Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are all set to reprise their roles as Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked: For Good. The film will be out in theatres on November 21, and interestingly, Ariana’s boyfriend, Ethan Slater, plays a key role in the film. Ethan Slater returns as Boq, the earnest Munchkin whose idealism has settled into quiet disillusionment. Ahead of the film’s release, Ethan Slater talks about his character’s arcs and how his co-stars helped him crack it.
In Wicked: For Good, Boq now serves under Nessarose’s rule in Munchkinland. Once hopeful and eager to prove himself, Boq now struggles to reconcile his loyalty to Nessa with the life he once imagined for himself. “A lot of the optimism that Boq had during his time at Shiz University has
been stripped away,” Slater says about his character in the sequel.
The actor adds, “Now, he is living with Nessa, working for her and realising he is trapped in a situation of his own making. The film asks what compassion really costs, how far you can go to care for someone when love is not what keeps you there, and how long you can ignore your own unhappiness before it starts to change you.”
Slater approached Boq’s journey as a study in emotional endurance. “Filming both movies simultaneously made it challenging to track Boq’s evolution,” Slater mentions and adds, “He is changed completely in Wicked: For Good, but he still has to feel like the same person who’s just lived through more. That continuity depended on trust.”
Reflecting on working with Grande and Erivo, Slater says, “Working closely with Marissa Bode, who plays Nessa, made that seamless, and watching Ari and Cynthia navigate their arcs across both films, moving between joy and heartbreak with such precision, set the tone for everyone. What made this production so extraordinary was the scale, the emotion and the trust that held it all together.”
Slater credits director Jon M Chu for fostering that environment of focus and trust. “Jon once said that the most valuable thing in filmmaking is time, and that’s something I’ll carry with me always,” Slater recalls. “When you have time, you owe every moment your full care and attention. I also learned about the power of generosity. I worked with actors who gave endlessly, even when the camera was not on them, and that kind of collaboration stays with you. I left this film wanting to bring that same generosity to everything I do,” the actor concludes.
Meanwhile, the film also stars Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, and Jonathan Bailey. The first Wicked film grossed over $756 million worldwide, making it one of Universal’s biggest musical hits. As such, expectations from the sequel are quite high. As per the film’s official synopsis, the story goes: as an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, Glinda and Elphaba will need to come together one final time. With their singular friendship now the fulcrum of their futures, they will need to truly see each other, with honesty and empathy, if they are to change themselves and all of Oz, for good.
