Warning: Includes MASSIVE SPOILERS for Wicked: For Good!
Elphaba’s fate can be quite confusing in Wicked: For Good’s ending, and it’s worth looking deeper into the story. Coming in as a sequel to 2024’s Wicked, Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: For Good adapts the second act of the Broadway stage musical of the same name, wrapping up Elphaba and Glinda’s story. The musical is also based on the novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire, which is inspired by L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz books and the 1939 film adaptation.
The back half of the Wicked movies incorporates several narrative elements from The Wizard of Oz, from the integration of Dorothy, and the fates of Fiyero, Nessarose, and Boq. However, the movie makes a notable twist from the 1939 movie’s ending, giving the Wicked Witch of the West, or as we know her, Elphaba, a much more satisfying ending.
How ‘Wicked’ Changes ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and Whether Elphaba Survives
The first climax of Wicked: For Good shows Elphaba and Glinda battling it out after Nessarose’s death, and it’s revealed that Morrible and Glinda had set up a trap for her. Elphaba is cornered by the Ozian soldiers, but Fiyero comes to her aid. After Elphaba escapes, the soldiers take Fiyero captive and hang him like a scarecrow, but Elphaba casts a spell to save his life. Fiyero is saved, but his body is altered, turning him into the classic Wizard of Oz character. Elphaba is furious at Glinda for her betrayal, having just lost her sister and the love of her life.
Next, the Wizard sends Dorothy, a girl from another world seeking his help, on a witch hunt to kill Elphaba. As the streets of the Emerald City are riled up by Dorothy, the Tin Man (Previously Boq) and Madame Morrible, Glinda watches in disgust, realizing that her desire for affection and jealousy of Elphaba has made her complicit in terrible deeds. So, she rides out to the castle to find Elphaba before Dorothy gets to her, and Elphaba has a realization: she’s been going about this wrong the whole time.
Elphaba and Glinda complement each other perfectly as characters because they’re opposites in many regards. Elphaba may have a strict moral compass, knowing right from wrong and how to fight for it, but she’s never been good with people. No matter what, she will be made to be the villain because she’s different. What Elphaba decides is that the only way for good to come to Oz, the people must follow Glinda, who has the affectation to steer the citizens in the right direction. In turn, Glinda realizes that Elphaba has made her a better, more empathetic person, and is ready to be the champion of goodness in Oz.
Elphaba fakes her death, hiding under a trapdoor after Dorothy “kills” her with a bucket of water. With this act, she sacrifices the part of her who embraced the “Wicked Witch” persona, leaving the hat, the symbol of that darkness, behind. Glinda returns to the Emerald City and forces the Wizard to leave, putting him to shame by revealing that he was Elphaba’s father the whole time, and also has Madame Morrible arrested. Knowing that Glinda’s leadership is best for Oz and that her friend will keep the world safe, Elphaba can finally go and secretly find peace.
Where Elphaba and Fiyero Really Go in ‘Wicked: For Good’s Ending
Our final glimpse at Elphaba shows her and Fiyero, now the Scarecrow, reunited at the castle. There, they depart together into the secret tunnel, which was teased in Wicked (2024) as a path for the animals to escape Oz. Earlier in the film, before Elphaba sings “No Place Like Home,” we see animals heading into the tunnel, and Elphaba imagines what a different world would be like: a place where she could escape from the political horrors and complexity of Oz; a fresh start.
In terms of the physical question of “Where is that?”, it’s hard to say. As a physical space, Oz is surrounded on all sides by “impassable desert,” which could match the terrain we see in those shots. All Wicked: For Good shows the audience is that Elphaba and Fiyero leave Oz to go to another place. In a metaphorical sense, this seems to be a happily-ever-after ending for the pair, as they travel into the unknown, finally free to live a peaceful, fulfilling life.
How ‘Wicked: For Good’s Ending Differs From the Book & Musical
Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: For Good is adapted from the musical and essentially ends in the same way it does, with Elphaba and Fiyero departing and Glinda activating the Grimmerie. In the novel, however, Elphaba’s fate is much darker, with it seeming like she actually does die from the water bucket. The final lines of the book imply that she may one day return, but the sequel novels explore other characters in her place. As for what exactly happens to Elphaba and Fiyero after the musical, there’s no information in other media beyond what audiences saw in Wicked: For Good.
- Release Date
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November 21, 2025
- Runtime
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137 Minutes
- Writers
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Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire
- Producers
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Marc Platt, David Stone