‘Wicked: For Good’ First Look Teases How Elphaba & Glinda’s ‘Unbreakable’ Bond Is ‘Challenged’

The creators of Wicked are offering up a first look at the film’s sequel before they close out the story for good.

In a featurette posted Wednesday (Aug. 6), director Jon M. Chu and leading ladies Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande gave fans a narrated sneak peek at what takes place in Wicked: For Good, which will hit theaters in November.

Over previously unseen shots of main characters Elphaba and Glinda stepping into their roles as Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, respectively, Erivo says of the two women in the new video, “I believe their bond is unbreakable, but it is deeply challenged by the distance they have to navigate.”

“We really get to see how far we can push this friendship,” Grande agrees in a talking head of her own. “There’s nuance, there’s hurt, there’s forgiveness … These two women love each other so much, and they truly change each other for the better.”

The nearly three-minute video goes on to show behind-the-scenes clips from filming, including shots of Grande laughing with costar Michelle Yeoh and Erivo hugging Chu on set. We also see Chu show off the movie’s Yellow Brick Road, made with individual yellow bricks.

Plus, the featurette includes shots from the film that have previously popped up in trailers for For Good, like one of Dorothy from the original Wizard of Oz walking side-by-side with her iconic crew. “We get to see how these characters like the Tin Man and the Scarecrow and the Lion come to be,” Grande teases. “We see truly the origin story of the witches of Oz.”

Indeed, Wicked: For Good — which is inspired by the second act of the Broadway musical Wicked — will pull back the curtain on what supposedly happened between Elphaba and Glinda while Dorothy was simultaneously arriving in Oz and hunting the Wicked Witch in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. As Erivo’s green-skinned character attempts to save Oz’s animals while evading capture from the Wizard of Oz’s army, Grande’s character battles internal conflict over her role as a spokeswoman for the Wizard’s regime.

And by all accounts, For Good will be far moodier and more intense than the first Wicked. In her Billboard cover story, for instance, Erivo told Pride Editor Stephen Daw that Elphaba is “able to access her rage more” in For Good.

“The scent I wore changed,” she said at the time. “The makeup changed. Little shifts that bring you to a more mature version of who Elphaba becomes. And she is delicious in this next one.”

For Good already has plenty hype surrounding its premiere, but the sequel will have big ruby red slippers to fill. Premiering last November, the first Wicked earned two Oscars and grossed $755 million worldwide — more than any other film based on a Broadway musical before it.

Watch the new Wicked: For Good first look above.