For all of those who have held space this weekend for Wicked: Part One (and the lyrics of 'Defying Gravity' specifically, of course), we have good news for you: the second film is on its way. Well, sort of.
Wicked: Part One, which was released on November 22, is not only projected to have had the top-grossing opening weekend of any Broadway musical adaptation ever in the UK, but it now also holds the record for the biggest worldwide opening for a Broadway-based film. That even surpasses Les Misérables, which earned $103 million (£83 million) in its 2012 debut. Something worth singing 'Wonderful' to at the top of your lungs, that's for sure.
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From the plot to the cast, here's every Wicked: Part Two-related question you might have had since your cinema trip.
Why has 'Wicked' been split into two parts?
The film's director, Jon M. Chu, revealed his decision to divide Wicked into two films in an X statement in April 2022. He explained that it was the best way to fully explore the storyline, character arcs, and musical numbers without condensing them into a single movie.
'As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of Wicked into a single film without doing some real damage to it,' the Crazy Rich Asians director said.
'As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. So we decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie, but TWO!!!! 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,' Chu added.
What will the plot of 'Wicked: Part Two' be?
Wicked: Part Two will pick up where Part One left off — after Elphaba and Glinda discover that the Wizard is a fraud and Elphaba is declared the new enemy of the people of Oz. The next chapter, which is set several years after the happenings of Part One's finale, will delve into the events leading up to The Wizard of Oz, revealing how Elphaba ultimately becomes the Wicked Witch of the West and how Glinda transforms into the Good Witch.
'The first tells how Elphaba becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and the second tells how her best friend, Glinda, becomes authentically good,' producer Marc Platt explained in the production notes, per NBC.
Expect many of the threads of The Wizard of Oz to become more apparent in the second outing too, with the story of which characters become the lion, the tin man and the scarecrow all set to be revealed in Part Two. Chu has also hinted that Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz's protagonist, also 'plays a significant role in what will happen' in Part Two.
'I won’t say whether she's a character, necessarily, in movie two,' he told Variety. 'There's a part of me that wants everyone's Dorothy to be the whatever Dorothy they want. And yet, there is interaction and some crossover. So I'll leave that up to Part Two.'
Who will star in 'Wicked: Part Two'?
The first and second films were shot back-to-back (and wrapped in January 2024), meaning that all of the filming for the two films has already taken place. That said, we can expect the same cast from Part One to appear in Part Two, including Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba), Ariana Grande (Glinda), Jonathan Bailey (Fiyero), Michelle Yeoh (Madame Morrible), Jeff Goldblum (The Wizard), Ethan Slater (Boq), and Marissa Bode (Nessarose).
There are also roles that will inevitably appear in the second installment that haven't been announced yet, such as Dorothy.
When will 'Wicked: Part Two' be released?
Don't shoot the messenger, but Wicked: Part Two is currently slated for a November 21, 2025 release date, meaning we have a year-long intermission before our next Emerald City fix.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
