Universal Pictures is ramping up excitement for Wicked: For Good, the second chapter of its two-part musical saga inspired by the Tony Award-winning Broadway classic.
The latest teaser showcases how the movie will tie directly into The Wizard of Oz, uniting both stories within the same cinematic universe. Fans have long speculated how director Jon M. Chu would handle this long-awaited crossover, and now the studio is beginning to reveal key connections.
The teaser features brief yet powerful moments confirming that Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) are heading toward their fateful roles as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.
As the political tensions in Oz rise, The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) set a propaganda campaign into motion to frame Elphaba as the kingdom’s villain. Their efforts hide their own misdeeds, while Elphaba finds herself driven toward rebellion and moral independence.
The arrival of Dorothy, though only suggested in the teaser, is crucial to where Wicked: For Good overlaps with the classic Wizard of Oz story. The clip shows Dorothy landing in Munchkinland and unexpectedly possessing the shoes of Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode).
Fans familiar with the mythos recognize this as the beginning of the end for Elphaba’s journey, even as the story reframes those events through her perspective.
While Wicked: For Good serves as the second half of the musical adaptation, it’s also the emotional payoff for the rivalry and friendship between Elphaba and Glinda. Their complicated dynamic, part affection, part conflict, faces its hardest test yet.
The two begin to realize that personal ambitions can fracture even the deepest connections, a theme that sits at the core of both the stage version and the upcoming film.
Glinda and Elphaba: From Friends to Foes
The heart of Wicked: For Good lies in the friendship of Glinda and Elphaba, a relationship that mirrors sisterhood, jealousy, and compassion all at once. The teaser emphasizes the strain between them as the Wizard’s regime turns their once-shared dreams into opposing missions.
Ariana Grande’s Glinda is seen guiding Dorothy toward the yellow brick road with cheerful obliviousness. “It’s just that one road the whole time!” she chirps, echoing her tone from the Broadway musical but adding a cinematic flair.
The moment hints at Glinda’s growing naivety and desire for order, even as she unknowingly plays a part in the chaos to come.
Meanwhile, Elphaba is portrayed as both defiant and empathetic. The teaser’s quieter moments show her approaching Oz’s animal citizens, creatures who have become targets of systematic oppression.
With The Wizard’s campaign branding her a danger to society, Elphaba begins forming alliances with outcasts and animals, potentially sparking an uprising.
Onstage, Elphaba’s acts of rebellion are mostly implied, but Chu’s adaptation expands those events, giving cinematic scale to her resistance. One striking sequence teases Elphaba surrounded by animals, lions, monkeys, and more, suggesting she’s becoming a symbol of protection and hope against injustice.
The teaser further implies that this coalition may lead directly to one of Oz’s most iconic moments: the creation of the Flying Monkey guard.
Despite the growing divide between the two women, the chemistry between Erivo and Grande remains strong. Their interactions alternating between warmth and irritation convey the painful beauty of their relationship. Even as they’re torn apart by destiny and ideology, their bond remains magnetic.
A Closer Look at the Wizard’s Deception
Jeff Goldblum’s portrayal of The Wizard takes a more sinister tone in Wicked: For Good. The teaser frames him and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) as the masterminds pulling Oz’s political strings.
Their manipulation of magic, power, and public opinion transforms Elphaba into the perfect scapegoat, masking the lies at the heart of their empire.
Wicked: For Good (Credit: Universal Pictures)
From the snippets shown, Goldblum’s Wizard brings a mixture of charm and intimidation, perfectly blending his eccentric humor with an undercurrent of menace. His collaboration with Yeoh’s elegant yet calculating Morrible introduces a layered political commentary about perception, fear, and propaganda.
Their influence reaches even Glinda, whose newfound popularity and desire for acceptance make her vulnerable to manipulation. Through clever editing and brief shots, the teaser shows how the government of Oz weaponizes both magic and misinformation, a reflection of how authority can distort truth for the sake of power.
The movie will likely build toward Elphaba’s transformation into the so-called “Wicked Witch,” now viewed through the lens of injustice rather than pure evil. That emotional shift is what sets Wicked apart from The Wizard of Oz, giving audiences a fresh perspective on events that once seemed one-dimensional.
The Dorothy Mystery and Story Expansions
One of the biggest reveals from the new teaser is the confirmation that Dorothy Gale has officially arrived in Oz. However, as previously reported, Wicked: For Good will not show Dorothy’s face directly. Instead, her presence will be felt through others, mainly through Glinda’s point of view.
This decision replicates the mystery created on Broadway, where Dorothy’s appearance was implied but never depicted. By not making her a central figure, the focus stays on how her arrival impacts the lives of those already in O,z, especially Elphaba and Glinda.
Her acquisition of Nessarose’s glittering shoes serves as a symbolic trigger for Elphaba’s descent into isolation. At the same time, Glinda’s interaction with Dorothy reflects her gradual acceptance of her “Good Witch” title, though it comes at personal cost. Both women must accept what they have become and what they have lost.
Chu’s adaptation also hints at new additions to the story. The rumored animal rebellion subplot introduces an expanded vision of Oz’s oppressed species. This added layer gives the plot more dramatic urgency and emotional weight, transforming Elphaba from a fugitive witch into a revolutionary leader.
Erivo and Grande Promise Something Epic
The teaser closes with glimpses of what appear to be major musical performances from both stars. Cynthia Erivo’s commanding presence as Elphaba can already be felt in the few seconds of her chanting spellwork, while Ariana Grande glows in her glamorous pink gowns, embodying Glinda’s ethereal radiance.
The contrast between them, one battling persecution, the other holding fragile power, forms the movie’s emotional foundation. Long-time Wicked fans will anticipate scenes such as their climactic confrontation and Glinda’s wedding to Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), both of which carry deep emotional stakes.
The humor from the stage musical appears intact as well. Moments of levity, like Glinda’s clueless advice to Dorothy or her playful arguments with Elphaba, recall the original show’s charm.
Universal’s marketing smartly balances the darker revolutionary themes with snippets of humor and heart, capturing the spirit of friendship and tragedy that defines Wicked.
A Growing Excitement for Oz’s Grand Finale
With Wicked: For Good set to close out the two-part saga, Universal is clearly positioning it as a grand cinematic event that honors the beloved source material. The seamless blend of musical spectacle, character drama, and Wizard of Oz nostalgia promises an ambitious conclusion.
Fans can expect the final movie to connect every element of Oz’s mythos, from the shimmering Emerald City to the crash landing that starts it all. The new teaser reminds audiences that even the most familiar fairy tales have untold sides and that Wicked: For Good is finally ready to tell them.
After years of uncertain updates, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is starting to look like a real possibility again. During a recent appearance at TheWrap’s The Grill conference, veteran producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that Margot Robbie remains attached to star in a new Pirates of the Caribbean project.
His confirmation has reignited enthusiasm among fans who had been wondering if the buzzy female-led reboot had quietly sunk.
Robbie’s involvement in the franchise first surfaced in 2020, sparking excitement over Disney’s plans to introduce a new lead and storyline set within the Pirates universe.
However, delays, changes in creative teams, and Disney’s reassessment of the series after Johnny Depp’s departure left the project in limbo. Bruckheimer’s new update, though, paints a far more hopeful picture: “She’s still involved. We’re working on a script,” he said, stating that development has restarted.
The producer revealed that at one point, two separate scripts were in contention, but only one has moved forward. He explained, “We had two scripts at one point, and then one kind of dropped out, and we kind of went with the other one.”
Bruckheimer also confirmed that franchise veteran Ted Elliot, who co-wrote the earlier Pirates of the Caribbean films, contributed to the script, while another writer was brought in to fine-tune it.
This latest update suggests that Disney isn’t abandoning its most lucrative live-action franchise but rather searching for a fresh way to steer it.
More than eight years since the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017, the series might be ready for a creative overhaul, and who better to lead that charge than Margot Robbie?
Why Margot Robbie Is Perfect for the Next Pirates Era
Margot Robbie’s steady rise as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars makes her a natural choice to headline a revived Pirates franchise. From The Wolf of Wall Street to Barbie, Robbie has shown an uncanny ability to mix humor, intelligence, and charm, all qualities the Pirates series thrives on.
With her in the lead, Disney could anchor the franchise’s next phase around a mix of empowerment and adventure rather than relying solely on the past formula centered on Captain Jack Sparrow.
Robbie’s star power has only grown since she was first linked to Pirates of the Caribbean. Her recent success as both lead actress and producer of Barbie proved she can command global box office attention and bring a distinct personality to a project.
Fans are therefore eager to see how she interprets the high-seas spirit of the Pirates saga without copying what came before.
The creative shift also aligns with Hollywood’s larger movement toward more inclusive storytelling. Reports about the upcoming Pirates project suggest that Robbie’s film will focus on a new crew of adventurers led by a bold and resourceful protagonist.
Though Disney hasn’t shared plot details, the approach could introduce a new world of eccentric pirates, rival captains, and mystical adventures that fit comfortably beside the legacy stories while opening new creative paths.
Bruckheimer, who has overseen every Pirates of the Caribbean installment since 2003, knows that Robbie’s charisma and audience approval give this reboot a major advantage.
He seems genuinely eager to get the new film right rather than rushing it into production just to meet fan demand. His comment that they “won’t move forward until [they] are satisfied” confirms that quality remains the top priority.
The Future of the Franchise Under Jerry Bruckheimer’s Guidance
Since the first Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl debuted over 20 years ago, the franchise has been both a creative and commercial triumph for Disney.
Each film combined humor and wild imagination with blockbuster spectacle, largely anchored by Johnny Depp’s Academy Award-nominated performance as Captain Jack Sparrow. However, after five films, many critics and fans agreed that the series had started to drift without a strong new direction.
When Bruckheimer teased multiple projects being developed simultaneously in 2022, some assumed one would feature Robbie’s new protagonist while the other might revisit the previous timeline.
Now, his confirmation that Robbie’s project is still alive signals that the female-led version could be the primary focus of Disney’s next expansion of the franchise.
Bruckheimer also emphasized that the studio’s brief move to television through Pirates of the Caribbean: Edge of History served an important role. “No, it was completely different.
We wanted to keep the name alive in the public eye,” he explained, adding that even a short-lived series contributed to keeping the franchise relevant. Though Disney canceled the show after one season, its existence reminded audiences that Pirates still has devoted fans ready for its cinematic comeback.
With Robbie now confirmed to still be part of the plan, and Elliot’s involvement ensuring narrative continuity, the pieces are coming together for a potential revival that respects the franchise’s roots while offering something new.
Johnny Depp’s Possible Future in the Series
One major question remains at the center of every Pirates of the Caribbean discussion: Will Johnny Depp ever return as Captain Jack Sparrow? His absence from Robbie’s version has fueled speculation that the franchise may completely move on.
In past interviews, Bruckheimer has expressed admiration for Depp’s contribution to the series, even saying in 2022 that he hoped the actor might reprise his role someday.
Pirates of the Caribbean 6 (Credit: Walt Disney Pictures)
However, the complexities surrounding Depp’s career in recent years have made any return uncertain. Given the studio’s quiet stance on the matter, it’s possible the two projects, one starring Robbie and the other tied to the traditional Pirates continuity, might proceed independently.
Still, many fans hold onto hope that Depp could appear in some capacity, even if just a cameo connecting the old and new generations. Such a crossover could create a smooth handoff between timelines, similar to legacy sequels seen in other long-running franchises.
A Franchise Ready for Reinvention
It has been nearly a decade since the last Pirates movie sailed into theaters, and Disney appears to be using this time wisely. Revisiting the franchise with a new star and refreshed storyline could reignite public interest while resetting the creative tone.
The secret to the original series’s success was its combination of unpredictable characters, supernatural tales, and treacherous adventure. Robbie’s Pirates film has the potential to recapture that spark while introducing a distinctly modern energy.
Bruckheimer’s track record of iconic franchises is a reassuring sign. From Top Gun: Maverick to Bad Boys for Life, he has repeatedly proven that reviving older properties can succeed when handled with respect and innovation.
His careful, incremental approach to developing Pirates of the Caribbean 6 suggests he understands how crucial it is to deliver a film worthy of the name.
Robbie’s confirmed involvement reaffirms that the franchise isn’t ready to be retired. Instead, Pirates might be poised for a new cinematic wave anchored by a different kind of hero, one whose charm, cunning, and ambition could redefine the series for a fresh generation of viewers.
For now, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 remains in development, but all signs indicate the ship is steering in the right direction. The combination of Disney’s commitment, Bruckheimer’s faith, and Robbie’s unmatched star appeal makes for an adventure worth the wait.
With the horizon now clearer than it has been in years, the Pirates saga seems ready to chart a new course one treasure map at a time.
Claim
A viral picture authentically shows the night sky on Mars as a dazzling, hyper-detailed Milky Way above a rover deck, demonstrating “what Mars really looks like at night.”
Rating
Misleading
About this rating: The foreground appears Mars-like, but the sky is a composited/repurposed star field, not a rover photograph. NASA’s authentic rover imagery of Mars at night—including the well-known frame where Earth appears as a tiny dot —shows a much dimmer, dust-muted sky. The viral image is therefore misrepresented as documentary photography.
Context
In late 2025, posts across X, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook claimed to reveal an astonishing view of the Martian night sky : a rover or rover-like platform in the foreground beneath a glittering, color-rich band of the Milky Way. Captions typically asserted that this is how Mars looks after dark, sometimes implying the picture came from NASA’s Curiosity or Perseverance rover, or from a “new telescope on Mars.”
Fake photo of Mars Night Sky going viral on social media
NASA has, in fact, published real night-sky imagery from Mars. The most iconic example is Curiosity’s 2014 frame taken from Gale Crater, where Earth appears as a faint star-like point above the horizon. NASA’s official resource page for that image is here: https://science.nasa.gov/resource/earth-from-mars/ https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/
Earth from Mars Night Sky (Source: NASA)
Earth from Mars Night Sky (Source: NASA)
That authentic photo, and others like it, establish the baseline for how Mars’ sky is recorded by rovers: subdued, dusty, and comparatively low-contrast—nothing like the viral composite.
You can check over 146,000 photos by NASA:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/
What the authentic record shows
- Dim, dust-affected skies: Mars’ atmosphere is thin but dusty. Fine particles scatter sunlight, especially at dusk and dawn when rovers often point cameras skyward. This reduces contrast and mutes the Milky Way’s glow.
- Rover cameras are geology-first: Systems such as Mastcam (Curiosity) and Mastcam-Z (Perseverance) are engineered to document rocks, layers, and hardware—not to operate as tracked deep-sky observatories.
- No sky tracking: Rovers do not use equatorial mounts that compensate for planetary rotation. Long exposures would trail stars, so sky frames are short, limiting faint detail.
- Provenance and metadata: Authentic rover photos are accompanied by a sol (Martian day) number, instrument name, and mission context, and they appear in NASA/JPL archives. The viral image lacks these identifiers and does not appear in official repositories.
In short, when NASA releases a night view from Mars, it looks modest and scientifically calibrated. The famous 2014 frame shows Earth as a small, bright dot against a dark horizon—powerful precisely because it is understated.
Why the viral picture is miscaptioned/misleading
Improbable Milky Way brightness and structure. The sky in the viral composition displays the kind of razor-sharp, high-contrast star field that, on Earth, requires tracked, multi-minute stacked exposures or a mosaic from professional observatories. A stationary rover mast camera cannot produce that look in a single frame.
Foreground/sky mismatch. The noise pattern, color curve, and dynamic range of the lower (terrain/rover) portion do not match the star field. This is a common giveaway that two unrelated images were combined.
Optical/pixel-scale tells. Across a very wide field, the stars remain ultra-pinpoint and evenly resolved—behavior typical of large, fast optics designed for astrophotography. Rover cameras have different pixel scales and aberration profiles.
Shifting attributions. As the image spreads, captions alternately credit Curiosity, Perseverance, and a speculative “Mars telescope.” Conflicting origin stories are a hallmark of repurposed or fabricated visuals.
Could Mars’ Milky Way ever look like that to a camera?
In principle, a human observer on a very clear, dust-low night on Mars could perceive the Milky Way band, just as on Earth at dark sites. But to record the Milky Way with the clarity and depth shown in the viral picture, you would need tools the rovers don’t carry: a tracking mount , long/stacked exposures , a large, fast aperture , and extensive post-processing . Mars missions prioritize science and safety, not gallery astrophotography; night imaging windows are short and tightly constrained.
How people get misled online
- A kernel of truth: NASA really did show Earth in Mars’ night sky —as a tiny dot—so viewers find dramatic “Mars night” claims plausible.
- Algorithmic aesthetics: Platforms reward eye-popping visuals. Subtle, accurate science images lose out to spectacle.
- Context collapse: With reshares, credits and caveats vanish; artwork or composites are retold as “NASA just released this.”
- Technical opacity: Most users don’t know instrument limits; without that context, nearly any space claim can feel believable.
What the real image looks like (and why it matters)
The authentic benchmark for a Mars night scene remains NASA/JPL’s 2014 Curiosity frame: a dark horizon under a dust-softened sky , with Earth as a star-like point . That quiet reality underscores scale, distance, and the constraints of imaging from another world. Presenting a composited Milky Way as a rover photograph blurs the line between art and documentary , undermining public trust and overshadowing the genuine achievements of planetary exploration.
How we verified
- Primary source review: NASA’s “Earth from Mars” page (Curiosity, 2014) establishes how the Martian night appears in official rover imagery and provides mission context and instrument information.
- Archive and capability check: Public NASA/JPL galleries list no rover images matching the viral sky’s star density and coloration. Rover camera documentation and usage confirm they are not tracked deep-sky systems.
Our verdict
False portrayal / Misleading. The viral picture is not a documentary photo of Mars’ night sky. It is a composite or otherwise manipulated image miscaptioned as a rover capture. The authentic appearance of a Martian night sky in NASA releases is restrained; at most, you may see a faint Earth as a small point of light.
Sources
- NASA: Earth from Mars (Curiosity, 2014) – https://science.nasa.gov/resource/earth-from-mars/
- NASA/JPL mission galleries and instrument overviews for Curiosity Mastcam and Perseverance Mastcam-Z (general capability context). – https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/
