Ariana Grande has finally revealed the truth behind the title change for the Wicked sequel, which is due out next year.
The 31-year-old stars with Cynthia Erivo in the two-part movie adaptation of the smash hit 2003 Broadway musical, which told the backstory of the Wicked Witch Of The West from L. Frank Baum’s beloved novel The Wizard Of Oz.
Cynthia plays Elphaba, a green girl with magical powers who later becomes the Wicked Witch, while Ariana features as Galinda, her college roommate and best friend who ultimately emerges as her rival Glinda The Good Witch Of The North.
Wicked: Part One bowed at the box office Thanksgiving week and recently passed the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office.
This week it was announced that the title of Wicked: Part Two will in fact be Wicked: For Good, named after the climactic song from the stage musical.
Now Ariana has disclosed the story behind the name of the upcoming movie, and when she found out about the subtitle, via Variety.
‘We had [For Good] printed on our original scripts, the hard copies that we were originally given,’ Ariana shared in her new interview.
‘We were floating around different ideas but the scripts were printed with it since day one. I’m glad it’s official now because we grew rather attached to it.’
Written by Stephen Schwartz, the song For Good is a duet for Elphaba and Glinda, who have been forced by circumstances into opposing sides of a war but are singing one last ode to their friendship.
A fan-favorite lyric runs: ‘Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you, because I knew you, I have been changed for good.’
Director Jon M. Chu had always planned a two-part adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book that showed characters from the Wizard of Oz in a whole new light.
On Monday the studio announced the sequel – formerly known to the public as simply Wicked: Part 2 – will now be called Wicked: For Good, via The Hollywood Reporter.
The studio revealed the title with a brief video on the Wicked Instagram, which already has more than 760K likes in just three hours.
The sequel is still set for release on November 21, 2025, which currently puts it up against Paramount’s The Running Man remake starring Glen Powell.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo will return as Glinda and Elphaba, following the pair’s iconic friendship.
The film debuted in a huge way at the box office with $112.5 million from 3,888 theaters.
It has currently taken in $359.1 million at the domestic box office with $166.1 million from foreign markets for $525.2 million worldwide.
The film has caused a bit of controversy with theater chains like AMC discouraging fans from singing along to the iconic songs from the musical, the fourth-longest in Broadway history which has been running for 21 years.
However, it was recently announced that Universal will be releasing a ‘sing-along’ version starting Christmas Day.
The sing-along screenings – where fans will be encouraged to sing along in theaters – will run from December 25 to January 2.
The cast for the sequel will also include Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum.
Erivo recently opened up about preparations to take on such an iconic musical, admitting, ‘It took a lot of training.’
‘Normally when you sing a big song you are grounded by the floor beneath you, but in a harness and a corset you have to find where the breath needs to be. It took a lot of physical and psychological tricks,’ she added.
When asked about co-star Grande, Erivo said, ‘We only got together once we knew we were doing it. The first time we sang we realised our voices work so well together.’
Cynthia concluded: ‘It’s been three years in the making, so now I get to talk about it. I am very, very happy it is out.’
‘I’ve gained a sister,’ she said in Elle’s 2024 Women in Hollywood portfolio. ‘At this point, we speak almost every day. Both of us were blown away by how connected we were immediately.’
