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Wicked: For Good[3] is an upcoming American musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. The sequel to Wicked (2024), it is the second installment of a two-part film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman, which is loosely based on the 1995 novel, in turn based on the Oz books and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The film stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, with Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum rounding out the principal cast.[4]
| Wicked: For Good | |
|---|---|
 Official logo | |
| Directed by | Jon M. Chu |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Alice Brooks |
| Edited by | Myron Kerstein |
| Music by |
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Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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| Country |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $150 million[2] |
Set in the Land of Oz, before and after Dorothy Gale's arrival from Kansas, the plot will cover the events of the musical's second act, following Elphaba and Galinda's friendship being put to the test as they embrace their new respective identities as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, and how the consequences of their actions will change all of Oz forever.
Universal Pictures and Marc Platt, who both produced the stage musical, announced the film adaptation in 2012. After a long development and multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chu was hired to direct, with Erivo and Grande cast in their respective roles in 2021, along with the decision to split the adaptation into two parts in order to meet the demands of the story's scope and to expand upon the journeys and relationships between characters without cutting any songs and major plot points. Principal photography on both films began in December 2022 in England, and was interrupted in July 2023 due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, eventually resuming then concluding in January 2024.
Wicked: For Good is set for release by Universal Pictures in the United States on November 21, 2025.
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- Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, a misunderstood young woman born with green skin known as the Wicked Witch of the West[5][6]
- Ariana Grande as Glinda Upland, a popular young woman known as Glinda the Good[5][6]
- Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar, a Winkie prince[7]
- Ethan Slater as Boq Woodsman,[8] a Munchkin[6]
- Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, the former Dean of Sorcery at Shiz University[9]
- Jeff Goldblum as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz[10]
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Development
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Composer Stephen Schwartz (left) and director Jon M. Chu
A film adaptation for the Broadway musical Wicked was announced in 2012,[11] with scheduled release dates of December 20, 2019, December 22, 2021, December 25, 2024, and November 27, 2024.[12] After numerous delays, the film eventually secured a release date of November 22, 2024.[13] In April 2022, director Jon M. Chu announced that the adaptation would be split in two parts, saying:
As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of 'Wicked' into a single film without doing some real damage to it ... As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one 'Wicked' movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of 'Wicked' as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.[14]
Pre-production
In June 2022, Stephen Schwartz confirmed that a new song will be written for one of the two films:[15]
We found it very difficult to get past 'Defying Gravity' without a break ... That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene to follow it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic ... Even as a very long single movie, it required us cutting or omitting things that we wanted to include and that we think fans of the show and the story will appreciate. What we have discussed is that changes need to be 'additive,' to use (producer) Marc Platt's term. They need to add something to the story or the characters. They can't just be changes to do something different. I feel confident that by the time the movie is made, if we all continue to have the same degree of input, I could have a conversation with anyone who has a question about any of the changes made from the stage show and justify why I think it's better for the movie.
In November 2022, Schwartz revealed that the film will include two new songs "to meet the demands of the storytelling."[16] In December 2024, Chu revealed that the film will have a much darker tone compared to the first film, and that the character of Dorothy Gale will have a more prominent role compared to the musical's second act.[17]
Filming
Principal photography began alongside Wicked, and had nearly been completed by July 2023 before production was suspended due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[18] Both films resumed production on January 24, 2024, and concluded filming on January 26.[19] The vocals of the actors during the musical numbers were recorded live on set, particularly at the insistence of Erivo and Grande, with Academy Award-winning production sound mixer Simon Hayes collaborating with Chu on the recordings of the actors' vocals, using a variation of the same recording techniques that were implemented on Les Misérables.[8][19][20][21] Chu also cited Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook as a source of inspiration for the film's use of large-scale sets and practical effects to bring the many elements of the Land of Oz to life, including nine million colorful tulips planted on location to surround the Munchkinland set and an actual Yellow Brick Road paved on the ground with real mud.[22][23] Chu also cited the 1998 films Pleasantville and The Truman Show as influences on how both films thematically portray the Land of Oz, saying "It helps create this idea of the rebelliousness that this new younger generation are discovering... How far will that take everybody in Oz throughout the course of the whole story of both movies? It's an awakening of a generation. You start to see the truth about things that maybe you were taught differently."[24]
Post-production and visual effects
On February 6, 2024, it was confirmed on Twitter that Industrial Light & Magic and Framestore[25] will provide the film's visual effects with Pablo Helman serving as visual effects supervisor, and that post-production work was in progress, with Chu working remotely with editor Myron Kerstein via communication through the newly released Apple Vision Pro.[26][27][28] Editing on the film was paused during most of 2024 in order for Chu to finish post-production on the first film so he could understand how the sequel will continue the story. Post-production resumed in November 2024, immediately following the press tour and release of the first film.[29]
On December 16, 2024, the film's official title was unveiled as Wicked: For Good, sharing its subtitle with the name of the penultimate musical number from the show.[3]
Music
The soundtrack albums for both this film and Wicked will be released by Republic Records/Verve Label Group, Grande and Erivo's respective record labels. In July 2024, it was revealed that John Powell had composed the incidental underscore for the film, reprising his duties from the previous film.[30] Jeff Atmajian updated William David Brohn's original orchestrations for the songs and enlarged the orchestra from the stage version's original 23 musicians to 125 for the film. The musical's original music director Stephen Oremus will conduct the song cues, with Powell conducting the incidental score cues. Greg Wells, Oremus and Schwartz serve as music producers.[30][31][32][33]
Main and expected musical numbers
- "No One Mourns the Wicked" (Reprise) – Ozians
- "Thank Goodness" – Glinda, Madame Morrible and Citizens of Oz
- "The Wicked Witch of the East" – Elphaba, Nessarose and Boq
- "Wonderful" – The Wizard and Elphaba
- "I'm Not That Girl" (Reprise) – Glinda
- "As Long as You're Mine" – Elphaba and Fiyero
- "No Good Deed" – Elphaba
- "March of the Witch Hunters" – Boq and Ozians
- "For Good" – Elphaba and Glinda
- "The Melting" – Ozians
- "A Sentimental Man" (Reprise) — The Wizard
- "Finale" – Glinda, Elphaba and Ozians
As previously reported, Stephen Schwartz revealed that two new songs were written for this film in order to meet the demands of the storytelling. One will be for Elphaba, written in collaboration with Cynthia Erivo, and the other will be for Glinda.[15][34]
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Splitting the film adaptation into two parts gave the filmmakers the opportunity to dive deeper into the relationships between the characters. The films will delve deeper into the two main characters of Elphaba and Glinda, allowing movie audiences to understand them better.[35] Actor Marissa Bode, who uses a wheelchair in real life and plays Nessarose, revealed that the "Wicked Witch of the East" sequence will be different from how it is presented on stage, to prevent ableism.[36] While she only briefly appears in silhouette melting Elphaba behind a large screen, Dorothy Gale is expected to have a much bigger role in the film, with plot points borrowed from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in order to expand the amount of time that passes between "No Good Deed" and "March of the Witch Hunters."[37] The sexual content of the novel and the musical was toned down for the overall two-part adaptation in order for both films to reach a wider audience and attain a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association (MPA).[38]
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Wicked: For Good is scheduled to be released theatrically, including engagements in RealD 3D, IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, ScreenX and D-Box on November 21, 2025, by Universal Pictures,[39] after previously being set for November 26, 2025, and December 25, 2025, before being moved up to avoid competition with Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash, respectively.[40]
Marketing
Exclusive work-in-progress footage from both films in the two-part adaptation, including first listens to Grande and Erivo's respective renditions of "Popular" and "Defying Gravity", was presented at CinemaCon on April 26, 2023, introduced on stage by Universal Pictures chairwoman Donna Langley.[41] The first trailer for the first film, in the form of a 60-second "First Look," premiered during Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, showing brief clips from the second part that confirmed that the film would contain new scenes to expand the plot of the musical's second act, including one involving Glinda's wedding and one of the Wizard ordering Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion to hunt down Elphaba, as depicted in the original The Wizard of Oz story.[42][43]
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In November 2024, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman stated they are talking about the possibility of "something" more associated with Wicked, but that it would not be titled Wicked Part Three or Four. They further stated their interest in expanding the wider Wicked film universe.[44]
- Holzman is credited twice for writing the screenplay; first as a solo writer and as part of a writing team with Dana Fox.
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