Warning: This post contains spoilers for Wicked: For Good.
In the wake of 2024’s Wicked earning over $750 million worldwide to become the highest grossing Broadway musical adaptation of all time, the second installment of director Jon M. Chu’s two-part film saga is expected to bring in upwards of $112 million over the course of what’s predicted to be a blockbuster opening weekend. But without the enduring popularity of the Oz movie that started it all, we likely never would have gotten to see the backstories of the Wicked Witch of the West and Good Witch of Oz brought to life on the big screen.
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Wicked: For Good, now in theaters, concludes the coming-of-age arcs of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda Upland (Ariana Grande), ultimately interweaving their tale with the events of The Wizard of Oz—and putting a revisionist spin on much of the lore established by the 1939 film classic, which itself was based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story of the Wizard of Oz went on to inspire Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which subsequently became the basis for the award-winning 2003 Wicked stage show from which the movies were adapted. And that pretty much sums up the winding (yellow brick) road the franchise took to get to where it is today.
For Good picks up the story following the point of intermission in the hit Broadway musical, a few years after Elphaba and Glinda’s first encounter with the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) in the Emerald City at the end of the first movie. The two friends’ paths have completely diverged by this point, with Elphaba revolting against the fraudulent regime of the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and being branded an enemy of Oz, while Glinda is propped up as the’s Wizard’s mouthpiece and a paragon of goodness. The sequel also reveals what role Dorothy Gale of Kansas (Bethany Weaver) and her three Ozian companions play in Wicked‘s version of the narrative.
“I love that these two worlds get to collide in this movie,” Chu told People of the overlapping timelines. “It’s the thing that we’ve all been waiting for.”
Who are the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion in Wicked?
Just as is the case in Act II of the musical, Wicked: For Good reveals the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion are all characters who were introduced in the first half of the story—they just hadn’t yet appeared in their Wizard of Oz forms.
Let’s start with the Cowardly Lion (voiced by Colman Domingo), who turns out to be the grown-up cub Elphaba and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) freed from the cage he was being kept in at Shiz University in the first movie. While the Lion is manipulated into believing Elphaba doomed him to a life of fear by releasing him into the wild, his lack of courage actually stems from the trauma and torment he experienced while being raised in captivity, and his resulting inability to fend for himself after being rescued.
Then there’s Tin Man Boq (Ethan Slater), who is transformed into a metallic shell of himself as a consequence of the actions of Elphaba’s younger sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode). Following the death of their father, Nessa assumes the role of Governor of Munchkinland and becomes known as something of a tyrant—earning the nickname of the Wicked Witch of the East—when she begins stripping the Munchkins of their rights out of fear that Boq will abandon her and bitterness over his love for Glinda. When Elphaba pays her a visit, Nessa attempts to use Elphaba’s Grimmerie spellbook to enchant Boq into loving her. However, her inexperience causes the spell to backfire, making his heart to shrink until it disappears. To save his life, Elphaba must then cast a new spell that turns him into a Tin Man who doesn’t need a heart. Unfortunately, both Nessa and Boq somehow end up blaming Elphaba for the whole fiasco.
But the most heart-wrenching reveal of the bunch still belongs to Scarecrow. After Fiyero runs off with Elphaba, alerting Glinda to the fact they’re in love with another, a heartbroken Glinda suggests to Madame Morrible that they should use Nessarose to try to draw Elphaba out of hiding. While Glinda doesn’t intend for Madame Morrible to kill Nessa, it’s implied the tornado that flies Dorothy’s house into Oz and crash-lands it on top of Nessa is conjured up by Madame Morrible. When Elphaba arrives on the scene to retrieve her sister’s magic shoes and confront Glinda as Dorothy begins her journey down the Yellow Brick Road, it eventually becomes clear Elphaba has fallen into a trap. However, Fiyero shows up to defend her, allowing her to escape while he is taken prisoner by the Wizard’s guards. Knowing Fiyero is about to be tortured, Elphaba casts a desperate spell that’s intended to make him impervious to pain by preventing his flesh from being torn and his bones from breaking. She succeeds in protecting him, but her enchantment has the unintended effect of turning him into a scarecrow. To make matters worse, Elphaba believes he has been killed and becomes crazed with grief.
What about Dorothy?
While Chu told People he chose not to show the face of Weaver’s Dorothy in Wicked: For Good in order to allow viewers to “keep the Dorothy that they know,” everyone’s favorite gingham-clad farm girl still plays a pivotal role in Wicked‘s endgame. “I didn’t want to step on who you think Dorothy is in whatever story that you came into this with,” he said. “It is still Elphaba and Glinda’s journey, and she is a pawn in the middle of all of it.”
After Dorothy arrives in the Emerald City and is told by the Wizard that he will grant her wish to return home if she defeats the Wicked Witch of the West and brings back her broom as proof of victory, Boq incites an Ozian mob against Elphaba. Meanwhile, Fiyero has been pretending to be a simple Scarecrow without a brain in order to avoid being recognized and figure out a way to get back to Elphaba.
When Dorothy makes it to Elphaba’s hideout at Fiyero’s family castle of Kiamo Ko, Elphaba captures her with the intention of forcing her to give back Nessa’s shoes. However, after a reconciliation and tearful goodbye with Glinda, Elphaba forms a plan to use the rumor that getting wet will kill her to her advantage and—unbeknownst to Glinda—ultimately fakes her own death by allowing Dorothy to throw a bucket a water on her. She then disappears through a trap door in the floor to make it seem as though she melted. Once Dorothy has returned to the Emerald City and been sent home to Kansas, Scarecrow Fiyero flees to Kiamo Ko to reunite with Elphaba and the two escape into the land beyond Oz together.
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