The new title pays homage to a special song sung by the lead actresses
Wicked: Part Two is getting an upgraded title change following the success of the film’s release.
The second installment of the Jon M. Chu-directed blockbuster will now be known as Wicked: For Good, PEOPLE can confirm. The Universal Pictures film will still arrive on its previously announced date of Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.
“You will be changed. Wicked: For Good, only in theaters November 21, 2025.💚🩷,” Ariana Grande, who stars as Glinda in both editions, captioned a joint Instagram post along with her costar, Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba), on Monday, Dec. 16.
Both women also shared the news on their Instagram Stories, adding a countdown with 11 months and four days remaining until Part Two arrives.
Ariana Granda is Glinda and Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba in WICKED.
Universal Pictures
Wicked: For Good’s title change pays homage to a song sung in the musical. Grande, 31, and Erivo, 37, will perform the duet — which tells the story of how their feud turns to friendship — as well.
The Broadway musical version of the story is an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The first part of the film, also an adaptation, was released ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 22.
In April 2022, Chu, 45, explained his decision to split the films into two parts instead of one.
“As we prepared this production over last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of WICKED into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” he tweeted at the time.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in WICKED.
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
He added that releasing a second movie would give himself, Universal Pictures and the cast the opportunity to tell the story of Wicked “as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys of these beloved characters.”
Speaking to ScreenRant in November 2024, screenwriter Winnie Holzman summed it up by telling the outlet that she, composer Stephen Schwartz, producer Marc Platt and Chu agreed there was “too much story for one movie.”
In addition to Grande and Erivo, Wicked also stars Bridgerton actor Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Ethan Slater as Boq, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Bronwyn James as ShenShen, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Aaron Teoh as Avaric and Colin Michael Carmichael as Professor Nikidik.
(L-R) Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey and Bronwyn James attend the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures “Wicked” at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on November 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Amy Sussman/Getty
Although Wicked: For Good has already been filmed, Chu recently told Variety that Dorothy might appear in the sequel.
“In the [Broadway] show, Dorothy is around. They have to intersect, and you can only tease it so much,” he added, though fans catch a glimpse of her from behind in the first film.
“I won’t say whether she’s a character, necessarily, in movie two. There’s a part of me that wants everyone’s Dorothy to be whatever Dorothy they want. And yet, there is interaction and some crossover. So I’ll leave that up to Part Two.”
