Following up on its predecessor’s blockbuster success, Depraved: For Good is likely one of the most anticipated releases of 2025. Depraved turned a popular culture phenomenon upon its theatrical debut final yr, many years after the Broadway musical it’s based mostly on premiered. Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the movie reinterpreted the historical past of Elphaba and Glinda, the witches from L. Frank Baum’s The Great Wizard of Oz and its 1939 movie adaptation.
Elphaba (Erivo) and Glinda (Grande) change into unlikely mates after a rocky begin as school roommates, solely to face a crossroads when a run-in with the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) places them on reverse sides of a political divide. It is a heartbreaking flip for the buddies, as they share a tearful goodbye. Elphaba takes a stand in opposition to the Wizard for mistreating the Animals of Oz, whereas Glinda stays behind and turns into a central determine within the Wizard’s regime.
This seminal second, which options the smash hit tune “Defying Gravity,” serves because the finale of Depraved, however it’s only the midway level of the stage present. As such, For Good will chronicle the latter half of the musical, a call made by director Jon M. Chu and the opposite creatives behind the movie to higher replicate its themes and develop its characters.
“Depraved half one kind of performs as a construction for us to interrupt in film two,” Chu mentioned. “Film one was about this fairytale, was concerning the issues that we’re taught by watching motion pictures, or studying books, or what our mother and father taught us once we’re younger. And these hopes and these goals, after which the truth of it not being what we thought. After which having the braveness to step out and being who you might be. That’s a terrific factor you’ve gotten on a calendar, what you tweet out, or what you’ve gotten on a t-shirt, or… however that’s not actuality. Film two is actuality. Film two is what occurs after.”
Elphaba’s story in For Good sees her remoted from her former mates, household, and the higher inhabitants of Oz, vilified for standing up for her beliefs. Per Chu, this formed how the filmmakers approached her arc in For Good. He defined: “If you understand, ‘oh standing up, that’s loads… that’s much more lonely.’ You don’t have numerous mates, there are much more whispers.“
As a result of Elphaba and Glinda are on reverse sides of this ideological struggle, their friendship is in tatters all through act two of the musical, made worse by Fiyero, performed by Jonathan Bailey within the movie model, being torn between the 2 girls. Whereas Glinda has the assist of the Wizard and his followers, Elphaba is branded because the Depraved Witch of the West and has to battle her battles alone.
Regardless of this, the movie’s advertising has teased a reconciliation between the buddies, making it all of the extra heartbreaking to recollect simply how The Wizard of Oz ends. Depraved: For Good releases in theaters on November 21, 2025.
Depraved: For Good
- 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