Sometimes, the course of friendship doesn’t run smooth. Just take Wicked, the perspective-altered reframing of The Wizard Of Oz’s iconic characters, in which the Wicked Witch Of The West is our heroic Elphaba, her destiny entwined with that of Glinda the Good Witch. As those who saw the first film in Jon M. Chu’s two-part adaptation of the hit stage musical know, the kinship of Elphaba and Glinda – played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande – began with loathing; unadulterated loathing. And yet, through careful increments, they became friends amid the tumult of a sinister plot in Oz. And as Chu gears up to release the second chapter, Wicked: For Good, Elphaba and Glinda’s story has only just begun.
Where we left them, Elphaba had defied gravity, rejecting the corrupt status quo of Oz’s leading powers; Glinda, with all respect for her counterpart, stayed behind in Oz. From here, every choice they make has major ramifications. “There’s no real endgame for friendship: no wedding, no baby,” Chu tells Empire in our world-exclusive Wicked: For Good issue, on the pair’s evolving bond. “The test for friendship is the darkness, the fight, the saving each other, and it explores all these things. Friendship often has to end in our lives, but it doesn’t devalue the moment.” As dark forces rise in the Emerald City, can our heroes offer each other salvation?
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For Erivo, that depiction of friendship is Wicked’s true power. “I think sometimes we underestimate how powerful friendships can be,” she says. “Often when we see women on screen together, they’re adversaries, and rarely do you see women in the centre of a film being friends. I think sometimes people find it hard to believe that people have really good relationships as friends, so sometimes it becomes warped or sexualised. With this, what was really beautiful is that I think people started to go with us.” There’s a bit of Elphaba and Glinda in everyone.
It’s a friendship that continued over into Erivo and Grande’s own partnership – all encapsulated in the song that gives part two its title: ‘For Good’. Whenever rain stopped play during production, the crew ventured inside to capture the big showstopper. “It was a long series of shoot days,” says Grande. “I just remember at that point really not being sure where Glinda ended and I began. Those were such devastating days, but beautiful.” Wicked: For Good might spell the beginning of the end – but some things last forever.