From the release date to new music, here’s what you can expect from the upcoming sequel.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in “Wicked”
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
After more than two decades as one of Broadway fans’ most beloved musicals, Wicked finally got the live-action film treatment last year — but the journey down the Yellow Brick Road is only halfway complete.
Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as the project’s iconic leading ladies — Elphaba and Glinda, respectfully — Jon M. Chu’s Wicked Part 1 finally hit theaters after about three years of production and promotional buildup on Nov. 22, 2024, bringing in historic box-office numbers and becoming the top-grossing film based on a Broadway musical on record. Its soundtrack of fresh takes on Stephen Schwartz’s original 2003 stage score debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the highest-ever opening for a stage-to-screen adaptation.
After seeing the first installment, however, fans were immediately impatient for more. Still half of the Ozian tale — inspired by Gregory Maguire’s Wicked novel about the origin stories of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good — remained to be told in Part 2, which Universal Pictures announced in December 2024 would officially be titled Wicked: For Good. Luckily, the sequel is poised to be well worth the wait; when Chu first announced that the adaptation would be split into two parts in April 2022, the director wrote on X, “With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys of these beloved characters.”
Though much of Part 2 has been kept under wraps, Universal Pictures and Chu — as well as Grande, Erivo and Schwartz — have divulged a handful of precious details about the finale for fans to pore over as they wait for premiere day. From its release date to additions to the soundtrack, keep reading to see everything Billboard knows about Wicked: For Good.
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The Release Date
Wicked: For Good will hit theaters Nov. 21, 2025, just one day shy of the one-year anniversary of Part 1.
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The Basic Plot
Those who have seen the Wicked stage musical are already familiar with the essential plot of its second half, which — spoiler alert to those who haven’t! — finds Elphaba becoming more and more misunderstood by the people of Oz as she continues her fight for animal rights. Meanwhile, Glinda is propped up as a mouthpiece for the Wizard and Madame Morrible’s regime, while Fiyero reconnects with Elphaba and the two finally make their romantic feelings for one another known.
It all builds up toward an emotional, complicated reunion between the two witches, which goes down shortly before a certain Kansan girl throws a fateful bucket of water on one of them. Though Chu is expected to add plenty of brand new scenes to the film, its basic storyline is sure to follow the one laid out in the original Broadway production.
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It’s Darker Than Part 1
Much like in the second act of the Broadway show, the second part of the Wicked films descends into darker and twistier territory than the first. “It gets messy,” Chu said to Variety in January. “I think if [audience members] are following the emotions of this movie, they’ll walk with us.”
While much of Part 1 leaned into the buoyant fun of life at Shiz and new friendships, Part 2 is more about the social and political turmoil set into motion by Glinda’s decision to stay and Elphaba’s decision to go during the first film’s final number, “Defying Gravity.” As the director explained it to Entertainment Weekly: “If Part 1 is about choices, Part 2 is about consequences.”
“Choices are difficult to make, but when you do make those choices, sometimes the result isn’t what you expect it to be,” he added in November 2024. “It can be lonely, it can be hard.”
Even so, Chu promised that there will be “lots of lightness” in the second movie. “There’s a lot of fun parts,” he said. “We’ve not forgotten about that, but there’s a matureness and a nuance to it that we earn from the first movie.”
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The Soundtrack Features Brand New Songs
Though the Part 2 soundtrack is sure to feature the cast’s renditions of all of the music in the original Broadway musical — including showstoppers like “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” and the tear-jerking Elphaba-Glinda duet “For Good” — Schwartz has confirmed that fans will also be treated to two entirely new songs specially written for the movies.
“The storytelling required it, and therefore they were created,” he told The Messenger in December 2024 of the new tracks. “The intention was that they were organic and not imposed on the movie.”
Later, Erivo hinted that one of the new songs — which will be sung by Elphaba — will pack an emotional punch. “I don’t know if you’re ready for it,” she said on Variety‘s Awards Circuit podcast. “I feel like the song is very, very special. I have a feeling that even the title will move you.”
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It Goes More ‘In Depth’ on Elphaba & Glinda’s Relationship
Just as they did through Part 1, viewers will get to see more of Elphaba and Glinda than they did in the stage musical thanks to the film format. As far as Part 2 goes, that means fans will see a more in-depth exploration of the two women’s complex relationship, with Grande even teasing that there may be some romantic tension.
“I think [Glinda] is a person who loves so much, and I do think that it goes beyond gender,” the “7 Rings” singer told Variety in December 2024. “I also think that the ways in which she loves Elphaba so much, and that forgiveness and that unconditional love that they share — I think they’re in love with each other. I know, yes, it’s platonic … But we’ll talk about it more in depth in movie two.”
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The ‘For Good’ Sequence Is ‘A Lot’
While speaking to Variety, Grande and Erivo also teased one of the biggest musical sequences Wicked: For Good will offer. Hint: it’s the number that inspired the sequel’s title.
“The scene that leads up to [‘For Good’] — and afterwards — is quite a meal,” Grande told the publication. “I do remember, at a point, leaving my body and hovering for, like, the whole week.”
“That was …,” Erivo added. “That was a lot.”
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Dorothy’s ‘Presence Is Important’
Viewers only got to see the briefest flash of Dorothy Gale in Wicked Part 1, with the first few minutes of the film featuring a clip of the pigtailed, blue-gingham-clad heroine walking down Oz’s iconic Yellow Brick Road alongside Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. Even then, she was only visible from behind.
But while speaking to Screen Rant in November 2024, Chu hinted that Dorothy will have a much bigger part to play in Wicked: For Good. “I won’t talk too much about what we show or don’t show in movie 2,” he said at the time. “But in movie 1, it was important to let Dorothy be how you want her to be. I didn’t want to step on your images of whatever version of Dorothy you wanted her to be.”
“But [Dorothy’s] presence is important, because that plays a significant role in what will happen and how they intersect,” he continued. “That was sort of how we played with it. But you’ll have to see movie 2 to know how far we go with her.”
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The Trailer Release Date & Movie Poster
After keeping fans waiting for months, Universal finally revealed on May 14 when the Wicked: For Good trailer would be dropping: June 4, premiering in theaters as the first film returned to the big screen for one night only.
That same day, the sequel’s official poster was also unveiled, showing Erivo and Grande in their Act II outfits.
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Elphaba Totally Transforms
While speaking to Billboard Pride editor Stephen Daw for her June 2025 cover story, Erivo explained how Elphaba undergoes a complete transformation in For Good. “She’s able to access her rage more,” the actress said.
“The scent I wore changed,” she continued. “The makeup changed. Little shifts that bring you to a more mature version of who Elphaba becomes. And she is delicious in this next one.”
