For Good trailer transports fans back to Oz

The first full-length trailer for Wicked’s forthcoming sequel has been released, offering fans a glimpse of how The Wizard of Oz spin-off will conclude.

Wicked: For Good will see Cynthia Erivo return as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, alongside Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good Witch of the North.

The films have been adapted from the hugely successful Broadway and West End musical, which itself was based on Gregory Maguire’s 2005 novel.

However, the stage musical was split into two films for its big screen adaptation, with the second due to be released on 21 November.

The two movies were shot simultaneously, at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, between December 2022 and January 2024, with production interrupted mid-way through by the Hollywood actors’ strike.

Wicked was the highest-grossing movie of 2024 in the UK, and scored 10 Oscar nominations – winning two for best costume and production design.

At 2hrs 40mins, the first film alone was almost as long as the entire length of the stage show.

Erivo and Grande’s chemistry and real-life friendship prompted several viral interview moments during the first film’s promotional run last year, and the pair jointly opened the Academy Awards in March with a Wicked medley.

But one challenge facing the sequel is that most of the best known songs from the musical, such as Defying Gravity, Popular and The Wizard And I, featured in the first film.

The forthcoming sequel will feature two brand new songs, with director Jon M Chu telling Vanity Fair: “They’re great additions to this movie. They were necessary in this movie to help tell the story.”

Grande and Erivo will be joined once again by co-stars Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard.

Wicked: For Good will pick up where the first film left off and cover the years after Elphaba and Glinda’s decision to part ways.

Elphaba is now an enemy of the state of Oz, while Glinda has become a public figure controlled by the Wizard.

The new trailer shows Glinda standing on a balcony overlooking a mob of angry people carrying flaming torches searching for Elphaba.

It ends with Elphaba saying she’s “off to see the wizard” before flying on a broom into the distance.

Chu said: “Our heart was broken when Glinda can’t make the choice that we want her to so badly at the end of movie one, and it feels empowering for Elphaba to fly away from society. In movie two, we get to see the consequences of those choices. The temperature is up.”