Jon M. Chu Plans a Lord of the Rings-Scale Two-Part Epic for Wicked

Jon M. Chu has been living in Oz for half a decade, and now we finally get the second half. With Wicked: For Good hitting theaters next month, he jumped on Variety's Awards Circuit podcast to talk about the pressure cooker, the two-movie strategy, and what it feels like to walk away from a world you have been inside for five-plus years.

The five-year grind, in his own words

Chu says the anxiety started the moment the films got the go-ahead during the Covid era. Prep days got so intense he would literally lie on the kitchen floor and hope it all came together. He still lights up talking about the joy of aiming big.

"There were times that I would lay on the ground in my kitchen after just prep and be like, 'I don't know. I hope this all works out.' But I love this job because we can take big swings. It's the only medium where you can get thousands of people to build a spaceship, essentially, and take people to another planet."

Two films, one saga

He never treated Part One and Part Two as separate projects. In his head, it was one story — one giant chunk — split for release. That approach came with the usual director brain fog: he admits he is still processing the whole thing, the dreams and the occasional nightmares included. Wrapping was oddly numbing at first; everyone around him was emotional, he figured he would see them next week, and then the office went quiet and empty, which hit harder than expected.

The way he describes it, this is a continuous saga rather than two disconnected movies — think a sprawling, two-part fantasy journey rather than a sequel tacked on later.

What Part Two is actually about

Universal's official logline for Wicked: For Good sets the table like this, and yes, the press notes go full Oz:

Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) has been branded the Wicked Witch of the West and is hiding in the Ozian forest. From the shadows she is still fighting for Oz's silenced Animals and trying to blow the lid off what she knows about The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). Over in Emerald City, Glinda (Ariana Grande) has become the polished face of Goodness, enjoying the palace life and the perks that come with it. Under Madame Morrible's guidance (Michelle Yeoh), Glinda is deployed as a bubbly reassurance tour, telling Oz that everything is just fine under The Wizard's rule.

As Glinda's fame grows, she is prepping a massive Ozian wedding to Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). The distance from Elphaba gnaws at her, so she tries to broker peace between Elphaba and The Wizard — and fails, which only widens the Elphaba/Glinda rift. The fallout will permanently change Boq (Ethan Slater) and Fiyero, and put Elphaba's sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) in danger — right as a certain girl from Kansas drops into the story. With a furious mob hunting the Wicked Witch, Glinda and Elphaba will have to find each other one last time. Their friendship becomes the hinge that could transform themselves — and all of Oz — for good.

Who made this and who is in it

• Director: Jon M. Chu (and yes, it's Jon with no h)
• Screenplay: Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox
• Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, with Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum
• Producers: Marc Platt p.g.a. (Tony and Emmy winner) and David Stone (multiple Tony winner)
• Executive producers: Stephen Schwartz, David Nicksay, Jared LeBoff, Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox

Little crediting oddity for the nerds: Winnie Holzman shows up twice — as co-writer and as an executive producer. Not a typo; that is how the official credits read.

When you can see it

Wicked: For Good flies into theaters on November 21.