To say that the first part of Jon M. Chu's blockbuster take on Broadway smash Wicked went down well with fans and critics alike would be something o
To say that the first part of Jon M. Chu’s blockbuster take on Broadway smash Wicked went down well with fans and critics alike would be something of an understatement. The filmmaker’s Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo starring Wizard Of Oz prequel wasn’t just popular — it was a box-office record breaker. Now Chu just has the unenviable task of, er, sticking the landing on his wildly ambitious Wicked Witch Of The West origin story with Wicked: For Good. Luckily, if the spellbinding first trailer for our return to Oz is anything to go by, it looks like we’re in sheltered hands. Hold onto your hats (and brooms) — it’s gonna be emotional:
Holy Shiz! When we talked to Chu last year following Wicked‘s release, the director told Empire he had the goods for Part Two, confidently hailing For Good ‘a doozy’. And on present evidence, that was no lie. With Ariana Grande’s Glinda and Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba having chosen their sides in the fight for Oz’s freedom at the end of Wicked, Glinda acquiescing to the smoke and mirrors of Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard while Elphie became a pariah to pledge herself to freeing Oz’s imprisoned animals, the stage is set for an emotional — and, let’s face it, bloody epic — conclusion here. Not only does this trailer give us Grande and Erivo blasting legendary Broadway banger ‘For Good’ as Glinda and Elphie’s singular friendship is set to become the final frayed thread of hope for a brighter future, but we also glimpse the returns of Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Boq (Ethan Slater), and Nessarose (Marissa Bode), as well as the arrival of a certain ruby-slippered girl from Kansas and her Yellow Brick Road walking friends. In other words, there is a lot going on — and we are here for it.
Can Elphaba and Glinda find a way to save Oz — and themselves — before it’s too overdue? Will the Wizard and Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) get away with their wicked schemes? And what are we to make of this Dorothy lass and her quirky friends? Okay so technically yes, we already know thanks to L. Frank Baum’s books, The Wizard Of Oz movie, Gregory Maguire’s Wicked tomes, and the stage show. But we’ll see if Jon M. Chu can simultaneously stick the landing and defy gravity once again with his version when Wicked: For Good hits cinemas on 21 November. A-WOAH-OH-AH-OH-WOAH-OH-OHHHH!
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