No, Wicked: For Good will not ‘execute’ these beloved characters

An excerpt from a satirical website stating that Wicked: For Good will ‘execute’ supporting characters Pfannee and Shenshen has gone viral – but it’s very much not true.

Despite still being nearly half a year away, hype for the return to Oz in Wicked: For Good is already at fever pitch.

We’ve already had the first trailer for the darker film, which will again follow Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda (Ariana Grande), and Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) in their quest to bring down the fraudulent Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and his right-hand-baddie, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).

The cast is filled out by Glinda’s Shiz University pals Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (Bronwyn Jones) – who will not be “executed”.

And the reason we say that is because The Broadway Beat – self-described “satirical Broadway news for real Broadway newsies” – reported that director Jon M. Chu had tweaked the opening to the film to behead both Pfannee and Shenshen.

“‘We wanted the second film to lean into the darker tone of the book,’ Chu said, nodding to a Glindafied guillotine,” the publication ‘reported’.

“So Elphaba becomes a bit more explicitly anti-fascist. And also Pfannee and Shenshen get blamed for some stuff and the Wizard publicly executes them right away. This is during ‘Thank Goodness.'”

The excerpt has gone viral on X after being posted by account @gelphieloise with the caption: “THANK GOODNESS ABOUT TO BE EVEN MORE DEVASTATING THAN IT ALREADY IS?????????”

THANK GOODNESS ABOUT TO BE EVEN MORE DEVASTATING THAN IT ALREADY IS????????? pic.twitter.com/PUTrsDnkxd

— Dee 🫧🧹 (@gelphieloise) July 7, 2025

“Thank Goodness” is the opening number of the soundtrack to the iconic Broadway musical’s second act, which Wicked: For Good will be based on.

The excerpt, posted to X, has been liked nearly eight thousand times, and by the site’s ‘Impressions’ metric, has been seen nearly a quarter of a million times.

The article also states, “Boq and Fiyero kiss and it’s not short or dry. They’re questioning, but it’s hungry. It’s a hungry kiss. Love is love here in Oz.” Unfortunately, we can only assume that this is fake too – but we might still get a shirtless Jonathan Bailey scene.

While there will be no executionifiying of side characters, Wicked: For Good will indeed make some changes to the show’s original plot.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Marissa Bode, who plays wheelchair user Nessarose, spoke about how the upcoming Wicked sequel will change a key part of her character’s original storyline. 

“I cannot say what those are just yet, but they did make those changes so that the magic within Wicked is still there, but the narrative is less harmful to disabled people.” 

Bode explained that the change was implemented after Winnie Holzman – the co-writer of the Wicked screenplay and the book writer of Wicked the musical – “heard a lot of the feedback from the disabled community about the whole narrative of being ‘fixed’ and how it isn’t necessarily the best” during the Broadway show’s run. 

Wicked: For Good is set to be released in cinemas on 21 November 2025 – and if we’re lucky, will be accompanied by another bonkers press tour.

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