{"id":1884,"date":"2025-12-04T16:21:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T16:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/?p=556540"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Cynthia Erivo finally explains how Elphaba’s magic powers actually work in Wicked: For Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wicked films contain a confusifying amount of lore. Although we see Elphaba cast plenty of spells in Wicked: For Good, the film doesn’t ever detail exactly how she does this. Thankfully, Cynthia Erivo has gone into depth about how Elphaba’s magic powers actually work in Wicked and Wicked: For Good.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Cynthia Erivo<\/a> wasn’t content with the explanations of magic in the stage show versions of Wicked on Broadway and the West End. She and the director Jon M Chu figured out all the mechanics of the magic together. She told Deadline: “In the stage show the power is literally kind of not really even discussed. And it\u2019s like the broom flies\u2026 And I was like, It has to be more than that\u2026 So I want to get specific about what power is.<\/p>\n

\"elphaba
No Good Deed will be stuck in my head until the end of time
(Image via Universal Pictures)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“And then [Jon M Chu] and I had a conversation that her power is dominion over gravity. So she can take or give, she can remove the force of gravity from things or she can give the force of gravity. So, she makes things land. And then beyond that, she has visions which we see, which we explore in the second movie as well. And because we keep talking about this unlimited power, what we see her do is grow it.”<\/p>\n

Cynthia reckons Elphaba can fly even without the broomstick. She explained: “If she has dominion over gravity, she doesn\u2019t actually need anything to fly, but that broom allows her to move faster. It\u2019s like a motorbike for someone who could already drive.”<\/p>\n

\"elphaba
Elphaba defying some gravity
(Image via Universal Pictures)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elphaba’s magic in Wicked is innate, and doesn’t come from the Grimmerie<\/a>. “Elphaba’s powers exist independent of the Grimmerie,” she told Today<\/a>, “and because she has certain powers, she’s able to read the Grimmerie. It’s like she and Grimmerie have an intrinsic relationship, and so the Grimmerie answers to her.”<\/p>\n

A deleted scene from the first Wicked film also explained why Glinda struggled to do magic until the very end of Wicked: For Good<\/a>. Wow, these films makes the Stranger Things<\/a> lore look simple.<\/p>\n

For more like this,\u00a0like The Tab on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Featured images by Universal Pictures.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She expanded on the lore from the musical<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[65,4,43],"coauthors":[20],"class_list":["post-1884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-cynthia-erivo","tag-film","tag-wicked"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCynthia Erivo breaks down how Elphaba's magic works in Wicked<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cynthia Erivo has gone into depth about how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked and Wicked: For Good.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cynthia Erivo finally explains how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked: For Good\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cynthia Erivo has gone into depth about how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked and Wicked: For Good.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Film Shrine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T16:21:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claudia Cox\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claudia Cox\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/\",\"name\":\"Cynthia Erivo breaks down how Elphaba's magic works in Wicked\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-04T16:21:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/9147dc3ab1bfe858c787abf09ed7ec70\"},\"description\":\"Cynthia Erivo has gone into depth about how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked and Wicked: For Good.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cynthia Erivo finally explains how Elphaba’s magic powers actually work in Wicked: For Good\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/\",\"name\":\"Film Shrine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/9147dc3ab1bfe858c787abf09ed7ec70\",\"name\":\"Claudia Cox\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e78ef1bc914822ab71ee0010e983dd88\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e910af8405c926ad1d945793b9ba0124f6c0b479369aac1e70f53de2fc1778e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e910af8405c926ad1d945793b9ba0124f6c0b479369aac1e70f53de2fc1778e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Claudia Cox\"},\"description\":\"Claudia joined The Tab team in August 2024. She has an MA in magazine journalism from City St George's, University of London, and studied Classics at the University of Cambridge. Far more importantly, she can recite the first Twilight film from memory.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/author\/claudiathetab-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cynthia Erivo breaks down how Elphaba's magic works in Wicked","description":"Cynthia Erivo has gone into depth about how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked and Wicked: For Good.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cynthia Erivo finally explains how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked: For Good","og_description":"Cynthia Erivo has gone into depth about how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked and Wicked: For Good.","og_url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/","og_site_name":"Film Shrine","article_published_time":"2025-12-04T16:21:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Claudia Cox","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Claudia Cox","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/","name":"Cynthia Erivo breaks down how Elphaba's magic works in Wicked","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-04T16:21:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/9147dc3ab1bfe858c787abf09ed7ec70"},"description":"Cynthia Erivo has gone into depth about how Elphaba's magic powers actually work in Wicked and Wicked: For Good.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cynthia Erivo finally explains how Elphaba’s magic powers actually work in Wicked: For Good"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/","name":"Film Shrine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/9147dc3ab1bfe858c787abf09ed7ec70","name":"Claudia Cox","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e78ef1bc914822ab71ee0010e983dd88","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e910af8405c926ad1d945793b9ba0124f6c0b479369aac1e70f53de2fc1778e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e910af8405c926ad1d945793b9ba0124f6c0b479369aac1e70f53de2fc1778e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Claudia Cox"},"description":"Claudia joined The Tab team in August 2024. She has an MA in magazine journalism from City St George's, University of London, and studied Classics at the University of Cambridge. Far more importantly, she can recite the first Twilight film from memory.","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/author\/claudiathetab-com\/"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/filmshrine.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Cynthia Erivo finally explains how Elphaba’s magic powers actually work in Wicked: For Good","url":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/12\/04\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg"},"articleSection":"Entertainment","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Claudia Cox"}],"creator":["Claudia Cox"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Film Shrine","logo":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cropped-The-Tab_Film-Shrine_Favicon.png"},"keywords":["cynthia erivo","film","wicked"],"dateCreated":"2025-12-04T16:21:41Z","datePublished":"2025-12-04T16:21:41Z","dateModified":"2025-12-04T16:21:41Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Cynthia Erivo finally explains how Elphaba’s magic powers actually work in Wicked: For Good\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/filmshrine\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/04\\\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/filmshrine\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/04\\\/cynthia-erivo-finally-explains-how-elphabas-magic-powers-actually-work-in-wicked-for-good\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/claudias-canva-chaos-IV-2025-12-04T161715.140.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Entertainment\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Claudia Cox\"}],\"creator\":[\"Claudia Cox\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Film Shrine\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/cropped-The-Tab_Film-Shrine_Favicon.png\"},\"keywords\":[\"cynthia erivo\",\"film\",\"wicked\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2025-12-04T16:21:41Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-04T16:21:41Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-04T16:21:41Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/filmshrine.com\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1884"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}