Wicked: For Good (2025) – …Good

Released: 20th November
Seen: 3rd December

Last year, after an incredibly long development process, we finally got the film adaptation of the Broadway megahit Wicked and it was easily one of the best films of the year. It was a sensation, a top ten highest-grossing film for 2024, winner of two Oscars, nominated for a total of 10 which made it the second most-nominated film of the evening (tied with The Brutalist). It lived up to pretty much every expectation that people had for this adaptation and even surpassed a few of them. In the aftermath it turned Cynthia Erivo into a household name, reminded everyone that Ariana Grande is a genuinely fantastic actress outside of her pop career and is probably the final straw that got Jonathan Bailey the sexiest man alive title that he so richly deserved. It was, and will forever be considered, a masterpiece… and it was only presenting the first act of the musical. 

Perhaps the biggest controversy the film would have to deal with was that they had taken a two-hour stage musical and split it into two films that would both be a little over two hours each. This was justified at the time by pointing out that it’s very hard to follow Defying Gravity as a musical number so it made sense to split the film in two rather than just make one very long film. This is how we find ourselves now dealing with Wicked: For Good, the second act of the stage musical is now its own feature film and it is certainly a much darker tale than the first one… but does that make it worse?

Wicked: For Good takes place some time after part one, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is still trying her best to prove that the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is a liar while also freeing the animals who are now relegated to silent slavery. Meanwhile, Glinda (Ariana Grande) has gotten used to her role as an ambassador of sorts for the Wizard, a figurehead who had all of Oz believing that she is truly good. Of course, behind all that goodness, the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) are still trying to find ways to stop Elphaba, most notably by sending the Gale Force after her, this force being led by Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). At the same time, newly appointed Governor of Munchkinland Nessa (Marissa Bode) has taken quite well to her newfound power, effectively using it to maintain her relationship with Boq (Ethan Slater). As things among this group keep getting more and more tense, somewhere in the distance a tornado picks up a house in Kansas ready to set everyone on a course for a truly insane climax.

Wicked: For Good undeniably is the darker of the two movies, with good reason. The first movie is largely hopeful and joyous, it doesn’t really reveal how sharp and brutal it’s teeth can be until just before Defying Gravity kicks in when Elphaba learns about just how much the Wizard lies but up until then you really are led to believe that this little green witch will be able to save the day and beat the bad guys… that’s not this movie, this movie is Oz under the thumb of the Wizard where we know that the only good person is public enemy number one. This is where every single character in some way is broken, their lives and hopes torn apart and for some, all hope is lost. No shit it’s the darker movie, the story for every single character is just generally darker because these aren’t kids in a magical high school anymore but it handles that maturing storyline particularly well.

Everything about this film is more mature than the first one, there are more horrific images, more intense themes, implied sex scenes and several jaw dropper moments that reveal how truly vile the Wizard is and all of it is handled in ways that manage to still fit in the same tone as the first film, just with a darker hue. The first film touched on the brutality of what was happening to the animals, this one shows us them in cages and fleeing through underground tunnels to escape. The first film hinted at how far the Wizard will go to protect himself, this one has him just being the actual worst human being you’ve met. The first film is the setup, this film is the consequence. It is an unflinching look at how we get to the merry old land of Oz that Dorothy would eventually crash land into… namely, you don’t get a place like that without a tiny bit of fascism.

While the slightly fascistic stuff was more subtext in the first film, here they may as well just have a blaring sign screaming “Hey you guys, here be some fascism” and they play it up in a way that feels pretty perfect for modern audiences. Morrible’s work spreading lies to turn Elphaba into the Wicked Witch feels like she should be standing at a pulpit in the White House, the way that our eventual cowardly lion and tin man ignore the reality of what happened to them in order to turn violent feels oddly familiar… hell, the Wizard is a lying conniving probable rapist who thinks there’s nothing wrong with locking up the “Bad animals”, do I need to spell out how THAT feels in the year 2025? It’s all so dark but also so carefully presented that it just works.

It also goes without saying that the musical numbers in this film are incredible. The two original songs written for this movie feel like they were always part of the story, which is not always the case with movies written just for adaptations. All the numbers are performed with insane amounts of gusto and talent, particularly the titular For Good and the love song As Long As You’re Mine which are easily the highlights of the soundtrack. Really the only person struggling is Michelle Yeoh, who admitted that she’s not a singer but in the first one she really didn’t have that many big singing moments where it was an issue… here it really is since her singing moments are right near the start of the movie so it sets a tone. Look I love Michelle Yeoh, I think everything else about her performance is damn near perfect and if she told me to shut up like she does to Glinda I would never speak again, but she shouldn’t be singing.

Now if the first Wicked movie was a showcase for how insanely talented Cynthia Erivo is, this film is where we get to really see just what Ariana Grande can do. Honestly her performance is the entire beating heart of this film, blending the comedy and intense emotion with ease. She manages to slide into this role of a person willing to side with the fascists in order to be popular, slowly realising she’s on the wrong side and working out how to change for the better. It’s a powerhouse performance in every single scene, she can have you laughing and crying within a few minutes of each emotional extreme and make it feel completely natural. She’s already a superstar but this and Wicked: Part One should be enough for her to be cast in a ton of musical comedies because it’s the genre she was built for. Somehow she’s better in this film than she was in the last, and she was perfect in the last.

But of course this entire film, indeed the franchise, rests on the shoulders of Cynthia Erivo and she wears it like a well worn cloak that has formed to her shape perfectly. Once again she just sells every moment she’s been given, from her heartbreaking opening scenes where she’s just trying to fight for what’s right, to her moments of doubt and her eventual flip into embracing the title of Wicked Witch. Every song she has is truly something special, while nothing will come close to the power of Defying Gravity (and why would it? That song was so powerful it literally split the show in two) it’s still incredible just listening to this performer belt out for the back row of the next theatre over. Cynthia has been an insane talent for quite a while now (Broadway fans will attest to this) but it’s so good seeing her showing off her full power.

Perhaps the biggest problem with Wicked: For Good is simply that it feels like we’re going as fast as humanly possible to get to the conclusion. Before you even know it, Dorothy’s landed in Oz and we’re already minutes away from everyone singing Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead. For a film that’s over two hours long it doesn’t feel like it and that’s because the film is going so fast that you could miss something by blinking. Some parts also just feel a little weird, even though we all know this isn’t just “What was the Wicked Witch doing before/during the Wizard of Oz?”, it still really does a ton to visually reference that film so it feels like it should. Some parts just go so quickly and feel almost too easy, particularly in the final act when everything comes to a head. Sure, that’s how it happens in the play but also the play is shorter and has the benefit of being a stage play, meaning we give it a lot more suspension of disbelief than we do with feature films. It just makes for a film where you can’t help but go “Oh, are we done?” because of how quickly it goes by.

Wicked: For Good still manages to be a fitting follow up to Wicked, maturing all the characters and delivering a much darker and poignant story. Everyone in the cast is really giving everything they’ve got and this is a truly great ending to this story. It might not be as good as the first one, but that’s such a high bar that they’d have needed a flying broomstick to clear it. Considering what it had to go up against, how musical sequels tend to go and how dark everything ends up getting, Wicked: For Good does everything I needed it to do… I couldn’t be happier.