The first Wicked: For Good trailer promises an explosive finale
Warning: There are Wicked: For Good spoilers in this story.
We're less than six months away from the second installment of the Wicked film series with Wicked: For Good set to hit theaters on November 21, 2025. But fans of the movie musical series got an early look at the sequel — which is the second half of the Broadway musical — with a teaser Tuesday and then when the trailer dropped Wednesday.
The trailer for Wicked: For Good — named after one of the second-half songs, "For Good," by Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) — highlights how the characters have grown from their school days and embraced their largely opposing roles in Oz.
THE SONGS OF WICKED: Ranking every Wicked song from Part One - Where does Defying Gravity land?
Scene clips and cinematography aside, their growth is visually represented and foreshadowed in the trailer as well, ranging from Elphaba, as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda The Good simply appearing older and more mature to Fiyero and Boq donning costumes hinting at their eventual fates to come.
But the biggest transformation we see between Wicked and the Wicked: For Good trailer is from Nessarose, who becomes the governor of Munchkinland and, eventually, the Wicked Witch of the East. She looks completely different from the Nessarose we saw in Wicked with her hair pulled back and a harsher demeanor.
Wicked: For Good is set to premiere November 21, 2025.
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Newsweek
5 hours ago
- Newsweek
There's No Stopping Jean Smart: 'It's Very Hard to Say No'
When Jean Smart first read the play Call Me Izzy, she had one response. "I just had to do it." Smart is taking a break from winning multiple Emmys for her portrayal of Deborah Vance on Hacks to tackle the one-person Broadway show about Isabelle Scutley, a Southern woman trapped in an abusive marriage who, despite it all, finds her voice through writing and humor. Smart spoke with Newsweek exclusively about what inspired her to take on this endeavor, her inspiration for the character, and how she keeps up the stamina. "Check with me in a few weeks," Smart jokes when asked about how she does it. "I've relaxed into it, I feel very confident about the words, all 75 pages. So that's a load off my mind. The hardest part, I suppose, even just physically and vocally, is that I'm voicing all the other characters." Jean Smart Jean Smart Matthias Clamer/Courtesy of Max While she still has "awful, really awful," stage fright, she finds that channeling it improves the show. "Sometimes, when you're feeling more vulnerable, you actually give a better performance, because you're just in tune with all your feelings. Everything's kind of raw near the surface. I've noticed times when I've done the show that when I haven't been feeling particularly well physically, that I gave what I thought was a better performance." After her 12-week Broadway limited engagement ends in mid-August, Smart will return for the fifth season of Hacks on HBO Max. The question on everyone's mind is will it be the comedy's last season? Jean Smart commands the stage in Call Me Izzy, delivering a fierce and layered performance as a writer reckoning with memory, identity, and survival. Jean Smart commands the stage in Call Me Izzy, delivering a fierce and layered performance as a writer reckoning with memory, identity, and survival. Emilio Madrid/P Three Productions "Jen [Statsky] and Paul [W. Downs] and Lucia [Aniello, Hacks creators] have said from the very beginning that this is a five-story arc, and they've had it all in their heads for years, and they know what they want to do. I trust them implicitly, and I think five will feel right." With the acclaim Smart has received in recent years, there are seemingly only a few people who want her to slow down: her kids. "They said, 'Mom, you can occasionally say no.' I said, I understand. But when you wanted certain things your whole life and worked toward them your whole life, when they finally come along, it's very hard to say no." This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for space and clarity. At this point, you can do anything, even nothing. In the off season of Hacks, you could easily take a break, be on a beach somewhere, but instead you chose to do this one-woman play. So what is it about Call Me Izzy that made you not want to be on a beach somewhere? I just fell in love with this piece. I fell in love with the writing. I fell in love with the character. I think they're both unique and extraordinarily well done and interesting. And I just had to do it. It's taken two years since they first sent it to me to finally be able to work it into my schedule. And I'm so glad I did, because it's just been a highlight, an absolute highlight of my of my career. What is it about this character that you responded to? Do you relate to her? I guess her optimism, although I don't quite have as much as I used to, in general. I've always been a very optimistic person. I mean, it's not like she's Pollyanna, but she's able to find joy and humor in the darkest of times. And there's something almost childlike about her that I just absolutely love. I love doing the parts of the play that take place when she's a kid. I don't know why. I'd never read anybody like her. I thought the poetry was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't believe that Jamie wrote all that. I don't know why not. People are surprised sometimes when they find out the play was written by a man, but I'm not surprised, knowing him. Just everything about it I thought was so unique and so beautifully done, and the humor, I don't think I've ever been in a play where I've experienced such moments of absolute stillness with an audience, and then just huge, huge laughs. It's just been very, very, very special. With piercing honesty and raw emotion, Jean Smart delivers a powerful monologue in Call Me Izzy, a new play written by Jamie Wax and directed by Sarna Lapine. With piercing honesty and raw emotion, Jean Smart delivers a powerful monologue in Call Me Izzy, a new play written by Jamie Wax and directed by Sarna Lapine. Marc J. Franklin/P Three Productions A character like Izzy is rare not just on Broadway, but in entertainment in general. Were there any women in your life that you drew inspiration from? I didn't think of it at the time, but when I think back now, my mother was very, very smart. Was an avid—if not rabid—reader, raised four kids, was college educated, but because she always had a little one at home, she just never really, she didn't have the confidence to step out into the world. And she wanted to study architecture. She said, "When I went to college, good girls majored in home economics. They didn't major in architecture. So I majored in home economics." And it's a shame, because she would have been an amazing architect. She loved to draw, she loved to do clay, she loved to write, but she didn't really have the time. And certainly, though, she had a very supportive husband—fortunately for her—but she had four kids and not a lot of money. To do a one-woman play seems daunting. You don't have anybody to rely on. It's just you. Where do you find the stamina to do this eight times a week? Well, check with me in a few weeks. Fortunately, it's not a real long show. It's 90 minutes. The hardest part, the most stressful part, by far, was the weeks of previews and getting through opening. Because I was just a wreck thinking that I was going to forget a line and I was going to freeze. And to me, that would have been, death. So that was a very stressful period. Now that I've relaxed into it, I feel very confident about the words, all 75 pages. So that's a load off my mind. The hardest part, I suppose, even just physically and vocally, is that I'm voicing all the other characters, and I didn't really think about it at first, but the energy that takes, instead of doing a scene with another person, and while they're talking, you're listening and breathing, and you're reacting and maybe even taking a sip of something. So I can't be reacting and thinking. And it's a very interesting dynamic. It takes a lot of energy. Did you ever have stage fright at all? Do you still have that? Oh, awful. Really awful. Not now, but yeah, the first few weeks, because it had been so long since I had done a play. And as I said, because it's 75 pages long, and I didn't know if I still had the bandwidth up here [in my head], the thought of going up and just standing in front of 1,000 people and just going, "I don't know what comes next." Because it actually happened in a preview. I had to leave the stage three times. How did you recover from that? I don't know if I've still ever recovered from that one night. Thank God it was a preview, so it's an excuse. But I just left, looked at the script and just came back out and just kept going. I also have to say, the fact that the play is at Studio 54 would probably make your Hacks character Deborah Vance very proud. You know Deborah was there. She had to have at least swung by one time in some leopard print. I think that's why the carpet up there is leopard print. Deborah redid the lobby. Jean Smart as Deborah Vance in Hacks delivers a powerhouse performance in 'A Slippery Slope,' Season 4's emotional high point. Facing a career-defining ultimatum, Smart balances biting humor with quiet devastation in a farewell monologue... Jean Smart as Deborah Vance in Hacks delivers a powerhouse performance in 'A Slippery Slope,' Season 4's emotional high point. Facing a career-defining ultimatum, Smart balances biting humor with quiet devastation in a farewell monologue that showcases her unrivaled command of tone and timing. More Courtesy of Max So maybe it being at Studio 54 could be something you use if you ever forget a line. But the thing is, though, the terror is so debilitating, ice cold, that you can't think of anything. I mean, your brain is wiped clean. You don't know the name of the play, the plot. Now, if I get to a point where I just think, or I skip over a line, I know this show so well, now I can kind of go back and pick it up and keep the story going and get all the pertinent information in. But in the first three weeks, if there was a moment of hesitation, I didn't know it was coming next, it was full-blown, like ice-cold panic. Totally. For me it goes straight to my throat. It closes up. Also to your ear and your body sends that shot of adrenaline through you that is like 50,000 volts of caffeine or something, and it's just—I've only forgotten once on stage, besides this preview one time, 20-plus years ago. I was doing a play off-Broadway in New York, and I was unfortunately having a miscarriage. And I just, I was in the middle of a speech, and that was it. I just stopped. And I was on stage with another actor, but I was able to somehow keep my cool. I don't know why. And I remembered that the kitchen was off stage. The kitchen was off stage left, and my character always had a drink in her hand. So I just said, "I'm going to go freshen up my drink. I'll be right back." And that's where the stage manager sits on his computer, or on the script. He's got the script open to the scene and he's there. So I thought, I'll just saunter over to the kitchen, look at the script and go back and just keep going. So I go over there and the stage manager was not anywhere near that scene. He was playing solitaire on his laptop. [laughs] We both went into heart failure, and it felt like 20 minutes, but we finally found the scene. I bet he never made that mistake again. Well, thank God for the other actor. He didn't have to make up any lines because he was bound and gagged and tied to a chair. What show was this? It was called Fit to be Tied by Nicky Silver, the infamous, wonderful Nicky Silver. But that was, knock wood, until a few weeks ago, the only time I'd ever forgotten a line. When you are dealing with that stress, or even stuff in your own life, how do you get in the right headspace for the performance when you, personally, might not be in the right headspace? You just have to concentrate. And sometimes, unfortunately, our other state of mind kind of feeds into whatever it is we're doing. And sometimes, when you're feeling more vulnerable, you actually give a better performance, because you're just in tune with all your feelings. Everything's kind of raw near the surface. I've noticed times when I've done the show that when I haven't been feeling particularly well physically, that I gave what I thought was a better performance. But that might just be my imagination. So I have to ask you about Hacks. You and the creative team have all mentioned recently that you think season five might be the last season. When do you know creatively it's time to end something so popular? Well, I've only been in one other long-running series, so it's kind of hard to say. And when I left Designing Women, I had just become a mom, so other things that were taking my priority. I mean, I know that Jen [Statsky] and Paul [W. Downs] and Lucia [Aniello, Hacks creators] have said from the very beginning that this is a five-story arc, and they've had it all in their heads for years, and they know what they want to do. I trust them implicitly, and I think five will feel right. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder soak up the sun as Deborah and Ava in Hacks. Season 4 finds the duo poolside in Singapore – cocktails in hand, careers in flux – navigating fame, ambition, and... Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder soak up the sun as Deborah and Ava in Hacks. Season 4 finds the duo poolside in Singapore – cocktails in hand, careers in flux – navigating fame, ambition, and the ever-complicated bond between mentor and protégé. More Courtesy of Max And it must feel good to leave something behind that you can be so proud of and know that it's exactly the story you want to tell. Not extended in any way because of pressure due to its popularity. It's so good, and I'm so proud of it, and it's been such a joy. And I haven't asked what they have in mind for next year. I don't want to know. I like to be surprised. But I really am curious. I mean, I don't know how much longer I cannot ask. So much of the press around you for these past couple of years has been about your age and the success you've had later on in your career. Do you feel like maybe they should have been paying attention 20 years ago? There have been moments where I've thought, "Gosh, this would have been nice 20 years ago." When I could have taken a little more advantage of it. I mean, there's certain roles I can't play now, just because of my age, which is sad, but I don't feel like I'm a different actor than I was 20 years ago. So, I don't know. You'd have to ask casting directors why I wasn't cast in these kinds of things 20 years ago. I don't know, but I'm certainly not bitter. I am incredibly grateful, and I'm continually astonished at the opportunities that keep being placed in front of me. It's continually amazing. The problem is, I was trying to explain to my kids, because they said, "Mom, you can occasionally say no." And I said, I understand. But when you wanted certain things your whole life and worked toward them your whole life, when they finally come along, it's very hard to say no. After Designing Women, you did a number of character roles that were amazing, but mostly comedic. Was there a moment or project that stands out to you when people started to pay attention to you in a different way? When I did 24 [playing First Lady Martha Logan]. That's what I was going to say. Did it open up other opportunities for you? I think, to a certain extent, yes. And then I did Fargo [as crime family matriarch Floyd Gerhardt], which got a lot of acclaim, and then it was just crickets. Really just crickets. Not a job, not an offer, not a meeting. Wow. That surprises me. Why do you think that is? I don't know. This is my personal opinion: I think part of it was because the way I looked was so kind of jarring, and I looked much older, and it was suddenly like, "Whoa. What category is she in now? I don't know what to do with her." That's so upsetting to hear, because it feels like that should have opened up even more doors. No, I didn't work for a while. [It] was the only time where I didn't really work. What were the projects that started that trend towards Hacks? I did Legion. And then I did Watchmen, and then I did Mare of Easttown. So those were all fabulous projects, and then basically Hacks. Considering the success you've had recently, do you think things are changing on television for the portrayals of women, of all types, of all eras? I think so. As I've said before, and this isn't making excuses for the industry or sexism or anything, but I mean, one of the reasons there have always been 20 roles for a man, for every one role for a woman, is because most stories were about men, because historically, men were the ones who went out into the world and did stuff. So, of course, most stories were about men, and that gradually began to change as women stepped into the workforce and then we started to discover really extraordinary women, because we discovered women in history who were adventurers and explorers and warriors and writers and artists, and who actually were even more interesting than their male counterparts because they were bucking a system where it was almost all male. So pretty soon, people started realizing that stories about women were at least as interesting about stories about men. So it has been gradually opening up and opening up and opening up. It's kind of two steps forward, one step back. I mean, there will always be the idea that if you're young, certainly that you have to be sexually desirable to be watchable. Again, that's getting a little healthier, although the style now, what's in style now, the look of that sort of Kardashian look, your dress up to your ass and eyelashes out to here, and boobs out to there, and heels this high, and it's like, where else [is there] to go? [laughs]
New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
George Clooney's wife Amal bans phones in family's home to protect privacy
Amal Clooney is laying down the law. When it comes to entertaining guests at the home she shares with George Clooney, the human rights lawyer has a strict no-phone policy. During a recent interview with Glamour, Amal detailed how she protects her family's privacy while constantly being in the spotlight. 'Creating private moments and spaces is becoming increasingly difficult,' Amal admitted. 'But that's also why we entertain a lot at home. I now have a phone basket that I use to take everyone's phones away!' Amal continued to candidly share that she's fiercely guarding one thing – her family's privacy. 'It's important to get that balance where you have time alone with your family and with your friends where people feel like you can have a safe and frank exchange,' she explained. 5 George and Amal Clooney arrive for The King's Trust and TKMaxx & Homesense Awards 2025 at The Royal Festival Hall in London, England, on June 26, 2025. GC Images While being a mom of two twins, Amal admitted that it's paramount to protect her brood. 'I would say becoming a parent means you're more troubled by some of the intrusions. So, we do the best we can to minimize any impact on our children. We don't put our children out there; we've never put their photo out there or anything like that.' Meanwhile, the Hollywood couple have appeared to balance being in the spotlight and taking care of their family. 5 Amal Clooney and George Clooney in London, England, on June 26, 2025. Getty Images 5 Amal and George Clooney in Venice, Italy on Aug. 29, 2023. GC Images As Clooney debuted the Broadway play he wrote and starred in, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' in April, his wife Amal was visibly absent. While speaking to reporters, George said Amal missed his big night because 'she's with the kids,' according to People. The couple's twins are named Alexander and Ella. The Clooney family relocated to New York while he focused on his Broadway debut. 5 Amal and George Clooney attend the DVF Awards 2023 during the 80th Venice International Film Festival on Aug, 31, 2023. Getty Images 5 George Clooney greets fans after the final performance of 'Good Night and Good Luck' at Winter Garden Theater in New York City on June 8, 2025. GC Images In February, George was a guest on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' and shared how his family was adapting. 'They love being here. I mean, come on, how do you not love this? It's New York City,' George remarked. 'Actually, a play is kind of a good schedule because you're working at night. You get to see the kids during the day. So, it's OK,' he added. 'Good Night, and Good Luck' is George's Broadway adaption of the 2005 movie he directed. The play, like the movie, portrays the true story of CBS news journalist Edward R. Murrow's exposé on Sen. Joseph McCarthy. George proposed to Amal in April 2014, and the couple married five months later in Venice, Italy. Three years later, in 2017, the Clooneys welcomed their twins. The couple have homes all around the world, including Italy, England and a French property roughly 30 minutes away from Château Miraval, an operating winery owned by George's friend, Brad Pitt.
UPI
14 hours ago
- UPI
Jason Moran resigns as Kennedy Center jazz artistic director
Jazz musician Jason Moran and his wife, Alicia Hall Moran arrive for the formal Artist's Dinner honoring the recipients of the 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., on December 3, 2022. File photo by Ron Sachs/UPI | License Photo July 9 (UPI) -- Jason Moran, an acclaimed pianist, composer, educator, bandleader and recording artist, said he has left his position as jazz artistic director at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The center, which receives federal funds, has undergone dramatic changes since Donald Trump became president again and he installed himself as chairman. He ousted arts center President Deborah Rutter and Board Chairman David Rubenstein, and replaced board members appointed by former President Biden. A number of artists have been replaced or have voluntarily quit, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, who canceled a run of his Broadway hit, Hamilton, next year. The Kennedy Center declined to comment to NPR. Moran, who accepted the position in 2011, one year after his predecessor, Billy Taylor, died, didn't mention any disagreements with Trump or others in a post on Tuesday on Instagram. Moran, 50, described "14 years of inviting thousands of artists to share their work with audiences." And he was grateful "to an incredible staff that ushered artists from the negotiation to the after party." In his role, he developed programming and curated artists for one of the largest jazz programs in the United States. He hosted performances and education programs that included the National Endowment for the Arts' "NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert" and Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead, a residency for emerging artists of which Moran is an alum. Moran, who scored the films Selma and 13th, tours the world as a performer. In 2010, he was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship. "Thank you to the composers, comedians, choreographers, performance artists, skateboarders, filmmakers, authors, illustrators, dancers, photographers, sculptors, scientists, crews and on and on," he wrote. "These young ones are beautifying the stage. And with that, I bowed on Juneteenth." Moran, who was born in Houston, began studying the piano at age 6, according to information posted on the Kennedy Center website. He attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and then Manhattan School of Music in New York City. At the college, he attended a class by saxophonist Sonny Rollins. "My first day on the job at The Kennedy Center was when Sonny Rollins was receiving his Kennedy Center Honor," Moran wrote, The center, which includes a 2,465-seat Concert Hall, the 2,347-seat Opera House, the 1,161-seat Eisenhower Theater and the 320-seat Family Theater, made its public debut on Sept. 8, 1971. Trump attended the opening night of Les Miserables on June 11. During his first term, Trump didn't attend a performance there, including the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony after several performers honored at the annual gala spoke out against him.
