Warning: This post contains spoilers for Act Two of the Wicked stage musical! Wicked: For Good can explore an essential part of the story that the original musical skipped over. The 1995 novel Wicked is a thought-provoking twist on the story of The Wizard of Oz, providing context for the Wicked Witch of the West and her sinister motivations. While the musical alters many details from the book, it still focuses on the same concept.
The 2024 film expertly adapted Act One of the musical, fully visualizing the world of Oz in a way only films can. However, the first movie is primarily focused on Elphaba’s background and her budding friendship with Glinda. It does contain references to the events of The Wizard of Oz, but it’s mainly a prequel to the classic story that many are familiar with.
Act Two is where the events of Wicked align with the 1939 film, revealing what’s happening in Oz as Dorothy travels to see the Wizard. Still, Dorothy and her friends are rarely seen in the stage musical, as the focus remains on Elphaba. Wicked 2 can explore Dorothy’s side of the story, possibly showing how the first film’s events impacted her dynamic with the other characters.
Wicked: For Good Can Show Dorothy’s Interactions With The Scarecrow And The Tin Man
During Dorothy’s journey down the Yellow Brick Road, she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. The three characters accompany her to Oz as each has a special request from the Wizard. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Man wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion wants courage. However, little is known about each character’s origin in the original story.
Wicked puts a unique spin on these characters, especially the Tin Man and Scarecrow, whose true identities are Boq and Fiyero, respectively. In Act Two of the musical, Boq tries to leave Nessarose and confess his love for Glinda before she marries Fiyero. Nessa attempts to cast a love spell on him, but botches it, and leaves Boq with a shrunken heart.
Elphaba saves him, but the only way is to turn him into a Tin Man who doesn’t require a heart to live. Fiyero’s transformation into the Scarecrow is also an outcome of Elphaba’s spells. After letting Elphaba escape, Fiyero is captured and tortured by the Wizard’s guards. Elphaba believes he’s dead and casts a spell to save him, which turns him into a scarecrow.
While Wicked gives these iconic characters new identities, it doesn’t explore how it connects to the original story. Dorothy and her three friends are never seen interacting in the musical, as her only appearance is as a silhouette when she throws the bucket of water that melts Elphaba. Director Jon M. Chu has confirmed that Dorothy will be more involved in Wicked: For Good, saying:
That intersection is the place that we were first introduced into Oz. We tread lightly, but try to make more sense of how it impacts our girls and our characters than maybe the show does.
He remained vague about how much screen time she will have, but he does indicate that the two storylines will intersect more than they did in the original. Chu has the opportunity to show how the new backgrounds of the Tin Man and the Scarecrow could change the dynamic between the four characters.
Wicked: For Good Could Deepen The Scarecrow And Tin Man – But Should It?
Unfortunately, Wicked‘s twist on The Wizard of Oz‘s characters does create a small plot hole. It wouldn’t make sense for the Tin Man and the Scarecrow to omit their connection to the Wicked Witch of the West, unless their spell gave them some form of amnesia. Elphaba also wouldn’t do things, like light the Scarecrow on fire, if she loved Fiyero.
The Tin Man and Scarecrow would also likely not be friends if they could remember their past lives. Boq already harbored resentment toward Fiyero for being the person that Glinda chose. Wicked: For Good could address these issues by showing their interactions with Dorothy, possibly altering their relationship and dialogue based on the events of the first film.
It would be interesting to see how Fiyero and Boq are as the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. Since the musical shows so little of their time after they’re transformed, it’s a completely new frontier for the movie to show. It’s certain Wicked: For Good will need to add some new material to make Act Two movie-length, and this could be one area ripe for expansion.
However, this presents another challenge as it could overly complicate the sequel. The musical proved that audiences are willing to accept the events of Wicked as they align with The Wizard of Oz. It does create some questions, but Glinda and Elphaba’s story is so intriguing that it’s easy to forget about how it supposedly connects to Dorothy.
The upcoming sequel will likely be long, and cutting back to Tin Man and Scarecrow to fix any continuity errors could make it feel tedious and overstuffed. It will be exciting to see more of Dorothy and how her storyline intersects with Wicked: For Good, but trying to make the two align perfectly could hurt Elphaba and Glinda’s stories, which needs to remain the primary focus.
Wicked: For Good
- Release Date
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November 21, 2025
- Director
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Jon M. Chu
- Writers
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Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire
- Producers
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Marc Platt
