Animals, Wizards, Weddings, Oh My! 11 Easter Eggs in the Wicked: For Good Trailer

Musical theatre fans were glued to their computers at 9 PM ET on Wednesday night, as Wicked: For Good released its first trailer. Sure, many of us have probably seen Wicked on the stage multiple times and know the book and the songs by heart. But that didn't stop us from being thoroughly surprised and delighted by what we saw. While it was thrillifying to hear a bit of Cynthia Erivo performing "No Good Deed" or to get our first look at how the "For Good" duet will be staged on the screen, there were some moments in the trailer that point toward something new, including moments that were not in the stage show, and moments from the stage show that appear radically re-envisioned for the screen.

Below are some of the moments from the Wicked trailer that we have avidly been dissecting. Wicked: For Good releases in theatres November 21.

WARNING: Extensive spoilers for The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked novels, and the Wicked stage show abound!

In the opening of the trailer, we hear Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba vocalizing a tune that sounds quite new. Is it one of the two new songs that was written for Wicked: For Good? Also new is an interaction between Glinda and Elphaba in the Emerald City, with Glinda urging Elphaba to come inside to avoid detection by the Wizard's protection detail. In the musical, Elphaba and Glinda go years without contact after "Defying Gravity." Perhaps they have found a way around the restrictions of their political positions in this film? Also, the quick shot at :19 seconds in shows that Glinda parks her deactivated bubble outside. Guess that puts all bubble-storage questions to bed (bath?).

At around :23 seconds in, we hear the first notes of Erivo's version of "No Good Deed" and we see the very hideaway she's constructed for herself as an outlaw on the run (fly?). In the stage show, we don't usually see where Elphaba had been living while she's been hiding as a fugitive, but the forest-heavy design is accurate to Gregory Maguire's original Wicked novel, where much of the action plays out in the wild lands of Oz, including the Great Gillikin Forest, the Quadling Marshes, and the Thousand Year Grasslands in Winkie Country. Plus, Elphaba's tree house seems quite cozy—and potentially a romantic setting for "As Long As You're Mine."

In Elphaba's Tree House, we can also see a number of enchanted objects and what seems to be war plans, including marked-up maps, copies of propaganda posters, and even a few newspaper articles detailing the version of Elphaba that is being sold by the Wizard to the people of Oz. If the film is taking its cue from Maguire's original novel, this space is likely the nucleus of Elphaba's fervent resistance to the Wizard's authoritarian regime, including the alliances she forms with members of the Animal Resistance. On the map closest to Elphaba in the shot, several coordinates are handwritten in the corner, noting specific locations in different regions of Oz: safe houses, perhaps? Wicked has always been supremely political, but it appears that director Jon M. Chu is turning up the dial even more.

The trailer also confirms for us that there will be multiple The Wizard of Oz film references in Wicked: For Good. In the stage show, audiences never actually "see" Dorothy and her crew outside of shadows and a lion's tail, due to Warner Bros not giving the musical the rights to use that imagery. Thankfully, the film doesn't have that issue, which means we get to see Dorothy in full gingham walking down the yellow brick road, Madame Morrible (played by Michelle Yeoh) creating a very sepia-toned tornado, and Dorothy and her friends standing before the Wizard. Will they also speak the lines from the 1939 Oz film? Perhaps, since Elphaba does end the trailer by saying "I'm off to see the Wizard" (2:36). Callback!

Speaking of The Wizard of Oz: there appear to be multiple shot references in this trailer to Margaret Hamilton's depiction of the Wicked Witch of the West, including Elphaba crouched in the treeline, observing Fiyero's journey through what looks to be a very similar part of the woods to where Dorothy and friends fought off the dreaded Jitterbug in a cut sequence from the original film. Surely they won't be interpolating the sequence here, but for The Wizard of Oz superfans, it earned a squeal! Additionally, Elphaba writes "Our Wizard Lies" to the citizens of Oz using black smoke in the sky, similar to the "Surrender Dorothy" message in the 1939 film, and Elphaba can be seen resting her hand reverently on a pile of upturned yellow bricks, similar to how Hamilton interacted with the upturned bricks near Dorothy's house after it crushed her sister.

And where is Nessarose? She is conspicuously absent from this entire trailer, which means her outfit as the Wicked Witch of the East might be something quite special.

The official press notes for part two says that Glinda "attempts to broker a conciliation between Elphaba and The Wizard, but those efforts will fail, driving Elphaba and Glinda only further apart." At 1:03 in the trailer, we see Elphaba, Glinda (Ariana Grande), and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) dancing as rainbow lights reflect behind them (warming the hearts of Gelphie fans). It seems that the song "Wonderful," which is usually a duet between Elphaba and the Wizard, will now be a trio. It'll definitely make the song, which is arguably a skip for many Wicked fans (apologies), something we'll actually want to listen to.

Callbacks also abound in this trailer, from Glinda once again saying to Elphaba "think of what we could do, together" to numerous clips from this second film that previously appeared in trailers for Part One—sneaky, sneaky! It is that first callback that has us the most excited, however. The idea that Elphaba and Glinda try to form some kind of a true alliance in this half of the story, however fleeting, is invigorating. We just want the besties to get along (and maybe even kiss like they do in the novel)!

The For Good trailer presents more footage from Glinda and Fiyero's wedding. We have previously theorized that the wedding was a dream sequence, but perhaps things are actually what they seem. In the official press notes for part two, it says that Glinda is preparing for a "spectacular Ozian wedding." While things don't get that far for Glinda and Fiyero in the stage musical, these clips make it clear that director Chu is going to take the moment even further than the musical's Act Two opening song, "Thank Goodness." The trailer also shows the wedding getting disrupted by Animals at around 2:03, making it clear that, unlike in the stage show, this Elphaba has her book-accurate army of Animal comrades on her side. Perhaps Elphaba crashes the wedding, and then Fiyero chooses to go with her? That would certainly give Glinda a reason to side with Madame Morrible and the Wizard (and we all know all the unfortunate turn of events that occur when that happens).

What's a face without a mane? For the first time in this version of the story, we get a real good glimpse at the designs for the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow—and no, they didn't put a human actor in a lion costume à la Bert Lahr. Taking a cue from the slightly-modified-yet-photorealistic design used for Dr. Dillamond in Part One, the Cowardly Lion is a very large Namibia lion with extra expressive eyebrows, to make his anxiety clear on his face. Additionally, the Tin Man features a stockier build, and the Scarecrow sports a green coat with gold military detailing (sound similar to any other costume you spotted in the trailer?). Dorothy is, of course, accurate to the 1939 design—you can't improve on Judy Garland!

In the stage musical, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) runs in to try and rescue Elphaba from being captured by Glinda's guards. To do so, he threatens to shoot Glinda—which really showed that their engagement is over, and probably wouldn't go over well with a mass audience in 2025. In the trailer, around 1:56, Fiyero points a gun at the Wizard, suggesting that the scene where the two decide to run off together will be drastically changed from the stage version.

Admit it—did you tear up at around 1:09 when you heard Ariana Grande sing "For Good"? You may have been so overwhelmed with emotion that you forget to clock what she's holding in her hand: the Grimmerie. She also holds the Grimmerie at around 2:17, when she's wearing a different dress (Grande's delivery of "And I've had so many friends," chefs kiss). So it seems that between the duet of Glinda and Elphaba singing "For Good" and the ending scene where Glinda goes to deliver the news to her "fellow Ozians," there will be a time gap in between—usually in the stage show, the events occur one right after the other. What will happen in the gap? Perhaps some newly written scenes!

The trailer features two shots of a mysterious black-cloaked rider (at 1:34 and 1:47). Whoever that is, they're very important (and we previously theorized that they may be Elphaba riding off after she's been "melted"). Our theory still holds, and we look forward to seeing if we were right about that and any of these predictions come November 21!