The darker half of Depraved’s story, Depraved: For Good follows Elphaba Thropp after defying the Wizard of Oz and being branded the Depraved Witch of the West. Directed by Jon M. Chu, the movie stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum. Each For Good and the earlier installment adapt the Depraved Broadway musical, which in flip tailored the 1995 novel Depraved: The Life and Occasions of the Depraved Witch of the West.
All three iterations of the story grapple with broader themes of what it means to be good and the way propaganda can obscure a corrupt regime, although the musical has notably sanded down the perimeters of the novel. Lately, Erivo, who portrays Elphaba, mentioned how these themes formed her iteration of the witch: “I’ve by no means seen Elphaba as an evil character, however I believe […] what was clarified for me is that notion is all the pieces.“
“What we see pretty much as good, and what we see as evil might be warped and shifted, relying on who’s, who we’re taking a look at, and thru what eyes, by way of what lens we’re trying by way of,” continued Erivo. “So if we, relying on how you’re feeling a few sure sort of individual, relying on how you’re feeling concerning the pores and skin the individual resides in, relying on how you’re feeling the individual sounds or seems, is what, is the lens we glance by way of.”
Likewise, Erivo famous that the idea of goodness is subjective. “How we use the phrase ‘good,’ is it actually good? Or is it a type of, an apparition of excellent?“ the actress mused. “The distinction between what good truly is, and what good might be perceived to be, and what evil truly is, and what evil might be perceived to be. And who we will truly lay the blame on, and the way straightforward it’s to push it on another person.“
For her half, Grande, who performs Elphaba’s estranged pal and a pawn of the Wizard, said: “I really like the query the film asks.” She then added she appreciates how For Good “invitations folks to think about why these labels are type of projected so simply.“
“Individuals are type of the buildup of all of their experiences, of their harm and of their issues, and type of we reside in a time [when] all the pieces is erased of context and humanness, and issues are boiled right down to a fast soundbite or a fast headline,” Grande mentioned, addressing the politically tinged message of the movie. “And I believe that, whereas folks can do good issues, and other people can do depraved issues, it’s an attention-grabbing theme within the story, to ask folks to search for the humanness, or what is likely to be on the opposite aspect. You by no means actually know the entire story. You don’t know.“
Although Elphaba’s campaign towards the Wizard is justified, the entire of Oz would not see it that manner, and Glinda is pressured to decide on between being good and performing goodness. Their shared journey reaches its climactic finale when Depraved: For Good releases in theaters on November 21, 2025.
Depraved: For Good
8/10
- Launch Date
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November 21, 2025
- Runtime
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137 Minutes
- Director
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Jon M. Chu
- Writers
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Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire