Spoilers for Wicked: For Good ahead. One of the most romantic scenes in Wicked: For Good was actually deleted from the movie — but hopefully not for good. In a new interview with Deadline, Dana Fox, co-screenwriter of the two Wicked films, revealed that a kiss between Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey was filmed, but ultimately didn’t make the final cut.
Grande’s Glinda and Bailey’s Fiyero are engaged at the start of Wicked: For Good — unbeknownst to Fiyero, who only agrees to marriage to make her happy. He’s actually preoccupied with finding Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) to protect her from Oz’s witch-hunt.
After Elphaba and the Wizard cause an animal stampede that disrupts their wedding, he decides to run off with Elphaba, leaving Glinda heartbroken (though she later approves of their romance). Somewhere along the way, Glinda and Fiyero shared an actual kiss — not the awkward one seen in the film. According to Fox, it was simply too much.
“It was romantic and beautiful, but a little too passionate,” she explained. “Seeing that made it too hard to watch him make the choice he makes to be with Elphaba and made it too hard to make it OK that Elphaba ran off with him. It was too real that he and Glinda were actually feeling something together.”
Fox clarified that Fiyero “does care about Glinda a lot,” but the kiss didn’t reflect his true feelings. “He likes her in a different way,” she said. “This scene was too romantic, so it was like, ‘Oh, we can’t know that because then our brains will explode when he doesn’t choose her in the end.’ And then we’ll hate Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero. So, I think it was a good cut because it was too adorable that you simply couldn’t handle it.”
Will Glinda & Fiyero’s Kiss Be Seen?
However, Grande and Bailey’s “adorable” kiss might not become lost media. The at-home release of Wicked in December 2024 came with many deleted scenes, and the same may happen when Wicked: For Good is eventually available to rent or purchase. However, Fox isn’t entirely sure whether the kiss will be one of those scenes.
“Everything we cut, I felt we cut for exactly the right reasons,” she said. “There are some beautiful things I’m sure will be in the deleted scenes. Perhaps, there is a scene that I don’t know if it will be included.”
