‘Wicked: For Good’ nods to Broadway classic with Dorothy’s cameo

Wicked: For Good paid tribute to the Broadway Classic with Dorothy Gale’s appearance, except her face remained hidden.

The sequel picks up as Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) embrace their new identities after the events of the first film, and this time, Jon M. Chu connects their story directly to the iconic Wizard of Oz timeline.

Dorothy enters exactly as fans remember from the 1939 classic, arriving in Oz when her Kansas home crushes the Wicked Witch of the East, Nessarose.

From there, she joins the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion on the yellow brick road to retrieve the Wicked Witch’s broom.

But audiences only ever see her from behind, a creative choice that preserves the character’s mythic familiarity while keeping the focus on the two witches.

Though played by English actress Bethany Weaver, Dorothy remains intentionally unrevealed.

Chu revealed the move was meant to protect each viewer’s own image of the character.

“I didn’t want to step on who you think Dorothy is,” he said, noting that while she appears more than in the stage musical, the story still belongs to Elphaba and Glinda, with Dorothy simply moving through their world, not taking it over.

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