Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu shares new details on two original songs, teases 'As Long As...

&34;What is home? And what happens when you're fighting for a home that doesn't want you there?&34; Chu teases of the second movie's new numbers. Wicked: For Go

"What is home? And what happens when you're fighting for a home that doesn't want you there?" Chu teases of the second movie's new numbers.

Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu shares new details on two original songs, teases 'As Long As You're Mine' climax

"What is home? And what happens when you're fighting for a home that doesn't want you there?" Chu teases of the second movie's new numbers.

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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September 10, 2025 9:00 a.m. ET

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Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and director Jon M. Chu on the set of 'Wicked: For Good'. Credit:

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

- Both Elphaba and Glinda are *that *girl in new exclusive images from *Wicked: For Good.*

- Director Jon M. Chu offers up details on the two new songs that composer Stephen Schwartz has written, one for each witch.

- Plus, he details the development of the love triangle between the two witches and Fiyero.

There's no place like home — but what happens when home becomes a place you no longer recognize?

That's the central question at the heart of *Wicked: For Good*,* *and most especially, the two new songs that Stephen Schwartz has composed for the second half of the saga of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande).

"They're questioning, 'What is home? And what happens when you are fighting for a home that you realize doesn't even want you there, or was never meant for you? Do you defend it? Do you fight for it? Does anyone else think of home the same as you?'" director Jon M. Chu tells *.* "Those questions are very interesting and relevant to Elphaba's journey."

Glinda also has to reach her own understanding of home, albeit in a much different way. "Glinda is the one that has to ultimately pop her own bubble," Chu says. "She has to leave her privilege to actually see other people's struggles and fight for justice and equality."

Chu cautions audiences against seeing these songs as any sort of contemporary commentary. "They do what timeless stories do," he says. "They ask us elemental questions of being human, not just the great parts — the celebratory, joyful parts of being human — but the scary, dark parts that test us. Everybody thinks it's about this time, and yet it's about all time. We are a little bit good and we all are a little bit wicked, and how do we navigate that?"**

Cynthia Erivo in 'Wicked: For Good'.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

For those who may dismiss the new tracks as mere bids for a Best Original Song nomination, Chu is adamant about their emotional necessity to the storytelling. "Even after we recorded them, even after we put them in the movie, we kicked the tires on them to make sure that we had to put them in this movie," he notes. "Otherwise, it wasn't worth it."

Home is a prevalent theme in *The Wizard of Oz *and all its attendant properties, be it *The Wiz *or *Wicked *— so why not amplify the concept through new songs? "Both witches are trying to find their way home," says Chu. "Both of these songs are about how to do that, and it's questions that I've always wanted to hear from them in the stage show, but never got to. We get to take our time and explore those questions."

Though *Wicked *fans do have the stage show as a template for what to expect, *For Good *remains more of an open-ended question than the first film. The second act is notoriously rushed and nowhere near as well-regarded as the first. That gave Chu and the creative team a lot of leeway to imagine the end of their story. Below, Chu teases some of what we can expect alongside a crop of exclusive new images.

'Wicked: For Good' trailer bursts with wedding gowns, flying monkeys, and new vocals, oh my!

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One of the biggest challenges of Act 2 of *Wicked *is how little time Glinda and Elphaba actually spend together. After Elphaba makes her choice with "Defying Gravity," Glinda largely becomes an agent of the Wizard and rarely interacts with Elphaba, who remains on the run. Chu wanted to make every effort to change that.

Not only does the movie reunite them sooner than the stage show, he says, but they will also have more scenes together. "What we really focused on was, no matter what, it's always about either one of them or their relationship," he explains. "What we discovered was, 'It's the girls, stupid!' at every turn. So, when one's going through something, there's something that they've learned from the other that affects them, or the fact the other person is not there is part of what can't get them to their goal. It's always about them."

Let's have a celebration the Glinda way

Ariana Grande in 'Wicked: For Good'.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Dear Old Shiz has been left behind in *For Good, *with both Glinda and Elphaba embarking on their adult lives. While Elphaba has no choice but to go it alone, Glinda brings on a large support staff.

"She's no longer a student," says Chu. "She has progressed into working for the Wizard, and all of Oz are looking to her to represent goodness. Presenting that takes a lot of staff and a lot of infrastructure. She has to go around Oz and deliver goodness."

"Here, she is with her full staff that is helping her to spread goodness everywhere," the director explains. Including Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (Bronwyn James), who have become part of her team.

No good deed goes unpunished

Cynthia Erivo in 'Wicked: For Good'.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

At the conclusion of 2024's *Wicked, *Elphaba fully embraced the potential of her power, taking to the sky to defy gravity. But *For Good *will now find her plumbing the limits (and costs) of such magic.

"If you think she flew in the first movie, she *flies*," teases Chu. "She's now surrendered to who she is. Is it a blossoming? Absolutely. But she did not realize how lonely it would be to become who you are meant to be."

Loneliness and doubts, he says, trouble her. "Is your instinct right? Is what you believe actually the way it's supposed to be?" he continues. "She is struggling with that, but she comes into her full power. In 'No Good Deed,' she's like, 'You want me to be wicked? I'll f---ing be wicked.' And you get to see her become, for some moments, the Wicked Witch of the West that they want her to be."

The tiniest bit unlike I anticipated

Ariana Grande in 'Wicked: For Good'.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

** Just as Elphaba chose to speak out against the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), Glinda chose complicity — a fact that she now must reckon with, particularly when confronted with the audacious rumors and lies that the government spreads about her former bestie.

"I love this image of Glinda sitting on a throne, essentially, of propaganda flyers and falseness," says Chu. "She knows [these things are] not the truth about her friend. What does that make you feel when you realize you're trapped and elevated by this lie? It calls into question where she stands."

A wonderful road of yellow brick

Jeff Goldblum in 'Wicked: For Good'.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

We didn't actually meet the Wizard of Oz until the climax of *Wicked, *but *For Good *brings the man behind the curtain out to center stage as he builds his yellow brick road and orchestrates a smear campaign against Elphaba.

However, Chu says the Wizard isn't a typical villain, but rather a man who truly believes that what he is doing is in service of a greater good. "He thinks people need a good story," the director explains. "He really believes that it's for the good of Oz, and his story keeps getting bigger and bigger because it's what provokes people.

"The yellow brick road is what he thinks as the Oz of tomorrow," Chu continues. "The Oz of tomorrow will lead you right to him, and if it leads you to him, then you don't have to ever fear anything else. He will protect you. He will give you your heart's desire. The yellow brick road represents this idea of 'Hey, don't worry about anything else, just focus on doing your thing and walking the yellow brick road.' It's connecting everybody; he genuinely believes in it."

However, that's not to say that the Wizard isn't also blinded by the fame and power his position affords him. "Once you get a taste of that power, how far will you go?" Chu asks. "How far will you go to entertain? And at what point have you gone too far?"

As long as you're mine

Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande in 'Wicked: For Good'.

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

After the events of the first film, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) also opts to stick with Glinda, despite Elphaba peaking his interest and stirring his heart and mind. However, his conflicted emotions over Elphaba's vilification will eventually lead the trio to a full-blown love triangle.

"It's more than just love," adds Chu. "It's about how you see the world. In *Wicked, *Elphaba breaks his brain when she calls him out in the forest. He has not stopped thinking about it, so much so that it may be driving him a little bit nuts. Yet, he feels so powerless for the first time in his life. He can't just dance right through it."

A large part of his internal conflict comes from his job as a member of the Wizard's Guard, here known as the Gale Force (as in Dorothy Gale), while ostensibly being fully committed to Glinda.

"The Gale Force's job is to hunt down the Wicked Witch," Chu says. "We discover that he's on that Gale Force to get to her first. Because if someone else gets to her, then who knows what will happen. So there's a nobility in that, but also an ickiness."

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"Both Glinda and him deal with the reality of what they have to do versus what they truly feel is right," he continues. "They have two different philosophies, and they're on a collision course here. Of course, bursting through the clouds is our Elphaba, who's already made her decision and is just waiting for somebody to catch up."

Fans of the stage show will know that Fiyero does eventually catch up, hooking up with Elphaba during the sexy ballad "As Long As You're Mine," which Chu teases will deliver more on its romantic suggestions than the theatrical production.

As he puts it, "You finally get to feel the ascension that they give each other through the relationship."

Well, everyone deserves a chance to fly after all.

*Wicked: For Good* flies into theaters Nov. 21.

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