Wicked: For Good, the second instalment of the Wicked films was released on the 21st November 2025. Directed by Jon M Chu and starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, it follows Elphaba and Galinda’s journey almost immediately after the end of the first film. The sets and costuming create an atmosphere, where you can, if you truly wanted to, forget about the messages of the film and focus on the same things that the people of Oz focus on.

There were many points that stood out, often continued motifs from the previous film that were given more context: issues like animal cruelty and racism are present throughout the whole visual narrative.

The animal abuse that is used in order to build the yellow brick road shatters the childlike wonder that we have been taught to associate with the road in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Not having the same contexts that we do in this narrative, everything felt like it was perfectly fine.

It also feels now like that older film is the interpretation that the people of Oz would have had of the events. Having fallen so far into the propaganda machine, Madame Morrible ensures that they, the Ozians, cannot see anything more than what she is showing them, just like the viewer when watching the older film.

Racism plays a role in this film like it did in the first installment of this duology.

This time it feels more poignant, as we are exposed to the propaganda being pushed and the degree with which it has been circulated. The way that it is described and shown feels very reminiscent of historical racist propaganda, especially from World War II. The ways in which the flyers with Elphaba’s face are distributed highlight the complete control that the way a person looks has over the narrative for them in Oz.

This is also seen in the reactions to the good witch, Galinda. She starts the film just sort of being a puppet for the Wizard and Madame Morrible. It is through conversations with Elphaba and Fiyero that she begins to question how Oz operates and how people need to be helped, though they do not realise that they do.

Galinda is treated so well just because she fits in an agreeable colour palette and she has a good reputation. The way that other characters interact with her is almost cult-like: everything she does they must know about and emulate. This is why it is so important that she starts to emulate Elphaba and do things that are actually good, not just societally good, towards the end of the film.

It is unfortunate, however, that change cannot come from Elphaba and that it has to come from Galinda, because she is palatable to the public enough that they will actually listen.

A scene that I find very visually striking and politically interesting is the wedding scene that is intersliced with the scene of Elphaba finding the animals in cages. The wedding is framed as a distraction—it is the coming together of the two people in Oz that are the most socially important outside of the Wizard.

They act as a distraction for the people so that they have something else to occupy them that will stop them from thinking critically of the world around them.

In contrast, Elphaba discovers the full extent of the Wizard’s lies and deception in finding exactly what Ozians are being distracted from. The fact that when the animals are released the people do not question why they are there outside of the context, shows just how far the social conditioning goes.

Overall, it is an incredibly well made film that touches on many important topics in a way that is both visually appealing and emotionally striking.