After fans were left on the edge of their seats at the end of Wicked, Universal Pictures has finally dropped the trailer for Wicked: For Good, and we have been changed for the better!
Elphaba, now demonized as The Wicked Witch of the West, lives in exile, hidden within the Ozian forest while continuing her fight for the freedom of Oz’s silenced Animals and desperately trying to expose the truth she knows about The Wizard.
Glinda, meanwhile, has become the glamorous symbol of Goodness for all of Oz, living at the palace in Emerald City and reveling in the perks of fame and popularity. Under the instruction of Madame Morrible, Glinda is deployed to serve as an effervescent comfort to Oz, reassuring the masses that all is well under the rule of The Wizard.
Wicked became the most successful Broadway film adaptation of all time and earned 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The 2024 movie also won the Oscars for Costume Design and Production Design.
The incredibly talented cast includes Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum.
"What’s nice about movie two is it’s so different from movie one that it doesn’t feel like we’re talking about what you just saw. It’s the new chapter," director Jon M. Chu explained to Vanity Fair. "Our heart was broken when Glinda can’t make the choice that we want her to so badly at the end of movie one, and it feels empowering for Elphaba to fly away from society. In movie two, we get to see the consequences of those choices. The temperature is up."
Both parts of Wicked were shot in the United Kingdom simultaneously. "A lot of movie two was shot before some of the stuff in movie one. We had big boards with what timeline we’d be in, and they had notes all over their script so we could all be in sync of where we’re at," he shared. "Things that you may have noticed in movie one, you’ll see why those things are there. It is designed to be seen big and felt deeply."
As Glinda’s stardom expands and she prepares to marry Prince Fiyero in a spectacular Ozian wedding, she is haunted by her separation from Elphaba. She attempts to broker a conciliation between Elphaba and The Wizard, but those efforts will fail, driving Elphaba and Glinda only further apart. The aftershocks will transform Boq and Fiyero forever, and threaten the safety of Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose, when a girl from Kansas comes crashing into all their lives.
As an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, Glinda and Elphaba will need to come together one final time. With their singular friendship now the fulcrum of their futures, they will need to truly see each other, with honesty and empathy, if they are to change themselves, and all of Oz, for good.
As for the two new songs featured in the epic and emotional conclusion, Chu commented, "They're great additions to this movie. They were necessary in this movie to help tell the story."
Wicked: For Good is based on the generation-defining musical stage play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, from Gregory Maguire's novel. The screenplay is by Holzman and Holzman & Dana Fox. The score is by John Powell & Schwartz, with music and lyrics by Schwartz.
Marc Platt and David Stone produce, while Schwartz, David Nicksay, Jared LeBoff, Holzman, and Fox serve as executive producers.
"I think the meat of what Wicked is all about happens in movie two. To me, this is why this story exists," he concluded. "This is where our childhood dreams collide with our adult selves."
Wicked: For Good flies into theaters on November 21.
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