Elphaba Thropp’s parentage is a major lingering question throughout Wicked and Wicked: For Good — and fans will eventually get their answer.
This post has spoilers for Wicked: For Good.
In the first Wicked movie — just like the stage musical of the same name — Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) had a green complexion because her deceased mother drank a magical elixir of the same color that she was given by the then-unidentified man with whom she had an affair.
Neither Elphaba nor her father, who was the governor of Munchkinland before his death, were initially aware of his then-wife’s romantic tryst outside of her marriage. As musical fans will remember, it’s similarly revealed in the film that the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is indeed the Wicked Witch of the West’s biological father.
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How Does The Wizard Find Out He’s Elphaba’s Father?
At the end of For Good, Elphaba’s on-off BFF Glinda (Ariana Grande) offers the Wizard a green-colored potion to reveal his paternity. He subsequently flees Oz just as Glinda arrests Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). The rest of the Ozian residents live happily ever after.
‘Wicked: For Good’ Deviates From the Stage Show
While Wicked is based on the beloved Broadway production, movie director Jon M. Chu made it clear that the second film in particular would deviate from the original performance.
“I didn’t have to convince anyone of anything. They believed our world, they believed in Elphaba,” Chu, 46, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Thursday, November 20. “It showed us that they were willing to follow and supported this switch of Elphaba [stepping into the role of ‘the Wicked Witch’]. Independence feels like rejection before feeling like growth, and I think we could lean into that.”
He continued, “When initially planning these two movies, you don’t know how people are going to take it. You’re like, ‘Well, they’re going to want the fun and the dance in movie two, so we got to make sure it is light and bubbly.’ But [For Good] is not a light and bubbly story. Things have shattered.”
According to Chu, the fans’ willingness to accept a darker version of Wicked allowed him “a lot of freedom” to explore the characters’ development and growth.
Jeff Goldblum and Cynthia Erivo in ‘Wicked: For Good.’ Giles Keyte / Universal Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection
“The audience is in and they want the characters to grow,” he told the outlet. “It gave me a lot of freedom, actually, because now I could sit in that silence. Now, I know I don’t have to sugarcoat some of those moments.”
Not only did Chu adapt the script from the original source material, but he also added new songs to the repertoire.
“I am very, very nervous — especially because I know a lot of people express their love for that song,” Marissa Bode, who plays Elphaba’s sister Nessarose, exclusively told Us Weekly earlier in November of fans finally hearing her “The Wicked Witch of the East” solo. “It’s not on the original Broadway album, I believe, and it is on this [soundtrack], so there’s a lot of pressure there. I hope I did it justice, and I hope audiences enjoy it.”
In addition to Nessarose’s musical soliloquy, both Elphaba and Galinda were also given newly written songs.
Wicked: For Good is in theaters now.
