Wicked: For Good, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as frenemy witches Elphaba and Glinda, is fairly faithful to its source material. But fans of the Broadway musical may also be surprised to find that Wicked: For Good also makes a few surprising left turns not found in the second half of composer Stephen Schwartz and book writer Winnie Holzmann’s stage musical. Those changes—which the film’s creative team discussed with me for Universal and VF’s official Wicked: For Good podcast—mostly have to do with Grande’s Glinda the Good, who closes out her arc by stepping into her power in a new way.. (Spoilers for Wicked: For Good below.)
Wicked: Part One focused on Elphaba’s journey from green-skinned Shiz University student to the Wicked Witch of the West. But while Erivo’s Elphaba is still front and center in Wicked: For Good, the sequel is more focused on Glinda’s arc from powerless figurehead and brand ambassador for the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) to a truly good witch who has her own magical powers. In a departure from the stage show, director Jon M. Chu includes a flashback to little Glinda, played by Scarlet Spears, at her birthday party, attempting to convince her guests that she actually has magical powers. It’s a moment meant to mirror the flashback scene from the first Wicked when little Elphaba, Karis Musongole, discovers her innate magical powers.
Over the course of Wicked: For Good, written by Holzmann and Dana Fox, Glinda’s perfectly manicured facade cracks as Elphaba’s power grows. In another change from the stage play, Erivo has a new song—a rousing ballad called “No Place Like Home”—that underlines her commitment to Oz. Schwartz also added a new song for Glinda, the eleven o’clock number “The Girl in the Bubble,” in which Grande’s character wrestles with her complicity in the witch hunt for Elphaba—and finally, actively makes the choice to make good on her promise to truly be Glinda the Good.
Before the end of the film, the estranged witches reconnect to sing the titular song, “For Good.” The stage show ends shortly after this number, with Elphaba “melting” after Dorothy Gale throws a bucket of water on her, and Glinda pledging to the Ozians that she will try to be good. Wicked: For Good follows similar beats: after Elphaba has seemingly melted, Glinda stands up to both the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), imprisoning Morrible and revealing to the Wizard that Elphaba was, in fact, his daughter after discovering they both drank the same green elixir. All of this happens on stage as well.
What’s new, though, is that in the final act of the film, both Elphaba and Glinda each get what they truly desire. Glinda ends the film by closing the arc on the story’s persecuted talking-animal subplot, asking for all of the Ozians to join her in inviting the recently ex-communicated creatures to return to Oz. The stage play leaves this thread dangling; in the film, though, it’s clear that Elphaba’s sacrifice was not in vain, and that Glinda will carry through her efforts to make Oz a safe space for all. We even see Elphaba’s favorite mammalian professor, Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), and his tiny goat glasses return to his classroom.
