Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Wicked!While the film is mostly faithful to its source material, director Jon M. Chu explains why The 2024 Wicked movie, however, extends the length by breaking up the song into more sections and serving as its ending.

In honor of the movie's release, Chu told GamesRadar+ why they had to make drastic changes to "Defying Gravity" in the movie's cinematic ending. The director revealed that they wanted to use the original version, but it wouldn't reflect "the end of this epic journey," and the decision to break up the song was "a necessity." Chu stressed that they didn't make any decisions "lightly", as each decision was questioned and carefully examined, so that the new version would reflect the hard journey Elphaba had walked through. Check out what he said below:

The alternative was not possible, to be honest. We tried to make it into one movie, and you had to rip out songs, and it became not Wicked. They had tried for 20 years to do that. I think the decision to make it one really opened the doors to like, "Okay, we have to believe these characters." You get away with things on stage that you can't get away with in a movie. The audience is more skeptical in a movie, and so the emotional turns for the actors and for the characters have to be very solid. So it came out of a necessity more than anything.

But something like "Defying Gravity," the song, if you just use the song itself the way it's used in the show, it doesn't actually feel like the end of this epic journey that we've gone on. So we had to break that up a little bit, which is scary. And we questioned ourselves at every turn. We did not make decisions lightly. We actually could make decisions and go backwards. We tried all versions, always. But in the end of the day, it was like, "I'm rooting for Elphaba to have this for herself, and she can't just get it. She has to earn it, too."

She knows at this moment that you don't have to prove yourself to anyone. She has to prove it to herself. How do we show that through this number that already exists? And you're not going to add new words to it. So what are you going to do?

What Defying Gravity's Changes Mean For Wicked

The Movie's Changes From Broadway Make For A Deeper Emotional Journey

The version of "Defying Gravity" used in the Broadway musical is five minutes and 53 seconds, whereas the movie's version extends the song to seven minutes and 39 seconds by making the buildup much longer and harder, painting a difficult emotional journey that Elphaba has to go through internally, foreseeing the challenges that she has to face in Wicked Part 2's story. The film's climax ending also has a bitter tone, where the Broadway musical version is more of a celebration of her embracing her powers.

"Defying Gravity" isn't the only thing that's different in the movie. The Wicked movie adaptation also shows Dorothy through a brief cameo, where she isn't in the Broadway version. Elphaba saves a lion cub, which later becomes the Cowardly Lion, but the lion isn't in the Broadway musical either, while there's also more information on the Grimmerie. The movie version tells a story that closer links the story of Wicked with The Wizard of Oz, filling up the blank space.

Our Take On Wicked's Epic Ending

Elphaba Didn't Make The Decision Lightly

Elphaba spends most of Wicked painting The Wizard of Oz as a great leader that she would dedicate her skill and time to serving. The Wizard of Oz is tied to her hopes and dreams, and mostly, her purpose. The discovery of the Great Wizard being the villain behind all the terrible things in the kingdom is heartbreaking and a moment where Elphaba has to make a decision.

Elphaba needs to take a stand, and she knows where her heart lies, but her decisionmaking is a hard and emotional journey. By breaking up the song and building a longer climb to the climax, the song makes this decision more emotional and adds more depth to Elphaba's journey in Wicked, because it means that she'll need to do this alone, and this also questions where her friendship with Glinda stands.

Source: GamesRadar+