November 18, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Jon M. Chu
Culture Representation: Taking place in the magical land of Oz, the musical film “Wicked: For Good” (based on the stage musical “Wicked” and the fiction book “Wicked”) features a cast of human and talking animal characters, with the humans predominantly white (with some black people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Elphaba Thropp (who has now been named the Wicked Witch of the West) and her frenemy Glinda have their relationship tested when they compete over their love interest Fiyero and disagree about Elphaba’s mission to expose the Wizard of Oz for being a fraud.
Culture Audience: “Wicked: For Good” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Wicked” novel and stage musical on which the movie is based, and big-budget musicals that deliver grand spectacles and memorable performances.
“Wicked: For Good” delivers a lavish spectacle that is more action-packed and more emotionally impactful than the first “Wicked” movie. Fans of the “Wicked” stage musical will be delighted by this superb and faithful cinematic version. In an era of most movie musicals struggling to find audiences at the box office, “Wicked: For Good” is proof that a movie musical can be a vital force in cinema and an impressive artistic achievement.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, “Wicked for Good” isn’t really a sequel but is rather the second part of a story that was split into two parts. The first “Wicked” movie (released in 2024) and “Wicked: For Good” (released in 2025) were filmed as one production in the United Kingdom. “Wicked” represents Act One of the “Wicked” stage musical, while “Wicked: For Good” depicts Act Two of the “Wicked” stage musical. Both movies were written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. Holzman wrote the Tony-winning “Wicked” stage musical, which is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel of the same name. Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for the songs of “Wicked.”
The “Wicked” stage musical and movies have a different ending from the novel. The story in “Wicked: For Good” happens adjacent to what happens in “The Wizard of Oz,” L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel that was turned into a beloved Oscar-winning 1939 movie. In the “Wicked” story, perky perfectionist Glinda (the Good Witch of the North) and green-skinned misfit Elphaba Thropp (the Wicked Witch of the West) are the central characters in “Wicked,” while Dorothy and her travel companions from the “Wizard of Oz” are side characters.
“Wicked: For Good” begins right were the first “Wicked” movie left off. Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo) has fled by broom from Kiamo Ko castle, the home of the Wizard of Oz (played by Jeff Goldblum), whom Elphaba has discovered is a fraud with no magical powers. Elphaba is being chased by the Wizard’s servant monkeys that have sprouted wings due to a botched spell that was cast by Elphaba.
As shown in the first “Wicked” movie, Elphaba has been misunderstood and rejected for entire life. She has now been branded a villain and a danger to the land of Oz. During her escape from the castle, Elphaba crashes into some workers who are using yellow paint for Oz’s brick roads. She manages to evade capture and hides in a wooded area nearby.
In the land of Oz, the Wizard of Oz is a domineering leader and has imposed policies where animals have been vilified and oppressed as inferior to humans. Animals must either be subservient to humans, or else the animals are considered enemies. Any animals who speak out in protest are persecuted or mysteriously disappear, with the implication that the missing animals have either been killed, secretly imprisoned, or have escaped from Oz.
Meanwhile, Elphaba’s former best friend Glinda (played by Ariana Grande), who is obsessed with being a popular leader and a powerful good witch, announces during a public speaking appearance that she is engaged to marry handsome Prince Fiyero (played by Jonathan Bailey), who is next to her during this announcement. Fiyero is surprised to hear this news because there was no actual marriage proposal. Glinda explains to Fiyero later that she decided that they would get married because, on the surface, Glinda and Fiyero seem like a “perfect” match.
Fiyero goes along with this plan, with some reservations. Unbeknownst to Glinda, Fiyero developed an attraction to Elphaba when he, Elphaba and Glinda (then known as Galinda) were all students at Shiz University. In the first “Wicked” movie, the school’s corrupt dean of sorcery studies Madame Morrible (played by Michelle Yeoh) was a mentor to Elphaba and chose Elphaba over Galinda/Glinda to get special training in sorcery. Madame Morrible, who is an ally of the Wizard of Oz, had an agenda to use Elphaba’s magical powers to increase the oppression of animals and any allies of animals.
Elphaba boldly and emphatically resisted this agenda, so the Wizard and Madame Morrible told lies about Elphaba by saying she was evil and harmful. The Wizard and Madame Morrible also gave Elphaba the name the Wicked Witch of the West and declared her an “enemy” of Oz. This smear campaign made the citizens of Oz turn against Elphaba and there is literally a witch hunt for her.
Things move fast in Oz, because in “Wicked: For Good,” Fiyero is no longer a Shiz University student. He has been made the general of the Gale Force that has been tasked with hunting down and capturing Elphaba. Fiyero has mixed feelings about this responsibility and believes that Elphaba is innocent until proven guilty.
Elphaba doesn’t plan to stay in hiding for long because not only does she want to clear her name, but she also wants to expose the Wizard of Oz for being an unscrupulous fraud. She tries to enlist the help of many of the animals that are fleeing Oz. Dr. Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage), a talking goat professor who was fired from Shiz University for being an animal-rights activist, developed a bond with Elphaba in the first “Wicked” movie and makes a return appearance in “Wicked: For Good.”
Meanwhile, Elphaba’s younger sister Nessarose (played by Marissa Bode), who uses a wheelchair, has also left Shiz University because she’s been made the governor of Oz. Nessarose inherited the position from her widower father Frexspar Thropp, who suddenly died. Nessarose is extremely bitter that Elphaba (still in hiding) did not attend the funeral or communicate with Nessarose after he died. Elphaba never really felt close to Frexspar because he treated Elphaba with contempt (he suspected that Elphaba was not his biological child), and he openly gave preferential treatment to Nessarose.
In the first “Wicked” movie, another love triangle developed because Nessarose fell in love with a munchkin named Boq (played Ethan Slater), who is smitten with Glinda. Boq is devastated when he finds out that Glinda and Fiyero are engaged to be married. Boq wants to confess his romantic feelings to Glinda. This love triangle causes resentment and sets off numerous events that affect the rest of the story.
“Wicked: For Good” (which has a total running time of 137 minutes) feels less bloated than the first “Wicked” movie (whose total running time is 160 minutes)—and not because “Wicked: For Good” is a shorter movie. Unlike the first “Wicked” movie, “Wicked: For Good” doesn’t have scenes that wander and ramble. The characters have more at stake in “Wicked: For Good,” so each scene has an urgency to it that is very compelling to watch.
Most of the supporting characters with significant speaking roles from the first “Wicked” movie make their return in “Wicked: For Good.” Glinda’s sycophantic sidekicks Pfannee (played by Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (played by Bronwyn James) are the comic-relief characters but have less screen time in “Wicked: For Good” than they did in the first “Wicked” movie. New characters include the Cowardly Lion (voiced by Colman Domingo) and Dorothy (played by Bethany Weaver) in a non-speaking role.
Erivo is both fierce and vulnerable as Elphaba and gives a stunning version of “No Good Deed.” The Elphaba/Glinda duet “For Good” is an expected tour-de-force show-stopper. In “Wicked: For Good,” Grande gives depth to her vain and self-absorbed Glinda character, who steps out of her shallow comfort zone when Glinda begins to understand that obsessive ambition to “be at the top” can take a toll on someone’s soul and can hurt others. As with the first “Wicked” movie, “Wicked: For Good” has top-notch production design and costume design. Although the “Wicked” stage musical is already known to many fans, seeing this story depicted in its excellent cinematic form has brought the story to an outstanding level that has elevated everything about “Wicked.”
Universal Pictures will release “Wicked: For Good” in U.S. cinemas on November 21, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie will be shown in U.S. cinemas on November 19, 2025.
