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Michelle Yeoh is still processing the Academy's decision to leave Wicked: For Good off this year's nominations list.
"I'm not surprised, I am in shock," the Oscar winner said in a new interview with Variety while attending the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, where she received an honorary award. "It's such a beautiful, well-made movie. I was truly, truly very disappointed."
The sequel to 2024's Wicked arrived in theaters in November 2025 with high expectations. The first film earned 10 nominations at the Academy Awards and won for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. But when nominations for the 98th ceremony were announced on Jan. 22, the follow-up was nowhere to be found.
Yeoh, 63, reprised her role as Madame Morrible in the second installment, directed by Jon M. Chu. She suggested that the original film's awards success may have worked against the sequel.
"Sometimes people think, 'Oh, you already got so much with the first one, let others have a chance,'" she said. "But it's not a replica. It's more elaborate. There are so many new destinations in Wicked: For Good."
She also pointed to the film's creative team, including costume designer Paul Tazewell and cinematographer Alice Brooks, saying their work deserved recognition.
Leading stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who previously earned acting nominations for the first film, were also absent from this year's ballot. An anonymous voter told NewsNation last month that some Academy members were "turned off" by the pair's promotional appearances, calling them "cosplaying."
Despite the Oscars snub, Grande and Erivo recently celebrated Grammy wins for the original film's soundtrack. Meanwhile, Wicked: For Good is set to begin streaming on Peacock March 20.
Yeoh, who made history as the first Asian woman to win Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2023, remains proud.
"It's a film we believed in," she said. "That doesn't change."
