This article contains potential spoilers for "The Wicked: For Good."

The first part of the film adaptation of "Wicked" it was a huge success at the box officea certified fresh title with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and even became an unexpected mid-award season darling. While many debated the decision to split the Tony Award-winning musical into two films (this writer is personally for schism), this has given fans plenty of time to speculate about what to expect in Wicked: For Good. Well, that is fans who have never read "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West," the book by Gregory Maguire that would inspire the stage musical that serves as the basis for the film.

However, as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, there are certain things fans know are coming. after the end of the first Evil movie. The Wizard is a quack who escapes from Oz in his hot air balloon, Elphaba is melted by Dorothy Gale in search of her broom to take back to Kansas, and perhaps most significantly, Dorothy's house is hit by a tornado and lands. atop the Wicked Witch of the East. If you're only familiar with the 1939 film, you know that the Wicked Witch of the East dies, but you probably know nothing about her. Fortunately, Wicked: Part First introduced us all to the tragically beautiful Nessarose, the sister of the beautifully tragic Elphaba.

Nessarose is very sweet in Wicked: Part One, so how the hell does she become the Wicked Witch of the East? Let's follow the yellow brick road and find out.

Nessarose Throop is Elphaba's younger sister and the daughter of Melena Throop and Frexpar the Pious, the former governor of Monkkinland. In the book she was born prematurely and without arms, requiring constant care, but in the musical she was born paralyzed and required the use of a wheelchair. Her father gave her the enchanted silver shoes (the ruby ​​red slippers in The Wizard of Oz) and they remain her most prized possession. In both versions of the story, Nessarose is stunningly beautiful, but her use of a wheelchair initially casts her as a tragic character.

Nessarose is spoiled compared to Elphaba, as her disability has motivated her father and their nanny to prioritize her attention. This also puts pressure on Elphaba to put her wants and needs second to her sister's passions. Despite this simmering conflict, Elphaba does care for Nessa, even if that care isn't always reciprocated, and even if Elphaba holds a little resentment toward her little sister. As a child, she is portrayed by Cecily Collette Taylor, a young actor with Spina Bifida.

Although unaware in their younger years, Elphaba and Nessarose are actually half-sisters, as Elphaba's father is the Wizard of Oz and her green skin is attributed to the green elixir consumed by the Wizard and their mother. Elphaba and Nessarose were very close as children, and Elphaba even acted as a "mother figure" to Nessa after their mother died - sending their father into a deep depression. However, there were seeds of resentment planted as Nessa's physical disability was the result of her mother being forced to chew milk flowers while pregnant in hopes that this child would not be born with green skin like Elphaba.

Although it was clearly not Elphaba's fault, Nessa finds it easier to blame her than to accept that her parents made a mistake, especially when their father also blames his eldest daughter and not his own decisions. This also wracked Elphaba with guilt, inspiring her protectiveness towards her sister. And she blames herself and is therefore easily manipulated by Nessa under the guise of "deserving" him.

When the girls arrive in Shiz, Frexpar asks Elphaba to follow her to make sure Nessarose is populated and safe. Her protectiveness shows its face when head Shizstress Miss Caudle (Kiala Settle) tries to grab Nessa's wheelchair to push her around the university to get away from Elphaba. In an attempt to stop them, Elphaba's uncontrolled powers cause a massive scene, including Nessa being blown up in front of everyone. "This was my chance, my new beginning," Nessa tells her, before walking away heartbroken. But this display of magic earns Elphaba in Shiz, and the sisters stick to each other's lives. Later, Elphaba is smitten with Nessa when Bok asks the latter to a dance in the Ozdust Ballroom, and when she learns that Glinda is the reason Bok asked her sister (even if it is Glinda's way of pawning him off so she can go with Prince Fiyero), Elphaba convinces Madame Morrible to allow Glinda to attend the seminary to learn magic despite her "fearing" future good a witch.

The following information comes from the second act of the Wicked stage musical, so it's possible that Wicked: For Good will change certain details about Nessa's story for the screen.

After Elphaba is painted as the Wicked Witch of the West in revenge for refusing to do the bidding of the Wizard of Oz and Madame Morrible, Nessarose marries Bock and becomes the High Abbess of Monkkinland. Their father died of shame at Elphaba's supposed wickedness, and since everyone in Oz knows that Nessarose is Elphaba's sister, she became bitter and cruel. After years on the run, Elphaba seeks refuge with her sister, who refuses to help her and cites her position as an elected official as a reason not to harbor a refugee.

But these years have given Nessarosa plenty of time to grow her anger toward her sister—not because she sees her as evil, but because Elphaba's magic is so powerful, Nessa is furious that her sister never used her abilities to to let her go. without help. Elphaba, wracked with guilt, then enchants Nessa's silver shoes. They turn from silver to the iconic ruby ​​red, and she's good to go.

Nessarose treats Bock not as a husband, but as a servant, because she knows deep down that he never truly loved her and is still looking for Glinda. When her engagement to Prince Fierro is announced, Bock wants to tell the truth, inspiring Nessarose to cast a Grimmeri spell. However, she gets it wrong, and this causes Bok's heart to sink. Her obsession with preventing Bok from ever leaving her and her resentment of her sister's reputation (as well as that reputation that "caused" her father's death) get the better of her. If anyone in Oz is truly evil, it's Nessarose. But this is not an evil she was born with, but, as Glinda explains, an evil inflicted upon her.

Nessarose's anger and bitterness was directed not only at her sister, but also at Bock and all of Munchkinland. She engaged in one-sided business deals, cruelty to her constituents, and used her basic magical skills to control other people. There's a reason that in The Wizard of Oz, the Munchkins of Munchkinland sing “Ding-Dong! The witch is dead” after Dorothy Gale's house falls on her and kills her. As Elphaba is called the "Wicked Witch of the West", Nessarose is known as the "Wicked Witch of the East".

Wicked: For Good is currently set to hit theaters on November 21, 2025.