Warning: This article contains spoilers for the stage musical “Wicked” and the movie “Wicked: For Good.”
Like its predecessor, “Wicked: For Good” more than doubles the runtime of Act II of the Broadway musical that inspired it. But unlike the first “Wicked” film, the sequel makes big additions to the storyline.
In addition to two brand new songs, “Wicked: For Good” adds a wedding, changes the composition of a pivotal song and makes a new casting connection to “The Wizard of Oz.”
Winnie Holzman, who wrote the book for “Wicked” and co-wrote “Wicked: For Good” with Dana Fox, says “we always knew we weren’t going to just plunk (Act II) into a movie script.”
“We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t Act II, that it was a full-blown, for real, movie with a wonderful beginning, middle and end,” Holzman says. “We weren’t going to change the story, but it had to do with really looking at every single moment of Act II and turning it into a movie.”
Overall, they say the biggest adjustment was developing Glinda’s arc after forging Elphaba’s in the first movie.
“We’re kind of following Glinda’s ups and downs in terms of, these are the consequences of her choices,” Fox says. “Elphaba made a choice and is standing by that choice. So in a way, she’s theoretically changing less, and she’s trying to change the world.
“Glinda is the one who needs some serious changing.”
Here are the most significant changes, additions and expansions found in “Wicked: For Good” compared to the original Broadway musical.
The opening scene
The stage musical of “Wicked” opens with a time jump from Elphaba’s rebellious moment in “Defying Gravity.” The first scene of Act II is “Thank Goodness,” sung by Glinda as she seeks to spread joy and raise spirits as the rest of Oz wages war against Elphaba, now dubbed the Wicked Witch of the West.
The movie also opens with a time jump — specifically one year. The first scene though, establishes the new reality in Oz. Animals are used as laborers to build the Wizard’s yellow brick road. It also reveals that since her dramatic departure from the Emerald City, Elphaba has been hijacking the work sites to try and free the animals.
The animals escape Oz
Speaking of the animals, “Wicked: For Good” also reveals the impact of the Wizard’s propaganda and laws forbidding animals from talking.
In a new scene, Elphaba comes across a group of animals escaping Oz via an underground route. They say they are searching for the mythical Lands Beyond Oz and tell a resistant Elphaba that the uncertainty is safer for them.
To try and persuade them to stay, Elphaba sings her new song, “No Place Like Home” — but to no avail.
“It’s this extraordinary anthem, and it doesn’t work,” Fox says. “The animals don’t stay because she can’t convince them, and the truth is they’re probably right to leave. At that moment they are doing what’s best for them, what is the safest choice for them.”
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Elphaba’s spell gives Nessarose the ability to fly
After failing to rally the animals to stay and fight with her, Elphaba goes to her sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who’s now the governor of Munchkinland after the death of their father.
But Nessa, who has stripped munchkins of their right to travel in order to keep her love, Boq (Ethan Slater), by her side, is consumed by resentment. She yells at Elphaba for trying to help animals instead of her. As a result, Elphaba opens her Grimmerie and casts a spell on Nessarose, giving her the ability to fly.
Fans of the stage musical remember that in this scene, Elphaba’s spell gives Nessarose, who uses a wheelchair, the ability to walk.
Marissa Bode is the first actor to play Nessarose and use a wheelchair off-screen. She previously told TODAY that the change from walking to flying in “Wicked: For Good” represents “less of a case of my character wanting to be fixed, and more of her just taking in the magic itself.”
Glinda performs ‘Wonderful’ with the Wizard
After trying to get her sister’s support, Elphaba goes directly to the Emerald City to try and take on the Wizard.
There, he again tries to get her to join forces with him via a song called “Wonderful.”
But in the film, Glinda joins the pair for the song. “Wonderful” becomes a duet between Glinda and the Wizard as they both try to convince Elphaba to return to the public’s good graces.
Glinda and Fiyero almost get married
In the stage musical, Glinda and Fiyero are engaged before he ultimately abandons her to run off with Elphaba. In “Wicked: For Good,” they almost made it down the aisle.
When Elphaba goes to the Emerald City, it turns out to be on Glinda and Fiyero’s wedding day.
After Elphaba’s almost been convinced to join Glinda and the Wizard through their rendition of “Wonderful,” she asks the Wizard to free the flying monkeys she accidentally created in Part 1. He complies — but then she uncovers a secret crevice where the Wizard had kept in cages dozens of animals, including Elphaba’s former professor Dr. Dillamond, preventing them from speaking. Outraged, Elphaba frees all the animals, interrupting Glinda as she walks down the aisle.
“We wanted the stakes to be higher,” Chu says of the change. “We wanted to make this sort of intercut parallel between her getting married and (Elphaba’s) reality of finding these animals in cages. The fact that these two, dream and nightmare, could collide at this intersection was really important to break the story.”
When Fiyero, who’s captain of the guard, later finds Elphaba, he decides to escape with her, breaking Glinda’s heart.
Viewers see Dorothy — but never her face
“The Wizard of Oz” and its characters are intertwined with “Wicked’s” story. For example, Boq and Fiyero famously become the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, while the cub that Fiyero and Elphaba rescue as students grows up to be the Cowardly Lion. But what about Dorothy?
In the stage musical, Dorothy is merely seen as a shadow throwing water on Elphaba in the film’s finale. But “Wicked: For Good” cast Bethany Weaver to play the part.
Throughout the film, viewers can see Dorothy, her brunette pigtails and her blue plaid dress, but only from the back. Her face is never seen.
That decision was easy, says Chu.
“There was a mantra that we were taught when we first started this from the people who did the stage show, and they said, ‘The key is it’s about the girls, stupid.’ … That has guided our way the whole time,” he says.
“When it comes to Dorothy and all these other characters, those are really fun things, but in movie language, if you see her face, you’re going to want to know who she is, where she comes from, what does she want — and then the story takes a way left turn,” he adds. “And this is ‘about the girls, stupid.’”
Glinda formally takes over as a leader of Oz
After witnessing Fiyero’s capture and Madame Morrible’s cruelty, Glinda weighs whether to do something or stay complacent in the film’s second brand new song, “Girl in the Bubble.”
“Part of deconstructing the fairy tale — which is sort of the point of ‘Wicked,’ to see this American fairytale in a new way, through a new perspective — part of that was understanding not just what what Elphaba was going through, but also what it means for somebody in a bubble of privilege when the truth is coming out,” Chu says.
“At what point does someone who doesn’t have to be affected by this, what kind of courage does it take to actually pop your own bubble and engage and help somebody else? I think that that’s such an important lesson in these days, that courage — no matter where you missed the moment — courage has no expiration date, and that we still have time to be the people who we see ourselves as,” he adds.
She ultimately chooses to go to Elphaba’s side. The best friends briefly reconcile with “For Good” before Elphaba fakes her own death. After escaping, Glinda returns to the Emerald City, forces the departure of the Wizard, arrests Madame Morrible and takes over as a leader of Oz.
And in a slight expansion from the musical, we see exactly what she does with that newfound power: Free the animals.
The Grimmerie opens for Glinda
Finally, the very end of “Wicked: For Good” introduces a scene that is meant to spark discourse. As Elphaba and Fiyero escape to the Lands Beyond Oz, Glinda looks out over the Emerald City. The magic book, the Grimmerie, which Elphaba entrusted to her before her “death,” suddenly comes alive and opens beside Glinda.
There are theories about what the Grimmerie’s opening means, even among the cast and crew. Some think it represents Glinda finally having the potential to be a true witch, while others say it’s a message from Elphaba to Glinda.
“What I think is great about this book of knowledge, the Grimmerie, I mean, it can be interpreted as many things,” Chu says.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
- How Michelle Yeoh Made Her ‘Wicked’ Character Terrifying — Without Ever Raising Her Voice
- EXCLUSIVE: Cynthia Erivo on What Ariana Grande Whispered to Her at the End of ‘Wicked: For Good’
- What the 2 New Songs in ‘Wicked: For Good’ Reveal About Glinda and Elphaba
