This article contains a discussion of sexual assault.

If you don't know the entire plot of the original Broadway musical Wicked, don't proceed down the proverbial yellow brick road! Major spoilers ahead!

In "Wicked: Part One" - the first half of the epic adaptation of John M. Chu on the musical "Wicked", which premiered on Broadway in 2003 - we met Elphaba Tropp, a young green-skinned girl who unexpectedly ends up studying magic and sorcery at the prestigious Shiz University. So why is her skin green, and why is she who she is only the character we see in the story with this particular look? Is it related to her father's true identity? Thanks for asking! It sure is!

When we first meet Elphaba's parents, Melena and Governor Frexpar Trop - played by Courtney-May Briggs and Andy Nyman, respectively - in the blockbuster film, they seem happy enough and expecting their first child... only to react with terrible horror when she emerges from the womb all green. As a result, Governor Throop isn't particularly kind to his eldest daughter, preferring the company of his younger child Nessarose (newcomer Marisa Bode), who was born with chronically weak legs after the governor forced his wife to drink potions made from milkweed flowers. to prevent another child with, as Elphaba says in one of her poems, "verdigris." (Melena also dies tragically after Nessarose's early and difficult birth.)

The story of how Elphaba turned green differs in Stephen Schwartz's musical and Gregory Maguire's book - Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which serves as the source material for the musical - but here's the gist, and here's how we can expect to see this story end Wicked: For Good, the second half of Chu's film.

Let's get this out of the way: yes, The Wizard of Oz, played in Wicked: Part One by Jeff Goldblum, is Elphaba's father. Basically, the gist is that he and Melena have an affair that results in Elphaba, and her green skin is very likely due to a green potion fed to Melena by the Wizard himself. This also explains why Elphaba's "father", Governor Throop, who keeps and raises the child, seems to resent and even hate the girl who is supposed to be his eldest daughter; although it is never confirmed by the character, it is possible that Governor Throop knows that Elphaba is a representation of his wife's infidelity.

Being green is not easy - as Kermit the Frog tried to tell us years - and the added conflict of Elphaba's real father certainly makes things much more complicated for her. As a child (played by Karis Musongole), Elphaba is bullied for being different and usually throws spells at random when she is made fun of for her skin tone. By the time she arrives in Shiz, Elphaba is emotionally closed off and strained as she does everything to protect Nessarose (who keeps telling Elphaba that she's fine on her own). Elphaba eventually becomes close friends with her roommate Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande-Butera) despite their differences and settles into Sheez quite well before the Wizard summons her to the capital of Oz, the Emerald City. That's when things go wrong for the future Wicked Witch of the West.

I should note here that, in Gregory Maguire's book, the story of Elphaba's conception is quite different and much more disturbing. Basically, Maguire's book is a lot darker than the musical, but the story of Melena's run-in with the Wizard is particularly rough, so here goes.

When we first meet Elphaba in Maguire's novel, the baby has green skin, but she also he has razor-sharp teeth, a penchant for violence and cruelty, and a crippling fear of water. (The fear is due to an allergy which, obviously, will be come into play later.) Things play out much like the musical: Elphaba goes to Sheez, meets Glinda, impresses the school's Dean of Magic, Mrs. Morrible (played by Michelle Yeoh in the film adaptation), and then realizes that the Wizard is a big old con. However, discovering that the Wizard is both an impostor and Elphaba's real father is much worse.

At the very end of the book, Wizard of Oz protagonist Dorothy Gale accidentally kills Elphaba by throwing a bucket of water on the witch to put out the fire on her skirt (unaware of a life-threatening allergy). She then brings one of Elphaba's possessions to the Wizard, who realizes that it is the green potion he once used. drugs and sexual assault Melena. The fact that Elphaba is the product of a vicious attack lends a particular darkness to her character, but it definitely makes sense that the musical cuts through that particular aspect.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit it National Rape, Abuse and Incest Network website or contact the RAINN National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Yes, Jeff Goldblum is in the opening issue of "Wicked: Part First," a group called "Nobody Pity the Wicked" is largely led by Glinda the Good Witch, as she eloquently explains why Elphaba, the "dead" Wicked Witch of the West, was so "wicked". After the citizens of Oz celebrate Elphaba's apparent death (I say "apparent" here because, in the musical Wicked, Elphaba fakes her death using a door and escapes Oz with her lover Fiero Tigelaar), Glinda explains that the Tropp family there were "secrets". At this point we see a flashback of Melena and the Wizard continuing their affair.

Not only does the voice come from Melena's mysterious lover clearly Featuring Goldblum's distinctive voice, the song's track listing features Goldblum as one of the vocalists along with Ariana Grande-Butera, Courtney May-Briggs, Andy Nyman, Sharon D. Clark and Jenna Boyd. (Those last two performers are voiced by Dulciber, the Trope family nanny, and the lupine doctor who helps deliver Elphaba.) If this isn't a spoiler, I don't know what is, especially since it's pretty easy to relate to the smooth-talking guy feeding her his lover Melena with a green potion with Elphaba's green skin tone.

In case you haven't put the pieces together thanks to Jeff Goldblum's very obvious cameo in Nobody Pity the Wicked, Goldblum's Wizard indeed drives the point home during his only solo song in "Wicked: Part One," titled "A Sentimental Man." Towards the end of the film - before the Wizard's evil intentions become apparent and Elphaba flees the Emerald City under considerable pressure - Goldblum delivers an irreverent rendition of the Wizard of Oz song from the musical as he shows off his miniature version of Oz to a delighted Elphaba and Glinda. Well, let's look at those verses for a moment, shall we?

After Elphaba uses the wish promised by the Wizard to free the imprisoned, subjugated talking animals of Oz, the Wizard tells her he agrees before getting straight to the point: "I'm a sentimental man / Who always yearned to be a father / So I doing the best I can / To treat every citizen of Oz like a son or daughter.” (Goldblum makes sure indeed also guess the word "daughter".)

Immediately afterward, the Wizard names Elphaba specifically and says that he would like to "lift (her) high" because "everyone deserves a chance to fly"—a line that returns to Elphaba's Act 1 finale, which features the first-person Defiance of gravity. Let's not forget that the Wizard closes his poem by cooing, "And to help you with your climb, lets me feel so / Parent." Okay, dude, we figured out that you're Elphaba's father.

Okay, so what can we expect from the Wizard - and his corrupt sidekick Madame Morrible - in Wicked: For Good when it comes out in November 2025? Well, as Wicked: Part One closes, the Wizard and Mrs. Morrible begin what can only be described as a smear campaign against Elphaba, telling all of Oz that she is pure evil and must be captured to save herself. the world. As the audience knows, this is a lie; Mrs. Morrible and the Wizard simply want to use Elphaba's powerful magic to bend the world of Oz to their will. The wizard can't even read it the magical book known as Grimmaries (he can't actually do magic at all), and Madame Morrible, while able to control the weather, is still not as strong as Elphaba (despite the green witch's lack of formal training).

At the end of Gregory Maguire's Wicked, the Wizard gives up his deception and leaves Oz permanently, likely returning to Omaha, Nebraska (the Wizard's canonical home according to L. Frank Baum's original books). As for the musical, Glinda, believing Elphaba to be dead and seeking justice for her fallen friend, appears in the Emerald City, confronts the Wizard with the green elixir he once gave Melena, and arrests both the rogue wizard and Lady Morrible for their many crimes - while Elphaba is safe and sound with her one true love Fiero. Arguably, since the first Wicked film by John M. Having followed the musical pretty faithfully, we can expect to see Jeff Goldblum's The Wizard locked up for good when it's all said and done.

Wicked: Part One is available to rent or buy on demand now. Wicked: For Good is set to release on November 21, 2025.