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Wicked is sure to be pop-u-lar! The highly anticipated movie musical hits theatres this year, but that’s not where the story ends — thank goodness! In case you forgot, the film is separated into two parts, with the second movie premiering next year.
Both films are based off the Tony-winning Broadway show of the same name, which followed the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. The story tells the story of the interconnected lives of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch, long before Dorothy’s adventures in Wizard of Oz. The first film is set to be released on November 22, 2024, and stars Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo playing Elphaba.
Keep reading for everything we know about Wicked 2:
Why Is ‘Wicked’ Split Into Two Parts?
In April 2022, it was announced that the film would be separated into two parts, one being released in November 2024 and the other the following year. Director Jon M. Chu explained he wanted to do the musical right, not wanting to cut down on too many musical numbers and important characters.
“As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of Wicked into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” he explained, revealing that the creative team decided to give themselves “a bigger canvas” by splitting the adaptation into two separate movies.
“With more space, we can tell the story of WICKED as it was meant to be told,” he added.
When Does ‘Wicked 2’ Come Out?
Wicked 2 will be released in theatres on November 26, 2025.
Where Does ‘Wicked’ Leave Off Before ‘Wicked 2’?
Stephen Schwartz, the composer behind the musical and the films, confirmed that the first film will end with Elphaba’s “Defying Gravity,” much like the actual musical does before intermission.
“We found it very difficult to get past ‘Defying Gravity’ without a break,” he said in a June 2022 interview with Variety. “That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene to follow it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic.”
During an edition of Stephen’s newsletter, Schwartz Scene, the composer revealed that two new songs were going to be added to the sequel and they were also going to rework some of the musical’s existing songs.
“There are two new songs in the second movie that are complete songs in themselves, and then there are new sections in some of the existing songs in both movies. All the new material, of course, is to meet the demands of the storytelling,” he said.
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