Naman Shrestha
The Jon M. Chu directorial, ‘Wicked: For Good,’ is the direct sequel to ‘Wicked’ and an adaptation of the second act of the eponymous 2003 stage musical written by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman. The musical in itself was loosely inspired by Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, which was also a reimagining of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ by L. Frank Baum and its 1939 film adaptation. Alternately titled ‘Wicked: Part Two,’ the musical fantasy drama movie revolves around the relationship between Elphaba, who is not the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, who is given the identity of Glinda the Good. In the second installment, the two witches face new challenges and must make difficult decisions. The musical drama unfolds in the fantasy world of Oz, which itself serves as an additional character in the movie.
Wicked: For Good Filming Locations
‘Wicked: For Good’ was filmed across England and Egypt, especially Borehamwood, East Sussex, Norfolk, Leavesden, and Cairo. According to reports, principal photography for the sequel took place along with ‘Wicked,’ commencing in December 2022 and wrapping up in late January 2024, over the span of about 160 days. However, the production was halted for several months in 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Interestingly, the prosthetics of the Tin Man took nearly four hours to complete each day, inspired by the character’s appearance in the 1939 movie.
Borehamwood, England
A significant chunk of ‘Wicked: For Good’ was lensed using the amenities at Sky Studios Elstree, located on Rowley Lane in Borehamwood. Home to a total of 12 different soundproof sound stages, the film studio hosted the production of many key indoor scenes. It is also home to ample production office space, multiple dressing rooms, hair and makeup rooms, meeting rooms, and workshops, making it one of the favorite filming destinations among many filmmakers. The scenes involving the life-sized train to Emerald City, the Governor’s Mansion in Munchkinland, and Madame Morrible’s office were supposedly shot on sets constructed in the studio.
East Sussex, England
The production team of ‘Wicked: For Good’ also traveled to the ceremonial county of East Sussex, where they set up camp at Seven Sisters Country Park. Located at East Dean Road in Seaford, the country park was turned into a film set for taping scenes involving Elphaba escaping flying monkeys. A few establishing shots of Oz were also recorded over Cuckmere River near the town of Heathfield. In an interview with Gold Derby, the cinematographer Alice Brooks was asked about the approach the filming unit took to tape both parts of the movie simultaneously. Brooks said, “We treated it as if we were shooting one long movie, but each movie has its own distinct visual style and visual look. We shot primarily with one camera, but we always had two cameras on set.”
During her conversation with The Credits, Brooks talked about her experience of shooting the nighttime scenes. “Shooting a movie that is mostly at night changes everything. I can control every single thing within our frame. In the first movie, the two women are in almost every single scene together, and in this one, they’re rarely together. Suddenly, we have two very different spaces to play in. For Elphaba and her green skin, I was able to get much closer in this movie. Her introduction is these handheld shots, and we are in the tightest close-ups that we use. You can feel all the texture, but she’s also in the shadows,” she said.
Other Locations in England
For the purpose of shooting, the filming unit of ‘Wicked: For Good’ also utilized the locales of several other English spots. For instance, Belmont Nurseries, situated on Long Road, Terrington St Clement near King’s Lynn in Norfolk, served as a filming site for the field scenes between Elphaba and Glinda. Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden on Warner Drive in Leavesden also hosted the production of the musical film. Out of the 19 sound stages offered by the film studio, the cast and crew members of ‘Wicked: For Good’ took over four of them and transformed them into the world of Oz, thanks to all the advanced amenities at the film studio, which also consists of workshops and a backlot spread across more than 55 acres.
Elphaba’s Retreat in the wooded area was built by the set designers, including Nathan Crowley. They reportedly collected wood from the local forests in England and constructed the forest hideaway from scratch, which took a total of six weeks to assemble. Crowley opened up about the entire process during a conversation with Variety, stating, “We gave them a big stack of wood from greens, and then we had a platform at the right height, and we had some scaffolding and steel departments to help with the structure. It was a very organic set. They went about twisting and weaving all these beautiful shapes. The windows sort of fluidly got woven into that structure.”
Egypt
Additional portions for ‘Wicked: For Good’ were also lensed in a couple of locations across Egypt. As per reports, in late 2023, the cast and crew members were spotted taping several important exterior scenes at the White Desert National Park, which is situated near Farafra. Various key scenes were also reportedly shot in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.
Read More: Where was Wicked (2024) Filmed?
