Stop everything if you haven’t seen the “Wicked” musical, read Gregory Maguire’s novel “Wicked,” or just generally don’t know anything about what could happen in “Wicked: For Good.” Major spoilers lie ahead!!!

At the end of 2024, Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of the Broadway stage musical “Wicked” — which itself is adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” — released the first half of the story, blowing critics and audiences away and absolutely crushing the box office. Now, fans have to wait until November of this year to see how the story concludes … but if you have any familiarity with the musical, you might know what’s coming.

“Wicked: Part One” introduces us to Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), a young woman who aspires to become a powerful sorceress after she accidentally ends up enrolled at Shiz University with her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode). There’s just one thing about Elphaba that seems to confuse her fellow students: she’s green. Despite what she calls her “verdigris,” Elphaba eventually becomes best friends with her roommate Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande-Butera) after a seriously rocky start, becomes closer to Prince Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), and is even invited to meet the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) after impressing Shiz University’s Dean of Sorcery, Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Unfortunately, everything comes crashing down at the end of “Wicked: Part One,” when Elphaba realizes the Wizard may not be who he says he is … and that he and Madam Morrible have a truly horrible plan for her future. So, what can we expect in “Wicked: For Good,” the second half of the story?

In the final moments of “Wicked: Part One,” Glinda (who restyles her name to show solidarity with talking animals unable to properly pronounce “Ga-linda”) and Elphaba duet on the showstopper “Defying Gravity,” a song that propels Elphaba to take flight on a broomstick and escape the Emerald City while Glinda stays behind. (It feels important to note that, after carrying “Wicked: Part One” on their collective shoulders, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera received Oscar nominations for their roles in the lead and supporting categories, respectively.) Though Elphaba begs Glinda to escape with her, Glinda, perhaps realizing that she doesn’t possess Elphaba’s same magical powers and acknowledging that she risks losing her hard-earned social status if she flees, decides to stay. As Elphaba flies away, Madam Morrible embraces Glinda … which explains Glinda’s appearance in the movie’s opening number, “No One Mourns the Wicked,” as she tells the Munchkins that Elphaba, now styled as the “Wicked Witch of the West,” is dead as they all celebrate.

Elphaba, meanwhile, goes into hiding to stay out of the Wizard and Madam Morrible’s clutches in Act 2 of the musical, now that she knows the Wizard is a non-magical fraud who seeks to enslave animals and use Elphaba’s powers to carry out his plan. Glinda and Fiyero, stuck in the Emerald City, work as the Wizard’s spokeswoman and the Captain of the Wizard’s Guard and are engaged (against Fiyero’s wishes), though it’s clear that both are conflicted about their public opposition to Elphaba. Then there’s Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose … who is both dangerous and in danger.

After Elphaba flies away from the Emerald City, Madam Morrible immediately goes on the offensive and declares, to all of Oz, that Elphaba is a wanted criminal … and when that announcement reaches Governor Thropp (Andy Nyman), the head of Munchkinland and Elphaba’s father, he’s so shocked that he dies on the spot. This leaves Nessarose to take his place as the leader of Munchkinland, and sadly, the character takes a dark and even sinister turn after seemingly entirely sweet in “Wicked: Part One.”

When Elphaba sneaks into Munchkinland to see Nessarose, she discovers that her younger sister has become a full-fledged tyrant as Munchkinland’s governor, oppressing the entire population so that she can keep the man she loves, Boq (Ethan Slater), captive in her clutches. (Boq, unfortunately, is in love with Glinda.) With her advanced powers, Elphaba enchants a pair of silver shoes that once belonged to their mother Melena (Courtney-Mae Briggs) that help Nessarose, who uses a wheelchair, walk. (Bode is the first actor to ever play Nessarose who uses a wheelchair in real life, and she told Variety that Nessarose’s “transformation” will be different on screen.) However Nessarose gains more power and independence in “Wicked: For Good,” we can safely assume that it will drive Boq to leave her for Glinda, at which point Nessarose casts a spell on Boq’s heart that shrinks the organ and nearly kills him; Elphaba “saves” Boq by turning him into a “tin man” who has no need for a heart, but the damage is done. Nessarose, in this moment, officially becomes the Wicked Witch of the East.

Fiyero has been searching for Elphaba ever since her escape from the Emerald City, and when she returns to the proverbial scene of the crime to confront the Wizard and try to free the flying monkeys (the same flying monkeys the Wizard tricked her into transforming in “Wicked: Part One”), the two unexpectedly reunite. After the Wizard tries to “reason” with Elphaba and frees the monkeys as a symbolic gesture, it seems like Elphaba is mollified … until she discovers her former Shiz University professor Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), a goat who could once speak freely, in a cage and without the power of speech. It’s at this point that Fiyero helps Elphaba escape the Emerald City, and he leaves with her, devastating his fiancée Glinda. (In “Wicked: Part One,” a young Elphaba sings a mournful ballad called “I’m Not That Girl” about the fact that Fiyero loves Glinda and not her; in the second act, Glinda sings a reprise realizing that actually, Fiyero always loved Elphaba more.)

Tucked away in a hidden wood, Fiyero and Elphaba duet on the powerful love song “As Long As You’re Mine” and share their first real moment of passion together until Elphaba has a magical feeling that her sister is in danger. She returns to central Oz to discover what happened — and more on that in a second — leaving Fiyero behind, and when he follows her to help, he’s then captured by the Wizard’s forces. This leads directly into Elphaba’s lament “No Good Deed,” where she casts a spell to try to save Fiyero, whom she believes is dead … and realizes just how much she’s lost.

Let’s go back to Nessarose and her fate for just a moment, because “No Good Deed” isn’t just about Elphaba losing Fiyero; it’s also about losing her beloved younger sister. We briefly see a moment in “Wicked: Part One” where Madam Morrible controls the weather, and that was a clue about exactly how this witch uses her magic — and tragically, she uses it against Nessarose. Even more tragically, the plan is (sort of) suggested by Glinda herself, who knows Elphaba loves Nessarose more than anyone else and tells Madam Morrible and the Wizard they should start a rumor that Nessarose is in danger. What Glinda doesn’t know is that the Wizard and Madam Morrible decide to put Nessarose in very real danger instead of simply starting a rumor.

Madam Morrible creates a tornado using her powers, and if you’ve seen the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” you probably know how this turns out: Dorothy Gale’s house lands squarely on Nessarose, killing her, and Glinda gives Melena’s (now-red) shoes to Dorothy, adding even more insult to injury. When Elphaba arrives to see her sister dead underneath the house and the shoes gone, she physically attacks Glinda before the two are separated by guards (which, going backwards a little bit, is also the moment where Fiyero shows up to lend aid and gets captured). Glinda now fully realizes that she, too, has been used by the Wizard and Madam Morrible and that her idea led directly to Nessarose’s death … and by this point, she also realizes she has to intervene now that Elphaba has captured Dorothy.

With the end of the story approaching, Glinda tries to reason with Elphaba, particularly now that she understands Madam Morrible’s role in Nessarose’s death. Elphaba is understandably furious, telling Glinda that she’s been allowing Madam Morrible and the Wizard to get away with their evil deeds and fraudulent behavior by simply acting as their spokesperson — and all the while, Dorothy is hanging out as Elphaba’s captive. At the end of the day, though, Glinda still loves Elphaba and wants her friend to know that she’s in danger; in this moment, Elphaba realizes that her fight is over.

The two sing “For Good,” an earnest and emotional duet that gives the second movie its title, committing to their friendship and recognizing how it’s changed them both, well, “for good” (“Because I knew you / I have been changed / For good” is the conclusion of the song), and when citizens of Oz find the two in Elphaba’s hiding spot, Glinda hides while they throw a bucket of water upon the Wicked Witch of the West. By all appearances, Elphaba dies, leaving just her black pointed hat — a “gift” from Glinda dating back to their days at Shiz University — and a mysterious bottle of green elixir. That bottle is actually incredibly important, and luckily for Elphaba, Glinda figures out its connection to the Wizard pretty quickly.

After ostensibly watching her best friend get murdered by a vicious and vengeful mob, Glinda finally confronts the Wizard with the bottle of green elixir in hand, revealing that she knows the truth: he’s Elphaba’s real father thanks to an affair he had with Melena years beforehand. (In fact, you can pretty clearly hear Jeff Goldblum’s voice in the opening number of “Wicked: Part One” as Glinda explains why Elphaba’s childhood was so difficult; while the movie hides his face, nobody really sounds like Jeff Goldblum except, well, Jeff Goldblum.) Glinda bravely takes control, banishes the Wizard from Oz, and arrests Madam Morrible for her crimes.

Unbeknownst to everyone, though, Elphaba isn’t dead; she actually used a trapdoor to fake her death by water, and Fiyero is by her side. Sure, there’s one small issue with Fiyero — namely, that Elphaba turned him into the Scarecrow (yes, the one from “The Wizard of Oz,” kind of) when she performed that spell during “No Good Deed” that was meant to ensure no physical harm could come to him — but the two leave Oz together, leaving Glinda alone and, apparently, in charge. Though Glinda “celebrates” with the citizens of Oz that the Wicked Witch of the West has finally been overthrown, it’s a bittersweet ending for our remaining lead character, who must live with the knowledge that the Wizard, not Elphaba, was the true villain all along.

“Wicked: Part One” is available to rent or buy on digital streaming platforms now, and “Wicked: For Good” flies into theaters on November 21, 2025.