Stop your trip down the yellow brick road if you don't know the full Wicked story yet - there are spoilers ahead!

When we first met Galinda Upland - played by pop star and actress Ariana Grande-Butera - in the epic musical adaptation of John M. According to Wicked: Part One, she is a new student at Shiz University who is desperate to prove herself, especially at school. Dean of Magic Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). There's just one problem: Galinda doesn't have a particularly strong natural inclination towards magic or witchcraft, and to make matters worse, her new roommate, the green-skinned Elphaba Throop (Cynthia Erivo). does possess an innate affinity for the magical arts.

So what's the deal here? Why is Galinda, who eventually restyled her name as Glinda (in honor of Peter Dinklage's Professor Shiz, Dr. Dillamond, a goat who has problems with the "uh" sound and is kicked out when Oz cruelly violates society's animals), not natural talented witch - and to that point, how does someone who clearly can't do magic become known as Glinda the Good Witch? (At the beginning of Wicked: Part One, we see him very end from the full story, where Glinda presides over a group of Ozians celebrating the apparent death of Elphaba, the "Wicked Witch of the West.") Is Glinda really learning to do magic, or is it all simply a clever illusion? Here's why Glinda struggles to cast spells in the Wicked musical and its film adaptations, and whether or not that's changing. (The answer, simply put, is "maybe".)

Ever since the beginning of Wicked: Part One, we've seen Glinda—as the Good Witch later in the timeline—"perform" some magic in "No One Pity the Wicked," but based on her time at Sheez University, a young Galinda definitely has no affinity for witchcraft. Elphaba constantly casts meaningless spells and incantations, making it abundantly clear to Mrs. Morrible that she is an enormously talented sorceress... but Galinda is stuck begging The Dean of Magic for a place in one of her classes (bragging about her paper on wands and whether they "have a point" to try to squeak in the seminar, which is admittedly very funny). As thanks for "helping" Elphaba's younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) pursue Bok Woodsman (Ethan Slater), Elphaba convinces Mrs. Morrible to let Galinda study with them... and when Galinda realizing that, she stops trying to humiliate Elphaba in public. , and the two become fast friends.

The most telling moment in "Wicked: Part First" regarding Galinda's innate magical abilities occurs right before she performs Ariana Grande-Butera's "Popular" number, when Galinda informs Elphaba that she will be using her wand to changed the appearance of the green witch. A "frock" or "coat" (which Galinda then calls a "froot") in a different article of clothing. Galinda's attempts at magic are played for laughs, but this sequence also betrays a simple truth: Galinda can't seem to do any magic.

So is there any explanation for that why Galinda doesn't seem to have any natural magical powers? Yes, but it's in a deleted scene! On the digital release of "Wicked," fans got to see a bunch of deleted scenes, including one that explains Galinda's close friendship with Pfanny (Bowen Young) and ShenShen (Bronwyn James) and another where Elphaba and Bok have a little heart-to-heart. - to the heart of unrequited love (Bock carries a torch for Galinda, while Elphaba is in love with Galinda's boyfriend Prince Fiero Tigelaar, played by Jonathan Bailey). However, the one we focus on, is the one where Elphaba tells Galinda why she probably doesn't have an innate way to control magic.

After Elphaba and Fiero save a lion cub from becoming a test subject for horrific experiments in Shiz, Elphaba returns to her room to find Galinda trying to perform a basic flotation spell, only for Galinda to ask why the spell is so difficult for her. Elphaba shares a theory, which is that Galinda's privileged life has been easy ... making it difficult for her to access her potential magical powers. Afterwards, Galinda tells her friend that she would help with the lion cub instead of Fiero, further cementing their friendship. and Galinda's kind, caring side... and Elphaba tells her friend, "I won't leave you behind anymore." (Unfortunately, this is not true, but Elphaba really doesn't know that yet.)

At the end of "Wicked: Part First" — which ends with Elphaba's power ballad "Defying Gravity," marking the same endpoint of the musical's first act — Elphaba does leave Glinda (without the "uh") behind, mostly because Mrs. Morrible and The Wizard of Oz (perfectly irreverent Jeff Goldblum) are hot on their heels after Elphaba makes some disturbing revelations about the Wizard. (In no particular order, these revelations include that the Wizard is an imposter who can't read the magical book known as the Grimmaries, he likes to use Elphaba to cast evil magic, and believes in subduing talking animals.) Elphaba creates a flying broom and runs away from Mrs. Morrible and the wizard, leaving Glinda to fend for herself; as we see in "No One Mourns the Wicked," Glinda becomes a mouthpiece for the Wizard's evil regime, "celebrating" her friend's death (though Ariana Grande-Butera's performance includes some great moments where we see glimpses of her inner conflict).

So does any of this mean that in "Wicked: For Good" — the upcoming second "Wicked" movie, which is named after Elphaba and Galinda's emotional duet — Are we going to see Glinda do real magic? That remains to be determined; Glinda will spend the second half of the narrative mostly "at odds" with Elphaba for political reasons before entering her seemingly magical pink bubble to save the day at the very end (assuming For Good follows the stage musical Wicked as close as "Part One") and arrested Madame Morrible and the Wizard for basically being huge jerks. Wait - let's talk about that pink bubble for a second though.

The whole Wizard deal in "Wicked" and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz it boils down to the fact that, in all versions of this famous story, he is a giant con artist. He is not an all-powerful, all-seeing magical being; he's just a dude from nebraska who can't do magic. (That's not relevant to Nebraska, by the way; he's just lying about it, while also lying about being able to do magic.) With that in mind, let's consider Glinda's "magical" floating pink bubble that serves as her main form of transit. Is it really magic created by her big, shiny wand, or is it a hoax?

It could very well be the latter. When Glinda arrives in Munchkinland as news spreads that the Wicked Witch of the West is no more, she repeatedly "pops" and "pops" out of her (apparently soundproof?) bubble so she can talk to the Munchkins. However, based on the fact that the Wizard - while definitely not magical - is a very astute inventor, he certainly could have invented a mechanically controlled flying bubble for Glinda to use. That too it seems like he presses a button to "pop" and "unhook" the thing, which could be another clue that neither the Wizard nor Glinda are actually magical and that the citizens of Oz should pay more attention to the man behind the curtain... or the woman in the balloon, as it were.

Wicked: Part One, where Glinda does no real magic that we know of, is now available to rent or buy on major streaming platforms. Wicked: For Good is currently set to hit theaters on November 21, 2025.