Wicked ending explained: Easter eggs, cameos, differences to the Broadway musical, and more

EntertainmentMoviesMusicalsWickedWicked ending explained: Easter eggs, cameos, differences to the Broadway musical, and moreWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. EntertainmentMoviesMusicalsWickedWicked ending explained: Easter eggs, cameos, differences to the Broadway musical, and moreWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Universal) If you’ve already caught the movie musical in the multiplex and have any questions about how things wind up for Elphaba, Glinda, and co., we’ve got everything you need to know right here, from Easter eggs to when Wicked Part Two is set to soar onto our screens. Be warned, though: there aremajor Wicked spoilers ahead! Wicked Part One ending explained (Image credit: Universal) Glinda follows Elphaba through the palace and they end up in a tower. They find a hot air balloon there and attempt to hijack it, but the guards foil their plan. The pair ascend higher into the tower into an attic room and bar the door with a broom. Meanwhile, Morrible issues an announcement throughout Oz that Elphaba is a wicked witch and shouldn’t be trusted, and Glinda tries to convince her to go back and apologize to the Wizard and Morrible. Elphaba refuses and tells her that she needs to do what’s right. She tries to use the Grimmerie spell that gave the flying monkeys their wings on herself to no avail but, as the Wizard’s guards break into the tower, a broomstick begins to levitate. As she sings ‘Defying Gravity,’ Elphaba bids Glinda farewell and mounts the broom to escape. The guards reach Glinda and try to detain her, but Morrible gets them to release her. As Elphaba barrels through the window, she begins to plummet towards the ground, but then she sees herself as a child and reaches out towards her. As the two join hands, she begins to soar, and heads into the unknown. What happened to Dr. Dillamond? (Image credit: Universal) Animals in Oz are oppressed and discriminated against, and Dr. Dillamond the goat is the only animal professor left at Shiz University. During one of his classes, he finds that someone has vandalized his projector screen with the words “animals should be seen and not heard.” After stumbling upon a meeting between him and some other animals, Elphaba learns that there’s a conspiracy to stop animals from speaking and many are fleeing Oz before things get even worse. During their next class, Dillamond is removed from the university and replaced with a new human professor, as animals have been banned from teaching. The new professor has a lion cub in a cage and tells the class that these cages are new contraptions designed to keep animals under control. What is the Wizard and Madame Morrible’s plan? (Image credit: Universal) In order to maintain power in Oz, the Wizard and Morrible have instigated a hate campaign against the animals. “The way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy,” he tells Elphaba, and animals like Dr. Dillamond are used to do just that. However, once Elphaba defies the Wizard and sets out to do what’s right, the focus shifts to her, and the pair set out to make her the common enemy of Oz: the Wicked Witch of the West. Wicked Part One cameos explained (Image credit: Universal) Wicked Part One Easter eggs explained (Image credit: Universal) How is Wicked Part One different from the musical? (Image credit: Universal) Wicked Part One is a pretty faithful adaptation of Act One of the Broadway musical, but there are a few minor changes. For starters, the flashback to Elphaba’s childhood at the start of the movie isn’t in the musical. Plus, in the musical’s version of ‘Defying Gravity,’ Elphaba doesn’t fall before she flies, and she and Glinda don’t try and hijack the Wizard’s hot air balloon, either. Other scenes are also slightly extended – ‘Popular’ and ‘Dancing Through Life’ run slightly longer than their musical counterparts – while Elphaba joins in with ‘Something Bad’ in the musical but is eavesdropping in the movie. Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox When will Wicked Part Two be released? (Image credit: Universal) As you might have guessed, Wicked Part One is only half of the story. Based on Act One of the stage musical, the second half of the story will be told in Wicked Part Two, which hits the big screen on November 21, 2025. Wicked Part One is out now. For more, check out ourWicked reviewand our guide to all the other bestupcoming moviesstill to come in 2024. 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