Fantasy movie Wicked: For Good, Part 2: Interviews with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande

Wicked: For Good, Part 2 – Movie Plot

Wicked: Part 2 is an upcoming fantasy musical film and the sequel to Wicked: Part 1, where Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, parts ways with her friend Glinda after meeting the Wizard of Oz.

“It’s extraordinary,” said Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda, on Vanity Fair’s podcast. “We just had to focus on the work and not worry about what was on the other side. We had to honor these characters and the story, without being haunted by doubts like ‘What will people think?’ or ‘Will it be good enough? Will it be what the fans want?’”

To shape Glinda’s character arc, Grande explained she used “a color-coding system. I had little cards. We classified each scene by the type of insecurity present or which childhood wound was touched. It really helped with the back-and-forth. Knowing her as much as possible, inside and out, was the most useful thing,” she said. “Preparing that way, like a method actor… I’m a Stella Adler girl.”

Director Jon M. Chu told Cosmopolitan he needed “to know how to handle the machine, the music, the camera, the movement, and the action. All these elements are essential in Wicked. Wicked wouldn’t be possible without any one of those pieces.”

On the musical aspect, he added, “When you have Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey in a song like ‘As Long As You’re Mine,’ you can’t help but be transported to a new space.”

Cynthia Erivo used a different technique to develop her character: “Sensory memory is something I use a lot. So I created a scent for Elphaba at different moments in her life. There’s a specific scent for Elphaba at the beginning, then another at the end of the film.” Sensory memory helped because “there’s something biological that happens when you smell something.”

The sequel’s plot builds on the first film, where the theme of mistreatment of talking animals is central. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), now demonized as the Wicked Witch of the West, lives in exile, hidden in the forest of Oz, continuing her fight for the freedom of Oz’s silenced Animals. She seeks to expose the truth she knows about the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum).

Meanwhile, Glinda has become the glamorous symbol of goodness throughout Oz, living in the Emerald City palace and enjoying the perks of fame and popularity. Under Madame Morrible’s (Michelle Yeoh) guidance, Glinda is sent to comfort Oz’s people, reassuring them that everything is fine under the Wizard’s rule.

Glinda’s celebrity grows as she prepares to marry Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). She tries to mediate a reconciliation between Elphaba and the Wizard, but her efforts fail, pushing Elphaba and Glinda further apart—until a girl from Kansas suddenly enters their lives.

“Wave that wand all you want. You have no real power,” Elphaba says in the released trailer. “I’m a public figure. People expect me to…” Glinda begins, only for her friend to finish, “… lie.” “There’s a house flying in the sky. Now I’m going to see the Wizard,” Elphaba declares as Dorothy’s house spins. “Think about what we could do. Together,” Glinda adds.

Wicked: Part Two – Cast

The cast includes Ariana Grande as Glinda, now known throughout Oz as Glinda the Good; Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, the young woman born with green skin, known as the Wicked Witch of the West; Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar, Winkie prince and Glinda’s fiancé, who later becomes the Scarecrow.

Other cast members are Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, the Wizard’s collaborator and former head of Shiz University of Witchcraft; Jeff Goldblum as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz; Ethan Slater as Boq Woodsman, servant to Nessarose and secretly in love with Glinda, who later becomes the Tin Man.

Marissa Bode plays Nessarose Thropp, Elphaba’s paraplegic younger sister; Peter Dinklage is Dr. Dillamond, a talking goat and former professor at Shiz University, imprisoned by the Wizard.

The film is directed by Jon M. Chu, recently known for In the Heights. It is based on Gregory Maguire’s bestselling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, a reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The story also features Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl accidentally transported to Oz by a tornado with her dog Toto, and the Cowardly Lion, rescued by Elphaba and Fiyero from a classroom experiment at Shiz University when he was a cub. The combined budget for the two films is $150 million, with the first film having grossed $162.9 million so far.

Wicked: Part Two – Filming and Release Date

Principal photography began alongside Part 1 and wrapped in 2023 before production was halted due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming resumed in January 2024. The film is scheduled for theatrical release on November 21, 2025.