Wicked: For Good's final moments are designed to come as a surprise to fans of the original Wicked musical — but they were also withheld from Universal Pictures bosses.

Warning! Spoilers for Wicked: For Good follow.

The final shot of Wicked: For Good rewards fans with a final glimpse at Elphaba and Glinda together, despite their characters now having permanently parted. In a knowing nod to the Wicked musical's original stage show poster, actresses Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande recreate its iconic pose, where Elphaba smirks as Glinda whispers in her friend's ear.

The moment, depicted via a flashback to happier times, allows fans to see the two characters still connected (and indeed, the movie seems to imply Glinda knows Elphaba is alive, having just unlocked the power to read the all-powerful Grimmerie).

It's a more conclusive note for the pair's relationship than the musical affords, and one of the movie adaptation's most important changes. But in order to keep the change secret, director Jon M. Chu has now admitted he refused to share the final shot with Universal Pictures executives, to hinder them from using it in promotional material.

"I was always going to end on the whisper," Chu told Business Insider. "Do you know how hard it was to force Universal to never use it in any marketing material? They even had a poster of it for the first movie, and I was like, 'Why are we releasing this poster? We should never acknowledge the whisper. Never. Never.'

"I wanted it to feel like we didn't care about it, then suddenly it’s the last shot in For Good," he continued. "So the studio never saw that final shot. I imposed a huge thing: 'Do not show this shot!' They wanted it so badly."

So, what did Ariana Grande whisper? Chu claims even he doesn't know, which is fitting as the audience never finds out what Glinda was whispering to Elphaba in the original stage show's poster.

"That poster is one of the most brilliant posters ever made," Chu said. "You don't know what Glinda's saying, because they never actually do that in the musical. But it's sort of the key to friendship. That we have these secrets. And the girls got to choose what they are actually saying in the scene. I don't even know what they said."

Secrecy around the production also extended to Wicked: For Good's actress playing the iconic role of Dorothy Gale, made famous by Judy Garland in the original Wizard of Oz movie. This week, British stage actress and pilates teacher Bethany Weaver finally revealed herself in costume as the character, following a report which claimed she had been instructed not to attend major premieres or interact with the film's cast on social media.

After only a few days in theaters, Wicked: For Good has cemented itself — like a yellow brick on the road to Oz — as one of the biggest movies of the year. The film's opening weekend brought in $226 million globally, making its first few days larger than Superman and The Fantastic Four, and behind only Lilo & Stitch, Jurassic World Rebirth, and A Minecraft Movie.

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Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social