both act as political commentaries, and the new movies did not stray from the trend. The political commentary blended seamlessly with the movie’s classic themes of friendship and betrayal. Through Erivo and Grande’s stunning portrayals of their characters, they were able to address real-world issues in a beautiful and compelling fictional tale.
Directing and Wardrobe
After Stephen Daldry resigned as the director prior to the release of the first film and Jon M. Chu took the reins, a decision was made to split the movie into two parts. The second film came out almost a year to the day after the first film.
“I’m excited. I mean, “Wicked” came to me. You know, I’d been stalking “Wicked” since I saw it before it ever went on Broadway, but I was a film student at that time. Never could I have imagined that 20-something years later that I would be at the helm of it,” Chu said in an interview with IMAX.
Nathan Crowley returned to the set after winning an Academy Award for set design on the first movie. In addition, Paul Tazewell brought the film to life with his creative costumes and surprise cameo. Tazewell worked on extravagant outfits for the film, from Glinda’s wedding dress to the classic, recognizable Dorothy dress. Tazewell approached his characters with foundations of what he wanted them to represent, detailing how he felt Glinda’s costumes were designed with airy and light notes and Elphaba’s costumes exhibited earthy notes.
“My approach to Elphaba was to connect her to nature and to a world that is organic and grounded. That connection to nature speaks to her advocacy for animals,” Tazewell said in an interview with Teen Vogue.
In the opening weekend, “Wicked: For Good” surpassed its predecessor, grossing $150 million domestically as compared to the first movie’s $112.5 million.
Soundtrack
The movie adaptation featured all the original songs of the musical’s second act, with “No Good Deed” and “For Good” being two of the most anticipated. The movie also featured two new songs composed by Stephen Schwartz, who worked on the original “Wicked” soundtrack.
One of the new additions to the soundtrack is “No Place Like Home,” sung by Erivo. In this song, Elphaba is trying to convince the animals leaving Oz that they should stay, given that Oz is their home just as much as it is everybody else’s. However, she is not only talking about the animals but also herself. Much like the animals, Elphaba has been cast away and seen as a danger to Oz, but that doesn’t stop her from believing Oz is where she belongs. This song is an assertion to herself to continue fighting for the right to live freely.
Both new songs allow for a deeper understanding of the two protagonists; however, if they hadn’t been added, the plot would have been unaffected and the audience would still be able to understand the complexity of both characters.
