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Jon M. Chu is taking us back to Oz with Wicked: For Good, the second half of his two-part adaptation of the Tony-winning musical phenomenon. The sequel arrives almost exactly one year after the first film became one of 2024’s biggest box office successes and earned 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. This time, the story jumps several years forward, placing Glinda (Ariana Grande), Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) in far more precarious roles as Oz is in danger.
The film deepens the wedge between its two lead witches. Elphaba has become the fugitive the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) wants eliminated, while Glinda has stepped into the carefully curated persona of the “good” witch the people want to adore. Their paths drift further apart as Dorothy arrives in Oz, the Wizard tightens his grip on his power, and both women confront the consequences of the choices they have made. While the first film explored their shared coming-of-age at Shiz, Wicked: For Good takes a darker, more mature turn.
Erivo, reflecting on her experience in an interview with Gold Derby, said she immediately understood the stakes of the role. “I think I knew that it would be a life-changing project from the beginning. I just don’t think I quite knew the gravity of, please excuse the pun, of what it would be,” she shared. She later added, “This has been the ride of a lifetime.”
Grande approached Glinda’s expanded journey with the same meticulousness she brought to her performance in the first film. In a recent interview with The New York Times, she revealed that she covered her script in annotations to fully map the character’s emotional arc. “I don’t know that the projects I have acted in before required the range or the skill set that this one did,” she said. “I landed this extraordinary role and I wanted to earn it.”
Chu echoed that spirit when he spoke to ELLE about crafting the new film. “Making Wicked has been the dream of a lifetime,” he said. With the sequel introducing two new original songs—Glinda’s “Girl in the Bubble” and Elphaba’s “No Place Like Home”—he credited Schwartz’s instinct for storytelling: “Every song has to have a real reason to be there.” Chu added that the film’s emotional weight comes from how personal the story became for everyone involved: “When you watch it, when you see Cynthia, when you see Ari, we’re all telling our own personal stories within this bigger fantasy.”
Is Wicked: For Good streaming yet?
Not yet. Wicked: For Good is only available in theaters following its November 21 release.
While Universal has not announced a streaming date, the film is expected to follow the studio’s typical post-theatrical pattern. Universal titles generally become available to buy or rent digitally before heading to Peacock for their first streaming window.
For now, the only way to experience Wicked: For Good—and hear its new songs, including “Girl in the Bubble” and “No Place Like Home”—is on the big screen.
You can also re-watch the first film via the platforms below.
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