Now that the first half of Jon M. Chu’s Wicked movie adaptation is here, do Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo defy gravity in the ending?
As most know, Wicked: Part Two will follow next year. The second part of Chu’s big-screen adaptation is set to release on November 21, 2025.
Warning: Spoilers for Wicked ahead
What is it about?
As fans of the Broadway musical may imagine, Wicked adapts the first act of the story. Despite what Galinda (Ariana Grande) says at the beginning (“Let me tell you the whole story”), Wicked only depicts half of the story.
Long before Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) became the Wicked Witch of the West, she was a student at Shiz University. She was initially sent to watch over her sister, Nessarose Thropp (Marissa Bode). After impressing Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), she is enrolled in the school.
Madame Morrible wants to take Elphaba under her wing and teach her magic. This makes Galinda furious, who is assigned as Elphaba’s roommate.
Throughout Wicked, Elphaba and Galinda become friends. Things get tricky when a boy, Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), is introduced into the fold.
While Galinda falls head over heels for Flyero, he helps Elphaba get a lion cub out of trouble. After Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), the students’ goat teacher, is taken away, the new professor attempts to showcase a new experiment on a cub.
Upon taking it to the forest, there is palpable tension between the two. But alas, Flyero is with Galinda and remains as true to that as possible. He becomes distant, as Galinda points out.
Seeing the Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Madame Morrible eventually receives a letter inviting Elphaba to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum). She takes Galinda with her, much to Madame Morrible’s chagrin.
Upon meeting the Wizard, Madame Morrible appears, not wanting to miss Elphaba’s big moment to prove herself. They get her to perform a levitation spell from the Grimmerie, which gives the Wizard’s monkey servants wings.
She went there to have the Wizard grant her wish of freeing the animals. Instead, she has become what she was trying to stop. Elphaba then realizes that she has been played. They offer her a high position in exchange for her performing the spells they need. This is when she realizes that the Wizard has no power; it is all a sham.
Despite their best efforts, they cannot get Elphaba to agree to it. She flees the scene as the Wizard sends his guards after her. After a long chase, she ends up at the top of the tower.
A rousing performance of Wicked’s signature musical number, “Defying Gravity,” ensures, during which Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande beautifully harmonize. The guards eventually break in, and Elphaba flees.
She has a moment where she almost dies, falling down the highest skyscraper in Emerald City. Luckily, after seeing a hallucination of herself, she catches herself and uses the broom that she put the levitation spell on.
Meanwhile, the Wizard sends out a message warning the people of Oz about Elphaba, who is now being referred to as the Wicked Witch of the West.
As Wicked’s ending concludes, Galinda is taken in by Madame Morrible. She is now being courted to be a spokesperson for the Wizard.
What will Wicked: Part Two be about?
Wicked’s ending comes where the intermission is in the Broadway musical. It will pick up sometime after in Part Two, as Elphaba and Galinda’s stories are not yet over.
Looming in the background is the presence of Dorothy. She is shown early in the movie in a wide shot of the Emerald City. Perhaps Part Two will show more of her journey before her showdown with the Wicked Witch of the West.
However, we will have to wait another year to find out what happens in Part Two.
Wicked is in theaters.
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