This article contains a discussion of sexual assault.

If you don’t know the entire plot of the original Broadway musical “Wicked,” do not continue along the proverbial yellow brick road! Major spoilers lie ahead!

In “Wicked: Part One” — the first half of Jon M. Chu’s epic adaptation of the musical “Wicked,” which premiered on Broadway back in 2003 — we’re introduced to Elphaba Thropp, a green-skinned young girl who unexpectedly ends up studying magic and sorcery at the prestigious Shiz University. So why is her skin green, and why is she the only character we see in the story with this particular appearance? Is it related to the real identity of her father? Thank you for asking! It sure is!

When we first meet Elphaba’s parents Melena and Governor Frexspar Thropp — played by Courtney-Mae Briggs and Andy Nyman, respectively — in the blockbuster movie, they seem happy enough and are expecting their first child … only to react with abject horror when she emerges from the womb completely green. As a result, Governor Thropp isn’t particular kind towards his eldest daughter, preferring the company of his younger child Nessarose (newcomer Marissa Bode), who was born with chronically weak legs after the Governor pressured his wife into drinking potions made with milk flowers to prevent another child with, as Elphaba puts it in one of her songs, “verdigris.” (Melena also tragically dies after Nessarose’s early and difficult birth.) 

The story of how Elphaba turned out green differs in Stephen Schwartz’s musical and Gregory Maguire’s book — “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which serves as the source material for the musical — but here’s the gist, and here’s how we can expect to see this storyline conclude in “Wicked: For Good,” the second half of Chu’s film.

Let’s get this out of the way: yes, the Wizard of Oz, played in “Wicked: Part One” by Jeff Goldblum, is Elphaba’s father. Basically, the gist is that he and Melena have an affair which results in Elphaba, and her green skin is very likely due to a green potion fed to Melena by the Wizard himself. This also explains why Elphaba’s “father” Governor Thropp, who keeps and raises the child, seems to resent and even hate the girl presumed to be his oldest daughter; though this is never confirmed by the character, it’s possible that Governor Thropp knows Elphaba is a representation of his wife’s infidelity.

Being green isn’t easy — as Kermit the Frog has been trying to tell us for years — and the added conflict of Elphaba’s real father certainly makes things that much more complicated for her. As a child (played by Karis Musongole), Elphaba is bullied for being different and typically casts spells by accident when she’s mocked for her skin tone. By the time she arrives at Shiz, Elphaba is emotionally closed off and strident as she does her best to protect Nessarose (who keeps telling Elphaba she’s just fine on her own). Elphaba ends up becoming close friends with her roommate Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande-Butera) despite their differences and settles into Shiz pretty well before the Wizard summons her to Oz’s capital, the Emerald City. That’s when things go haywire for the future Wicked Witch of the West.

I should note here that, in Gregory Maguire’s book, the story of Elphaba’s conception is quite different, and way more disturbing. In general, Maguire’s book is much darker than the musical, but the story of Melena’s run-in with the Wizard is particularly rough, so here goes.

When we first meet Elphaba in Maguire’s novel, the baby has green skin, but she also has razor-sharp teeth, a tendency towards violence and cruelty, and a crippling fear of water. (The fear is due to an allergy that, obviously, will come into play later on.) Things unfold similarly to the musical: Elphaba goes to Shiz, meets Glinda, impresses the school’s Dean of Sorcery, Madam Morrible (played by Michelle Yeoh in the film adaptation), and then realizes the Wizard is a big old fraud. However, the reveal that the Wizard is both a fraud and Elphaba’s real father is much worse. 

At the very end of the book, “The Wizard of Oz” protagonist Dorothy Gale accidentally kills Elphaba by throwing a bucket of water on the witch to douse a fire on her skirt (not knowing about the life-threatening allergy). She then brings one of Elphaba’s possessions to the Wizard, who realizes it’s the green potion he once used to drug and sexually assault Melena. The fact that Elphaba is the product of a vicious attack lends a particular darkness to her character, but it definitely makes sense that the musical cut that particular aspect.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Yes, Jeff Goldblum is in the opening number of “Wicked: Part One,” a group number titled “No One Mourns the Wicked” largely led by Glinda the Good Witch as she explains precisely why Elphaba, the “dead” Wicked Witch of the West, was so “evil.” After the citizens of Oz celebrate Elphaba’s apparent death (I say “apparent” here because, in the “Wicked” musical, Elphaba fakes her death using a trapdoor and escapes Oz with her lover Fiyero Tigelaar), Glinda explains that the Thropp family had “secrets.” At this point we see a flashback of Melena and the Wizard carrying on their affair.

Not only is the voice emanating from Melena’s mysterious lover very clearly Goldblum’s extraordinarily distinctive voice, the song’s track listing includes Goldblum as one of the vocalists alongside Ariana Grande-Butera, Courtney Mae-Briggs, Andy Nyman, Sharon D. Clarke, and Jenna Boyd. (Those last two performers voice Dulcibear, the Thropp family nanny, and a lupine doctor who helps deliver Elphaba.) If this isn’t a spoiler, I don’t know what is, particularly because it’s pretty easy to connect the smooth-talking guy feeding a green potion to his lover Melena with Elphaba’s green skin tone.

In case you didn’t put the pieces together thanks to the very obvious Jeff Goldblum cameo in “No One Mourns the Wicked,” Goldblum’s Wizard really drives the point home during his only solo song in “Wicked: Part One,” titled “A Sentimental Man.” Towards the end of the movie — before the Wizard’s evil intentions become apparent and Elphaba flies away from the Emerald City under significant duress — Goldblum delivers an irreverent performance of the Wizard’s song from the musical as he shows off his miniature version of Oz to a captivated Elphaba and Glinda. So let’s look at those lyrics for a moment, shall we?

After Elphaba uses the wish promised to her by the Wizard to free Oz’s imprisoned, subjugated talking animals, the Wizard tells her he agrees before getting directly to the point: “I am a sentimental man / Who always longed to be a father / That’s why I do the best I can / To treat each citizen of Oz as son or daughter.” (Goldblum makes sure to really hit the word “daughter,” too.) 

Right after that, the Wizard names Elphaba specifically and says he’d like to “raise [her] high” because “everyone deserves a chance to fly” — a line which returns in Elphaba’s closing Act 1 showstopper “Defying Gravity. Let’s not forget that the Wizard closes his song by crooning, “And helping you with your ascent allows me to feel so / Parental.” Okay, dude. We get it. You’re Elphaba’s dad.

Okay, so what can we expect from the Wizard — and his corrupt sidekick Madam Morrible — in “Wicked: For Good” when it releases in November 2025? Well, as “Wicked: Part One” closes, the Wizard and Madam Morrible launch what can only be described as a smear campaign against Elphaba, telling all of Oz that she’s pure evil and must be captured in order to save the world. As the audience knows, this is a lie; Madam Morrible and the Wizard simply want to use Elphaba’s powerful magic to bend the world of Oz to their will. The Wizard can’t even read the magical book known as the Grimmerie (he can’t actually do magic at all), and Madam Morrible, though she can control the weather, still isn’t quite as strong as Elphaba (despite the green witch’s lack of formal training).

At the end of Gregory Maguire’s book “Wicked,” the Wizard gives up his ruse and leaves Oz permanently, likely returning to Omaha, Nebraska (the canonical home of the Wizard according to L. Frank Baum’s original books). As for the musical, Glinda, believing that Elphaba is dead and seeking justice for her fallen friend, shows up in the Emerald City, confronts the Wizard with the green elixir he once fed to Melena, and arrests both the fraudulent wizard and Madam Morrible for their many crimes — all while Elphaba is safe and sound with her one true love Fiyero. Presumably, since Jon M. Chu’s first “Wicked” movie followed the musical pretty faithfully, we can expect to see Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard locked up for good when all is said and done.

“Wicked: Part One” is available to rent or buy on demand now. “Wicked: For Good” is set to release on November 21, 2025.