A deleted scene from Wicked showing a very emotional exchange between Glinda and Elphaba has left musical fans heartbroken.
The scene, titled “Elphaba’s Promise,” shows Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, played by Cynthia Erivo, talking to Glinda, the Good Witch, played by Ariana Grande, in a classroom just before Madame Morrible receives her invitation to meet the Wizard.
Elphaba appears deeply engrossed in her studies, while Glinda is seen holding her beginner’s wand. In an emotional exchange, Glinda asks Elphaba why Fiyero helped free the lion cub from her classroom days earlier.
“I would have helped you, if you needed someone, you could have chosen me,” Glinda says, to which Elphaba replies, “I’m sorry, it was a mistake. I won’t leave you behind again.”
The clip was shared on X (formerly Twitter), where it has already amassed over 2 million views. “This is so crucial. Why did they delete it?” one user commented. “Oh my God, we were robbed, they should have kept this scene,” said another. “All the deleted scenes are so good! It could have been a 4-hour movie,” a third user commented.
Recently, the director of Wicked, Jon M. Chu, explained why he decided to remove the scene, stating that the intention was to maintain an element of surprise for the film’s storyline.
“The problem for us was that when Elphaba makes a promise to Glinda, it takes away the drama of waiting for that promise to actually happen,” he revealed in an interview with Bustle.
“When you get to the train scene, if she has already made that promise, Elphaba is a person of her word, so she will invite her. Without that, I don’t think you really know [her intentions].”
Photo and video: X @glindasupland. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.