Wish Ending Explained: As Dreamers Do

Beginning, naturally, with an introduction via a storybook and a narrator, the fairytale of “Wish” begins in the kingdom of Rosas, a land founded by King Magnifico (Chris Pine) and Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral) on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Due to Magnifico obsessively learning magic in order to make manifest people’s deepest wishes and then potentially grant them, he and Amaya have established a system on Rosas wherein the populace give over their wishes to the king for safe keeping on their 18th birthday, and then during the king’s monthly ceremony, one lucky citizen is chosen to have their wish granted.

Asha (Ariana DeBose), a 17-year-old girl who adores her family and excitedly greets newcomers to Rosas, is especially hopeful that her 100-year-old grandfather, Sabino (Victor Garber), will have his wish granted during this month’s ceremony. She’s also landed a prestigious job interview with Magnifico, where she may get the chance to become the king’s apprentice. After getting some tips from her friends Dahlia (Jennifer Kumiyama), Gabo (Harvey Guillén), Hal (Niko Vargas), Simon (Evan Peters), Safi (Ramy Youssef), Dario (Jon Rudnitsky), and Bazeema (Della Saba) — all of whom bear a resemblance to the Seven Dwarfs — Asha attends her interview.

At first, she and Magnifico bond over the beauty of all the wishes that the king keeps inside his secret chamber, and Asha gets to see Saba’s wish inside its bubble, which is to create a piece of music that will inspire others. Upon making the remark that she hopes the king will consider Saba at the ceremony, however, Magnifico becomes incensed, leading to an argument where Asha voices concern over the fact that the king erases people’s memories of their wish as soon as they’re given to him; in the king’s mind, this relieves people of the burden of hope and following their dreams, but Asha sees this as the insidious soul-robbing that it is.