"Wicked: For Good” – Female friendships are why we are here
By Chayse Larsen
In an entertainment landscape where romance often serves as the emotional center of blockbuster films, "Wicked: For Good" – the long anticipated screen adaptation of the hit musical – offers a refreshing shift from what audiences typically have come to expect. The story does not focus on the romantic subplot, but instead on the complicated and transformative friendship between two women.
Directed by John M. Chu and produced by Universal Pictures, "Wicked: For Good" follows the aftermath of the first film’s climatic ending.
Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West, who is determined to expose the Wizard’s true nature and to protect Oz’s animals from losing their freedom and their voice. Glinda Upland, played by Ariana Grande, the widely adored “Good” Witch, faces a parallel but contrasting journey. She must navigate her newfound power and the moral compromises required by her proximity to the Wizard.
While the film retains the musical’s humor, it deepens the emotional core by highlighting the bond between its two protagonists.
Much of the film's resonance comes from treating the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda with the same seriousness and complexity that films typically reserve for romance plots. The two characters start as rivals – politics, societal expectations and their own personal insecurities come into play. Yet their relationship quickly evolves into a deep bond built on admiration, loyalty and a shared vulnerability.
This evolution is not treated as a secondary thread – it is the story. The friendship drives the central conflict of the film. It shapes their moral decisions and ultimately frames the emotional impact of their separation in the end.
That theme reaches its emotional peak in the film’s penultimate number, and namesake, “For Good.” The song serves as the film’s resolution, bringing together two characters who could not be more different for a final intimate moment before Elphaba allows the world to believe she has been killed by Dorothy. The scene is devastating, inviting audiences to reflect on how friendships shape identity and how life would be fundamentally different without them.
The song’s lyrics underscore this complexity.
Lines such as, “Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good,” capture the film’s central question: is transformation always a good thing?
The film never offers a simple answer. Instead, it suggests that change, whether painful or empowering, is inevitable when someone truly matters.
Ultimately, "Wicked: For Good" succeeds not only as an adaptation of a widely adored musical, but as a rare film that gives female friendship the narrative weight it deserves.
In contrast to films that frame women’s relationships as competitive or disposable, "Wicked: For Good" presents friendship as a force built on respect, admiration and care.
At a moment when audiences are increasingly drawn to stories that challenge familiar formulas, this film makes a compelling case that friendship can be just as powerful as an epic romance.