The trailer for Wicked For Good, the second half of Jon M. Chu’s cinematic adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, has officially dropped. Alongside a new poster, we’re given a glimpse into a much more intense and emotionally charged continuation of Elphaba and Glinda’s story.
If the first Wicked movie was about discovering who you are, the sequel is about dealing with what that means.
In the sequel: “Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), 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 (Jeff Goldblum).
“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 (Michelle Yeoh), Glinda is deployed to serve as an effervescent comfort to Oz, reassuring the masses that all is well under the rule of The Wizard.
“As Glinda’s stardom expands and she prepares to marry Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) 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 (Ethan Slater) and Fiyero forever, and threaten the safety of Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), 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.”
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Chu talked about what fans can expect from Wicked For Good. “I can’t believe we’re here. That’s crazy to me. 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.”
Gone are the school days at Shiz. Now, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) are on opposing sides, each having made choices that have real consequences.
“Our heart was broken when Glinda can’t make the choice that we want her to so badly at the end of movie one,” Chu explained, “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.”
Chu spoke about the pressure on his cast to deliver on every emotional beat. “Casting-wise, we had to have people who could handle both sides of Galinda, both sides of Elphaba,” he said. “You can do the fun Shiz version of these characters, but can you go to the next level? Can you land the plane? This plane is big, and the world is big.”
There’s clearly a lot riding on this follow-up, but Chu seems to welcome the challenge. “I think we always had the bar very high for us,” he admitted. “Thank God, because the alternative universe was not a fun one to be living in. I’m glad I’m in this multiverse.”
Wicked for Good looks like it’s taking everything that worked in the first film and raising the stakes emotionally, musically, and visually. It’s not just about being changed for the better anymore, it’s about what that change costs.
Wicked For Good is set to hit theaters on November 21st.
