Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are officially saying goodbye to Glinda and Elphaba for good.
The stars of Jon M. Chu‘s Wicked sequel took to London’s Leicester Square on Monday night for the European premiere of the film. The pair, matching in extravagant black dresses, were joined by fellow cast members Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode and Michelle Yeoh on the yellow brick road carpet, ahead of the movie’s Nov. 21 release in theaters.
Fans — some donning Glinda crowns, others painted green — were desperate to catch a glimpse of the Wicked team, who have been playing these characters for some years now. Wicked: For Good takes place parallel to the events of the original Wizard of Oz and begins with Glinda (Grande), now officially dubbed Glinda the Good, and Fiyero (Bailey), now captain of the wizard’s guard, speaking with the public of Oz as officials for the Wizard (Goldblum). Madame Morrible (Yeoh), spinning an elaborately false version of events to Oz residents, sets out to bury Elphaba once and for all. But the Wicked Witch of the West isn’t done fighting.
“It feels like we’re coming home,” producer Marc Platt said onstage at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square. “And as you know, there’s no place like home. The house of these Wicked films was built, brick by brick, by the heart of an extraordinary filmmaker filled with imagination and talent and craft and humanity.”
As Chu took to the mic, he told the audience: “It feels good to share this, finally, with you. Sometimes making something that feels really big and and dreaming bigger than you’ve ever dreamed before can feel lonely, but we were just outside [on the carpet] on that yellow brick road, and I had Cynthia and Ari and Johnny and we linked arm to arm, which we’ve never done before. Suddenly that delusion that we had is very, very real and I’m so lucky I get to share this movie with you guys.”
The first of Chu’s Wicked films debuted to critical acclaim and swiftly accrued more than $750 million at the global box office. Such was the success of the movie that Erivo and Grande were both nominated for Academy Awards in the best actress and best supporting actress categories, respectively, at the 2025 Oscars. The movie also scored a best picture nomination, though Chu missed out on a best director nod.
At a London Film Festival event in October, Chu told audiences that they’ll finally understand the emotional press run for Wicked when they see Wicked: For Good. “Everyone’s like, ‘The girls were so emotional — why are they so emotional?’” he said.
“It’s because we lived both movies. We lived their meeting, their separation, their death. We lived the whole thing before you ever saw one frame of it. …. When you guys catch up and see this movie, we already know what you’re gonna feel. I’m excited for everyone to be there and finally share it and you’re gonna see these girls are incredible.”
