The new movie Wicked: For Good is out now in theaters and it brings the story of the witches of Oz to an end.
The two-part film series is based on the Broadway musical of the same name and while most of the story was very true to the stage show, there were some differences.
In Wicked: For Good, Elphaba is now demonized as The Wicked Witch of the West and lives in exile hidden within the Ozian forest while continuing her fight for the freedom of Oz’s silenced Animals and desperately trying to expose the truth she knows about The Wizard. Glinda, meanwhile, has become the glamorous symbol of Goodness for all of Oz, living at the palace in Emerald City and reveling in the perks of fame and popularity. Under the instruction of Madame Morrible, Glinda is deployed to serve as an effervescent comfort to Oz, reassuring the masses that all is well under the rule of The Wizard.
So, how does the story end? And how was it different?
Keep reading to find out more…
By the end of the film, Elphaba has decided it’s time to give up her fight against The Wizard and surrender. Glinda tries to convince her to team up with her again so they can continue fighting, but this time together. They end up saying their goodbyes.
Dorothy and the witch hunters enter the castle and Elphaba allows her to throw a bucket of water on her, melting her. After everyone leaves, Glinda finds Elphaba’s bottle of green elixir under her hat. She realizes that she previously saw this bottle in the Wizard’s hand while he was locked in the cage during the “Wonderful” scene. She puts it together that Elphaba was the Wizard’s child all along and she had powers because she was a child of both worlds.
Glinda brings this information to the Wizard and forces him to leave Oz. She also has Madame Morrible put in captivity for her role in the Wizard’s schemes against the animals.
We then learn that Elphaba didn’t actually melt… she faked her death and disappeared into the floor. Fiyero, who is now the Scarecrow, comes back to get her so they can escape to the Deadly Desert.
In the final moments of the movie, Glinda welcomes the animals back into Oz to become a part of society again. She takes the Grimmerie into the tower of the Wizard’s castle where “Defying Gravity” happened in the first movie. While looking at the book, it comes to life for Glinda, seemingly signaling that she now has magical powers.
Director Jon M. Chu told EW, “Elphaba giving Glinda the book is her saying ‘You know the power that you have, and you know the truth.’ But there’s no answer at the end of this movie, it’s a challenge: ‘What are you going to be?’ We don’t know what Glinda does, we just know the possibilities are beautiful.”
So, what is different between the movie and the show?
The most major difference is the added context into Glinda’s future with the Grimmerie opening for her at the end of the movie. In the Broadway musical, while singing the finale with Elphaba, Glinda is in her bubble and flying over Oz while holding the Grimmerie, but we never see the book open for her.
Another major difference is how in the stage show, Fiyero tells Elphaba that she can never tell Glinda that they’re alive in order to keep all of them safe. In the movie, Elphaba is the one who acknowledges that she can never tell Glinda that they’re alive.
The movie reveals that the animals are all welcomed back into Oz at Glinda’s insistence, something that the stage show never reveals.
We also learn more about Doctor Dillamond’s fate in the movie, seeing that he is now returning to his job as a professor at Shiz University.
The movie also gives us more insight into where Elphaba and Fiyero go when they leave Oz. Chu told EW that the land is inspired by the Deadly Desert, as described in L. Frank Baum’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” He said that the desert “is not dead space, it’s possibility. No one has explored that horizon because everyone’s too scared.”
The movie ends with a flashback image of Glinda and Elphaba in the field during their college days, with Glinda whispering into Elphaba’s ear. This is a callback to the Broadway poster.
______________
Learn all about the actress who plays Dorothy in the movie and find out why she was cast!
Did you know that these 12 actors all auditioned for the movies, but they didn’t get the roles?
Source: justjared.com
