How Much Time Has Passed Between Wicked and Wicked: For Good?
Madame Morrible alludes to the time jump in Wicked: For Good. Did you catch it?
Wicked and its sequel, Wicked: For Good, were released in theaters one year apart — but how much time passed canonically between the two films? When Wicked: For Good begins, how long has it been since the events of the first movie?
While it's easy to deduce that a fairly significant amount of time has passed between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) getting driven out of Oz at the end of Wicked and the beginning of Wicked: For Good, a line said by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) reveals the exact amount (in Oz-speak, of course).
In a November 2025 conversation with TODAY.com, Winnie Holzman (who co-wrote both Wicked movies) and co-writer Dana Fox explained how they tackled the specific amount of time that passed between the two films.
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At the beginning of Wicked: For Good, Madame Morrible mentions that it's been "12 tide turns" since the first film, which signifies 12 months — or one full year, as Holzman explained to TODAY.com.
"That's why we say the 12 turnings of the tide — I don't know if you could hear (Michelle Yeoh's character) say that — but she said, 'It has been 12 tide turns,'" Holzman revealed. "We were trying to find a way to say it that didn't sound just like our world…But I purposefully didn't want it to say 'one year,' I mean that's so not Oz."
According to Holzman, the goal was to alert viewers that a "substantial amount of time" had passed between the events of Wicked and Wicked: For Good. The decision to make it one full year was a critical one — and it stayed true to the character of Elphaba, considering the circumstances.
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"It has to be that amount of time where a lot has happened, but Elphaba could start to feel discouraged. If it was three months, you know, she would be in a different headspace," she added.
Fox said that, from a writer's perspective, a year felt "right."
"A year felt like exactly the right amount of time. You know how it is when you've had a big year where so much has changed in your life — that's this year," Fox explained. "So it feels bigger than what it is, but it's a year."
The one-year gap in the movie reflects the films' real-life release dates
Of course, given that the two movies were released almost exactly one year apart, it helps make the in-movie passage of time more realistic for audiences.
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"That will be what the audience's experience was because they saw [the first film a] year ago," Fox said. "So we wanted them to come along with the girls in that way."
Wicked: For Good is currently streaming on Peacock.
