Stephen Schwartz is still hard at work on the music for Wicked: For Good.

About five months before the highly anticipated second Wicked film is set to hit theaters on November 21, 2025, the musical's original composer and lyricist tells PEOPLE he's "still working away every day" on its score — and his deadline is "very soon."

"This is crunch month, ‘cause we record in London next month, in July," says Schwartz at the 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where he was honored with the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award. "But, you know, movies keep changing, they keep being re-edited, so then the music has to change."

He continued, "It's a very exciting and very organic process, and as you get closer to your deadline it's a little nerve-wracking."

While Schwartz can't spill too many secrets about Wicked: For Good, the Grammy winner teases, "I have permission to say there are two new songs in the movie because the storytelling demanded it. One of them happens to be for the character of Elphaba. The other one happens to be for the character of Glinda."

In the upcoming film, Cynthia Erivo will reprise the role of Elphaba, while Ariana Grande will return as Glinda.

The first Wicked film came out in November 2024, grossed over $756 million worldwide and won the Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design, among other accolades.

Upon crafting the music and lyrics for Wicked alongside script writer Winnie Holzman ahead of the blockbuster musical's initial Broadway premiere in 2003, Schwartz didn't expect the show to still attract sold-out audiences to this day.

"It's just amazing to have a show that opened 22 years ago and is still there," he says. "When I first started, if a show ran 5 years, it was miraculous. I know there's Lion King and Chicago, and there was Phantom, so there are other shows that have this incredible, durability and longevity. I don't think I ever expected to have a show of mine be among those."

Schwartz certainly couldn't have predicted the wide range of viewers, from young children to grown adults, would be learning the words to "Defying Gravity" in 2025.

"We knew at some point we would make a movie of [Wicked] somewhere down the line," he explains. "So, I guess I knew that if the movie worked, it was successful, you know, it would reach a new generation. I'm not sure I knew that it would be 20 years later."