Wicked: For Good sparks with emotion and timely relevance

The year-long wait for the second and final film in the Wicked series is over, and fans of the story are sure to adore its epic conclusion. By Noelle Adams

- Noelle Adams

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande play two former best friends pitted against each other. Cynthia Erivo during a battle in Wicked: For Good.

You may want to revisit 2024's Wicked (you can stream it on Showmax) before returning to the Land of Oz because the second instalment, Wicked: For Good, picks up almost directly where the first film ended.

Director Jon M Chu shot the two Wicked movies together and broke them at the exact point dividing act one and two of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's theatre production. Which is a roundabout way of saying Wicked: For Good offers zero entry point for newcomers. You need to have seen the first film to understand the characters and plot.

The latter takes place before, alongside and after the events of L Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and loosely uses Gregory Maguire's spin-off novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West as its basis.

In Wicked: For Good, outcast Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) has been redubbed the Wicked Witch of the West as part of a propaganda campaign by the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and his press secretary, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).