The Oscar-nominated stars return for ‘Wicked: For Good,’ in theaters Nov. 21
NEED TO KNOW
- Ariana Grande’s Glinda and Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba return in the first trailer for Wicked: For Good that debuted June 4
- Directed by Jon M. Chu, the sequel picks up after Elphaba is branded a “wicked witch” and flees the Land of Oz
- Wicked: For Good is in theaters Nov. 21
What is this feeling, so sudden and new? Our first taste of Wicked: For Good is finally here.
Fans of the iconic Broadway musical were defying gravity on Wednesday, June 4, when the first teaser trailer debuted for the highly anticipated sequel to last year’s Wicked, which dazzled critics and the box office alike after hitting theaters in November.
Wicked: For Good is the second of a two-film adaption of the Broadway musical by director Jon M. Chu, picking up the stories of Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda years later, after the pair concluded the first film in a dispute and Elphaba fled the Land of Oz, branded a “wicked witch” by her former instructor Madame Morrible (Michele Yeoh).
In November 2024, screenwriter Winnie Holzman told ScreenRant that she, Chu, composer Stephen Schwartz and producer Marc Platt decided to split their Wicked adaptation into two after several “long conversations” — eventually agreeing “too much story for one movie.”
Even though the story was split into two movies, they were filmed together, concluding in January 2024, which Erivo celebrated with an Instagram post of a silhouette of her on a broomstick. “That’s a wrap for me, Elphie out!!” she wrote in the caption.
The first film opened to rave reviews and a lucrative opening weekend last year, raking in $114 million across North American theaters from its first few days of screenings (and besting rival Gladiator II’s $55 million opening, as the films shared a release date).
The cinema sensation continued to bring in hundreds of millions internationally in the weeks to come — and even gained awards attention, including 10 Oscar nominations.
The first film’s press cycle, full of happy tears by the pair of leading ladies, similarly captured the hearts and minds of fans late last year — particularly one viral interview moment when Grande and Erivo reacted to an interviewer saying she had seen people “holding space” for the lyrics of the climactic anthem “Defying Gravity” on social media.
