Are you ready to be changed for good?
Wicked: For Good filmmaker Jon M. Chu and Peacock surprise dropped a preview clip from the highly anticipated sequel film on Monday ahead of the film’s New York premiere.
The two-minute first look begins with Chu announcing the sneak peek. The clip — which can now be watched exclusively on Peacock — is of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) confronting the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) on Glinda’s (Ariana Grande) wedding day.
“I would give anything to go back to a time when I… when I actually believed that you were wonderful, a wonderful Wiz of Oz. No one believed in you more than I did. But there’s no going back, and we can’t move forward until everyone knows what I know,” Elphaba urges to the Wizard. But the Wizard insists that no one would believe them: “They’re never going to stop believing in me. You know why? Because they don’t want to.”
Universal Pictures’ highly anticipated Wicked: For Good — a continuation of the first Oscar-winning Wicked and again directed by the award-winning Chu — hits theaters Nov. 21.
The sequel concludes the film adaptation, which became the most successful Broadway film adaptation of all time and is based on the generation-defining musical from Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, from the bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire. Wicked, released Nov. 22, 2024, made more than $750 million worldwide, and earned 10 Oscar nominations and two wins for costume design and production design.
The sequel picks up where the first Wicked (and first Act of the Broadway musical) left off, with Elphaba and Glinda estranged and living with the consequences of their choices.
Here’s a full summary: “Elphaba, 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. 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.
Wicked: Fod Good also stars Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James as Glinda’s fawning assistants, Pfannee and ShenShen; Sharon D. Clarke as the voice of Elphaba’s childhood nanny, Dulcibear; and Colman Domingo as the voice of the Cowardly Lion.
The film is produced by Marc Platt and David Stone. Executive producers are Schwartz, David Nicksay, Jared LeBoff, Holzman and Dana Fox. The screenplay is by Holzman and Holzman & Fox. The film score is by John Powell & Schwartz, with music and lyrics by Schwartz.
NBC, meanwhile, will air the Wicked: One Wonderful Night special (also streaming on Peacock) on Nov. 6, and the first Wicked on Nov. 19 from 8-11:30 p.m. The NBC airing of Wicked is part of a big promotional push leading up to the sequel from corporate sibling Universal Pictures.
