Wicked Two's Filmmaking and Impact

Written by: Sitara Nair

The film adaptation of Wicked premiered in 2024, with fans new (hearing about it recently), and old (watching the Broadway show), entering the magical world of Oz excitedly! Now, with Wicked: Part Two (or Wicked: For Good), premiering on November 21, 2025, the journey continues! Not just with the actual plot and characters, but also in how the film was made and how it impacted today’s audiences!

Background:

Wicked Part Two continues Elphaba’s story, the green-skinned girl who grows up to be known across Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West. In the first film, audiences learned that Elphaba was never truly wicked! She was just misunderstood, judged for appearance, and blamed for events that she didn’t actually cause! Overall, the film is a heartfelt conclusion to Elphaba’s journey in Oz, alongside Glinda and Fiyero, as they fight for a cause they believe is important. Wicked also connects to the Wizard of Oz story, with classic scenes like Dorothy’s arrival, the ruby slippers, and the melting witch rumor occurring within the movie. However, rather than following Dorothy’s story, this film focuses on the Wicked Witch’s story (Elphaba) and hwo she was truly misunderstood, and on the background of The Wizard of Oz.

Filmmaking and Production:

The original plan for Wicked was for it to be filmed as an entire movie, but the filmmaker soon realized it would require cutting major songs, characters, and plot events, which they (nor the audience) did not want to do! To make the film as Broadway show (and book) accurate as they wished to, they decided to split it into two films: the first part (released in 2024), which roughly covered the first act of the musical, and the second part, that just released, covering act two. However, despite being released a year apart, both films were shot simultaneously, as the production for Part One and Part Two happened together! The total shoot spanned about 160 days, from December of 2022 to January of 2024, with an industry strike-related hiatus in 2023, known as SAGAFTRA. Because of the simultaneous shooting schedule, the production team often had to switch quickly between complicated emotional scenes and funny ones, which Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (along with other actors) had to work really hard to deliver such a good performance! Additionally, shooting both movies at once was practical because, for set building and cast availability, directors and crew did not need to worry about dismantling/rebuilding sets or losing cast members in between filming the movies. 

Music and Performance

For the film, composer Stephen Schwartz (who also wrote the music for the OG Broadway musical) returned, and even wrote two brand new songs for Part Two: No Place Like Home (from Elphaba) and The Girl in the Bubble (from Glinda). In addition to these new songs, the movie keeps many of the familiar songs from the stage musical’s second act, like As Long as You’re Mine, No Good Deed, The Wicked Witch of the East, Wonderful, and the duet For Good (what the movie is named after)! The film’s musical production expanded the original musical’s sound, with a large fiml score style orchestra (in comparison to the small stage band used earlier). Overall the musical performance of this movie is agreed to be phenomenal, with many agreeing that the new songs and lush soundtrack help reveal more about the characters’ feelings and make the story’s turning points more powerful!

Impact

One real-world significance of Wicked’s movie adaptation is the diversity of its cast. The cast includes actors from diverse backgrounds, giving people a chance to see themselves represented on screen. Also, the movie helped bring more attention to the Broadway musical, and ticket sales for the stage show increased after the film's release. Because it uses well-known actors and big musical numbers, it introduced many young viewers to musical theatre for the first time, encouraging youth to pursue the arts. The film’s success urged studios to consider making more musical movies in the future, overall not just continuing a story, but making musical films popular again and bringing new attention to the world of Oz.