Why Elphaba & Glinda Look So Different In Wicked: For Good's Poster

Warning: This article contains potential spoilers for the upcoming movie Wicked: For Good.Those who adored the 2024 movie-musical phenomenon of Wicked are now eagerly awaiting Wicked: For Good, and the appearance of the first poster for the second half means we will likely see more marketing soon. After Wicked depicted the formation of the friendship between Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba and Ariana Grande-Butera's Glinda and set them on clear paths to becoming the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of Oz, Wicked 2 will see the divide between them widen. And, this conflict will inevitably be reflected in the movie's various stellar designs.

Wicked won two Oscars at the 2025 ceremony, for Best Production and Best Costume Design. Costume designer Paul Tazewell played an invaluable role in Wicked's success, creating stunning pieces that allude to the histories of how Oz has been portrayed in cinema and theater while allowing these iterations of the characters to stand on their own. People should be excited to see more of Elphaba and Glinda's wardrobes in the next movie, and the first images from it tease entirely new appearances.

How Elphaba & Glinda Look Different In Wicked: For Good

Elphaba & Glinda's New Wicked Witch & Bubble Dresses Explained

Poster of Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) on the verge of touching hands in Wicked.

For the Wicked: For Good poster, Elphaba is wearing her Wicked Witch costume in her customary black but with many more sharp angles, which is even more visible in the behind-the-scenes feature released with the movie digitally. Meanwhile, Glinda is wearing the movie version of her blue ballgown from the Broadway production, breaking the first movie's apparent design choice of having Glinda's entire wardrobe be pink. Elphaba upgrading her wardrobe to more dramatic silhouettes and Glinda opting for a different color for once establishes a new status quo.

Additionally, the image could not be more obvious with the literal chasm depicted between Elphaba and Glinda, as they face each other dramatically from opposite sides. Notably, the poster for the first movie also alluded to the forces of Oz tearing the friends apart, but they were depicted as being much closer to each other and were reaching for one another. After Wicked's win for Costume Design, everyone is paying apt attention to what the witches are wearing, which fits right in with the circumstances that the early advertising depicts.

What Elphaba & Glinda's New Looks Mean For Wicked: For Good's Story

The Friends Are Driven Apart By Personal Strife & The Politics Of Oz

Assuming Wicked: For Good remains true to the Broadway musical, it will pick up after a time jump, with Elphaba still on the run and being maligned by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible's (Michelle Yeoh) propaganda. Meanwhile, Glinda has become the Wizard's spokesperson and is still with Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who is the Captain of the Guard in the Emerald City. Both Elphaba and Glinda are seemingly doing their best with the skills they have in this fraught political landscape, but they are further pushed to be each other's enemy.

8 Ways Wicked 2 Will Be Different From The First Movie

Wicked: Part Two's story means that it will be a very different movie from its predecessor in terms of tone, characterizations, and structure.

Posts3

They are also genuinely frustrated with each other when they see the other's approach as ineffective or unethical — and tensions boil over when Fiyero leaves Glinda for Elphaba. Elphaba and Glinda adopting outfits different from their softer looks in the first movie, which were somewhat influenced by each other, shows how they will inadvertently cause each other pain as they are forced to take a stand. However, Wicked: For Good's very title acknowledges that they will also reconcile, as just two friends who were caught in a terrible situation but changed each other's lives for the better.