In the emerald-tinted whirlwind that is Oz’s ever-expanding cinematic universe, where flying monkeys might unionize and witches swap broomsticks for TikTok trends, a pint-sized powerhouse has just floated into the spotlight. On October 22, 2025, Universal Pictures dropped a tantalizing teaser clip for Wicked: For Good, the spellbinding sequel to last year’s box-office broomstick triumph, and it wasn’t the adult stars belting showstoppers that had fans levitating. No, it was an eight-year-old phenom named Scarlett Spears, swathed in a poofy pink gown and blonde curls that could double as cotton candy, declaring with wide-eyed wonder: “I want to be magical… for real.” As Young Glinda, the childhood incarnation of Ariana Grande’s bubbly sorceress, Spears doesn’t just mimic the pop icon—she channels her essence, down to the mischievous sparkle in those doe eyes. The internet, predictably, melted into a puddle of emojis: hearts, bubbles, and a chorus of “Mini Ariana!” flooding comment sections like confetti at a Shiz University pep rally. Grande herself, ever the gracious good witch, swooped in with a heartfelt Instagram tribute, hugging her tiny doppelgänger in a black-and-white snapshot from set: “My tiny girl in the bubble, played by the wonderful and talented @miss.scarlett.brielle… thank you for your beautiful work and for allowing the world to understand our Galinda more deeply than ever before. I adore you so.” It’s the kind of mentor-mini moment that turns sequels into sagas, and with Wicked: For Good hurtling toward its November 21 premiere, this clip feels like the first gust of a gale-force hype storm.

Spears’ debut isn’t just adorable serendipity; it’s a deliberate dash of backstory magic, conjured during reshoots that director Jon M. Chu now calls “one of the best decisions we made.” In a candid chat with Deadline earlier this month, Chu revealed the scene was scripted early on but shelved amid the Herculean pressures of filming two sprawling musicals back-to-back. “We had that scene in the script and I knew we should have kept it, but we didn’t shoot it at the time because we had a lot of other pressures,” he confessed. Post-Wicked: Part One‘s November 2024 debut—which raked in $750 million worldwide and snagged 10 Oscar nods, including Best Picture and acting duos for Erivo and Grande—the team reconvened in London’s Sky Studios Elstree for tweaks. The result? A poignant flashback that peels back Glinda’s glossy facade, showing a wide-eyed Galinda Upland dreaming of spells amid her family’s opulent estate. “It gives fans deeper insight into Glinda’s story,” Chu enthused, noting how Spears’ innocence contrasts the character’s later performative perfection. “Ariana’s Glinda is all about that bubble of popularity—Scarlett shows us the girl who wanted to float before she learned to fake it.” The clip, a mere 30 seconds of teaser gold, intercuts Young Glinda’s plea with Grande’s adult version pedaling her iconic bubble chariot, tiara askew, testing its whimsy like a kid with a new bike. It’s a seamless bridge, hinting at the sequel’s emotional core: as Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) flees into infamy, Glinda grapples with complicity and the cost of her crown.

Who is this breakout bubble-dweller stealing scenes from seasoned sorceresses? Scarlett Spears, a Los Angeles native with a resume that belies her tender age, has been charming audiences since she was barely out of diapers. At just five, she landed the role of Donna Corinthos on ABC’s General Hospital, the pint-sized daughter of mobster Sonny (Maurice Benard) and powerhouse Carly (Laura Wright), injecting pint-sized sass into Port Charles’ endless drama. “Scarlett’s got that old soul spark,” Benard gushed in a recent Soap Opera Digest interview, sharing how the tyke once improvised a full mob-boss monologue during downtime. But Spears’ sorcery extends beyond soaps: in 2025’s live-action Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado, she voiced Young Dora, the plucky explorer’s plucky precursor, earning raves for her bilingual bravado. Her management team’s Instagram announcement—”We’ve been keeping a WICKED secret!!!!! 🩷🫧✨👑 Introducing Scarlett Spears as Young Glinda”—exploded with well-wishes from co-stars. Young Nessarose portrayer Marissa Bode’s parents commented, “😍😍😍 🎀🎀🎀🎀 our hearts have just exploded,” while GH‘s Jacqueline Grace Lopez (ex-Blaze) simply squealed, “Gaah! Congrats Scarlett!” Spears responded to Grande with a beaming selfie, captioning it: “Thank you for making this little girl’s dream come true 🩷🫧👑✨🥹.” Her mom echoed the sentiment: “We love you SO much @arianagrande – what an HONOR it is to be part of your world.” At eight, Spears is already a mini-mogul in the making, balancing auditions with elementary school and a budding TikTok following where she lip-syncs to Wicked anthems in full costume.

The teaser arrives at a fever pitch for Wicked‘s whirlwind year, capping a promotional blitz that’s turned Oz into pop culture’s emerald obsession. Part One, helmed by Chu with a $150 million budget that ballooned to $200 million for dual filming, shattered expectations upon its 2024 release. Grande’s Glinda—perky yet poignant, her high ponytail a halo of hidden heartache—earned a Best Supporting Actress nod, while Erivo’s Elphaba, a green-skinned outcast turned defiant diva, contended for Best Actress. The film’s two Oscars—for Paul Tazewell’s kaleidoscopic costumes and Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales’ production design—were mere icing on a cake frosted with $750 million in global grosses. Critics hailed it as “a emerald triumph,” with Roger Ebert’s site calling it “the rare musical remake that soars higher than its source.” Box office alchemy aside, Wicked ignited a merchandising maelstrom: Glinda wands flew off shelves, bubble-shaped perfumes topped Sephora charts, and Shiz University merch—think sorority sweatshirts and enchanted espresso mugs—rivaled Hogwarts hauls. Now, For Good amps the ante: two original Stephen Schwartz songs, “No Place Like Home” (Erivo’s soul-stirring solo) and “The Girl in the Bubble” (Grande’s fizzy confessional), plus returning heavy-hitters like Jonathan Bailey’s brooding Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum’s twinkly Wizard, Michelle Yeoh’s imperious Madame Morrible, Ethan Slater’s earnest Boq, and Marissa Bode’s wheelchair-bound Nessarose. Plot teases? Elphaba’s fugitive flight fractures her bond with Glinda, as the Wizard’s propaganda machine brands her the Wicked Witch. Expect Dorothy cameos, monkey mayhem, and a climax that ties the prequel bow to The Wizard of Oz‘s yellow-brick legacy.

Timing couldn’t be more theatrical: the clip lands mere weeks before Wicked: For Good‘s November 21 bow, sandwiched between Part One‘s lingering glow and NBC’s splashy special, Wicked: One Wonderful Night, airing November 6. This two-hour extravaganza, taped at L.A.’s Dolby Theatre amid an Emerald City metamorphosis—think 37-piece orchestra led by Stephen Oremus, swirling fog machines, and a stage bedazzled like a Munchkinland disco—promises a primetime potion of performances, peeks, and pathos. Headliners Erivo and Grande will reprise hits like “Defying Gravity” and “Popular” in reimagined arrangements, their voices intertwining like ivy on the Emerald Throne. “It’s Oz unplugged—raw, real, and ridiculously fun,” Chu teased in an Entertainment Weekly exclusive, sharing first-look snaps of the duo in runway-ready regalia: Grande in a McQueen confection of tulle and tiaras, Erivo in Marni’s emerald asymmetry. Joining the jamboree: Yeoh channeling Morrible’s menace in velvet villainy, Goldblum jazz-scatting as the Wizard, Slater and Bode trading tender duets, and Bowen Yang’s Pfannee adding snarky sorority spice. Surprise guests? NBC’s coy, but whispers swirl of Idina Menzel (original Broadway Elphaba) dropping in for a gravity-defying duet, or even a holographic Frank Baum nod. Beyond belters, expect backstage bonbons: cast confessions (Grande on Glinda’s “bubble of loneliness”), Chu anecdotes from the reshoots (“Scarlett’s line delivery? Pure sorcery”), and exclusive For Good snippets that tease the sequel’s schisms without spoiling the sorcery.

Fan frenzy has hit hurricane levels, with X ablaze under #YoungGlinda and #WickedForGood. “Scarlett Spears is Ariana 2.0—those curls, that craving for magic? Chef’s kiss! 😍🫧,” one viral post gushed, amassing 200,000 likes. TikToks recreate the clip with DIY bubbles and blonde wigs, while Reddit’s r/Wicked theorizes Spears’ scene foreshadows a Glinda origin arc: “Young Galinda wishing for ‘real’ magic? That’s the heartbreak before the heartbreak.” Soap fans, meanwhile, are dual-screening GH episodes, spotting Donna’s dimples in every daydream. “From Port Charles princess to Oz enchantress—Scarlett’s slaying timelines!” a fan forum cheered. Critics preview the special as “the ultimate hype hex,” Variety dubbing it “a two-hour spell that could levitate NBC’s ratings.” With Peacock streaming the next day, it’s a gateway for Gen-Z witches to wizard their way into the franchise.

Yet amid the glitter, Wicked‘s wizardry whispers deeper truths. At its heart, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s 2003 Broadway behemoth—now a $6 billion global juggernaut—flips L. Frank Baum’s 1900 tale on its broomstick, centering the “wicked” witch as a misunderstood misfit and her bubbly foil as a mirror to privilege’s pitfalls. Part One captured that alchemy, grossing amid a post-pandemic thirst for communal catharsis; For Good promises to seal the spell, exploring forgiveness amid fanaticism in a world that feels eerily Oz-adjacent. Spears’ addition? A masterstroke of tenderness, humanizing Glinda’s gloss with a child’s unfiltered yearning. “In reshoots, we realized Glinda’s story needed that innocence to hit harder,” Chu reflected. Grande, whose own journey from Nickelodeon kidlet to Grammy goddess echoes Galinda’s glow-up, nailed it: Spears isn’t just a stand-in; she’s the spark that illuminates the sequin’s shadow.

As November’s curtain rises—One Wonderful Night twinkling on NBC, For Good dazzling multiplexes—this Young Glinda glimpse feels like destiny’s duet. Spears, with her bubble-blown dreams, reminds us: magic starts small, but it sticks like glitter on a gown. In Oz’s grand guignol, where witches war and wonders wilt, a tiny voice pipes up: “For real.” And in that whisper, the whole wide world believes. Fans, grab your tickets, tune your TVs, and let the bubbles rise. Defying gravity? Try defying delight.