Originally published on 11/18/25

A message from The Wizard: While we are obsessulated with these details, they do contain major spoilers, so fly down with caution. 

Wicked: For Good releases in theaters on Friday, November 22—but Woman’s World recently got an exclusive first look at the film, and trust us when we tell you it’s filled with Easter eggs from The Wizard of Oz. The plot of Wicked: For Good follows Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo)—a.k.a. The Wicked Witch of the West— as they try to figure out how to move on from the heartbreaking devastations they experienced at the end of Wicked. It also showcases how the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow came to be, and why Elphaba hates Dorothy so much. To learn more, read on. 

Elphaba fully embraces becoming The Wicked Witch

At the end of Wicked, Elphaba is seen justifiably betraying The Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and flying away from The Emerald City. The people of Oz then label her as The Wicked Witch of the West, and at first, Elphaba is upset about that title in Wicked: For Good, but as time goes by, she begins to embrace it. That decision is then amplified after Dorothy (whose face is never shown) takes her sister Nessarose’s silver slippers (Marissa Bode), leading Elphaba to lock Dorothy in the basement of her castle before eventually melting, after the girl from Kansas throws a bucket of water on her. 

Now, most of those events involving Dorthy do happen in The Wizard of Oz, but what doesn’t happen is viewers seeing that Elphaba actually survived the melting, and just did it to escape her fate as The Witch. They also don’t see that she planted the bucket of water that eventually kills her, showing just how well thought-out that plan was. It also shows that at the end of the day, she was never wicked, just misunderstood. 

Glinda becomes The Good Witch

On the other end of the Oz, Glinda gets labeled as “The Good Witch.” She wears pink, gets her own wand and even gets her own mode of transportation—yes, we are talking about the bubble. She also is seen helping Dorothy, by telling her to follow the Yellow Brick Road and go meet the Wizard. None of that is that shocking since it does happen in The Wizard of Oz. 

What is shocking, though, is when viewers learn that Glinda sees Elphaba melt away, which results in her believing that her best friend is dead. It’s quite an emotional moment that had us in tears. Then, viewers, the reason The Wizard left Oz is because Glinda told him to, because he’s Elphaba’s father?! Talk about a plot twist! 

Wicked: For Good ends with Glinda carrying out Elphaba’s mission of making sure all animals have rights and can speak, and shows her opening The Grimmerie, which she couldn’t open in the past, meaning that after years of trying, Glinda the Good finally has some magic in her. 

Dorothy arrives in Oz 

Dorothy’s face might not be shown in Wicked: For Good, but her impact is certainly felt. Not only is she seen walking down the Yellow Brick Road, but she’s also viewed with the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow at The Wizard’s chambers, being told to bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy then ends up at Elphaba’s, melts her and eventually ends up going back to Kansas—which viewers don’t see, but it’s implied. Overall, Dorothy’s journey in Wicked: For Good isn’t that different from The Wizard of Oz, but one thing fans are loving is the idea that while Dorothy is locked in the basement, she hears Glinda and Elphaba singing “For Good.” If only we saw that in the film! 

The backstory of the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion is revealed 

In The Wizard of Oz, viewers see Dorothy meet the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, but they don’t actually learn a lot about them. That changes in Wicked: For Good after it’s revealed that the Lion (voiced by Coleman Domingo) is the cub Elphaba and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) save in the first film. Speaking of Fiyero, he’s actually the Scarecrow! That’s right, after he’s captured by The Guard, Elphaba performs a spell that keeps him from feeling pain, which results in him becoming the Scarecrow. Finally, the Tin Man is actually Boq, and he, too, was created by Elphaba after Nessa tries and fails to perform a spell on him. 

Now, aside from a few mentions of the connections between the three characters and Elphaba, there is no indication that they know each other on the Yellow Brick Road. Now that would be wicked. 

The Wicked Witch of the East’s storyline gets explored 

Aside from her legs and red ruby slippers, viewers never really see The Wicked Witch of the East in The Wizard of Oz. In Wicked: For Good, however, viewers witness how Nessarose became the character, which mainly revolves around her forbidding Munchkins to travel, which she does to try and keep Boq near her. They also view Nessarose in the silver–not red—slippers and her getting killed by Dorothy’s house, which landed in Oz after Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) created a tornado to try and lure Elphaba out of her hiding spot. 

Fun fact: Nessarose and Elphaba’s last name is Thropp because Gregory Maguire—the author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the book that inspired the movies and the musical—said it was the noise that happens after a house drops on someone. 

Be sure to catch Wicked: For Good in theaters everywhere this Friday.

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/movies/how-wicked-for-good-reimagines-the-original-wizard-of-oz