A year after dancing into viewers’ hearts in the first Wicked film, Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero is even swoonier — and more devastating — in For Good.
If you’ve already watched the latest film (spoilers ahead!), you know it begins with a wanted Elphaba fighting for animals and evading the Gale Force, helmed by a lovesick Fiyero who’s desperate to find and protect her. And when he finally does? Oh, Oz.
Of course, fans wasted no time reacting to every moment of Bailey’s pitch-perfect yearning.
Meet Fiyero Bridgerton
When Elphaba crashes Fiyero and Glinda’s wedding, the Winkie prince pretends to apprehend her, only to run away with the woman he’s truly been pining for.
Sound familiar? Several fans on X (formerly Twitter) compared the scene to Anthony, Kate, and Edwina’s love triangle in Bridgerton Season 2, which also ended in a failed wedding. As one viewer joked: “if it’s jonathan bailey at the end of the aisle, you’re not getting married.”
Another fan noted that “if you watch wicked: for good, you can see in fiyero’s eyes the exact moment that the spirit of anthony bridgerton possessed him.” One commenter agreed, “whenever his eyes got really big and pathetic i was like ohhhh yeah i’ve seen those somewhere before.”
Indeed, For Good brought out an intense, desperately passionate side of Fiyero — a look Anthony knows well.
“his performance was done perfectly well through just the eyes alone. so much emotion was shown, had me shaking in my seat. jonathan bailey, the talented actor you are. come get your oscar now,” one fan wrote, with others also calling for a nom.
“As Long As You’re Mine” Changed Lives
Fiyero and Elphaba’s pent-up longing gives way to a dreamy duet of “As Long as You’re Mine” in Elphaba’s forest hideout. And before getting, um, wicked, the pair takes their time slipping into something a little more comfortable — an unbuttoned shirt for Fiyero, and a cozy ’fit for Elphaba fans have playfully dubbed her “sex cardigan.”
Yet even through the layers, the anticipation and mutual desire made for a passionately charged scene, and naturally, fans took note of every detail. “the way he’s so playful when he sings ‘under your spell’ is so important to me like he just wants to see her SMILEEEEE,” one viewer wrote.
Another said, “jonathan bailey singing as long as you’re mine has changed me as a person. that man was belting like rent was due.”
Fans Are Seeing Through Different Eyes
Fans of the original Broadway musical knew that Fiyero would turn into The Wizard of Oz’s scarecrow — an effect of the spell Elphaba casts to save Fiyero from torture. But there was no way to prepare for the reality of seeing Bailey’s award-winning face covered in burlap.
While many fans thought the scarecrow looked like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool, others were unbothered by the new look — as evidenced by no shortage of NSFW comments about how they’d be OK with all that straw. Put simply by one user, “FIYERO SCARECROW COULD STILL GET IT.”
Another pointed out, “only Jonathan Bailey could have a bunch of people thirsty for a scarecrow.”
