Dorothys Cameo in Wicked: For Good Explained — and How the Films Ending Honors the Broadway Classic

[This story contains major spoilers from Wicked: For Good.]

Dorothy Gale, perhaps the most familiar face in the Wizard of Oz universe, appears in Wicked: For Good — except her face is never actually shown.

In the second installment of Jon M. Chu’s big-screen adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical and novel, which flew into theaters Friday, viewers see Ariana Grande’s Glinda the Good Witch and Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked Witch of the West embrace their new identities after parting ways at the end of 2024’s Wicked. While the first film explores the witches’ lives before Dorothy arrived in Oz, Wicked: For Good brings the two timelines together.

Dorothy — played by Judy Garland in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz — arrives in Oz just as she does in the original film, when her Kansas home lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, and Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode). Viewers only see Dorothy from behind — a vantage point that continues throughout the film —as she steps onto the yellow brick road to retrieve the Wicked Witch’s broom from the Wizard, along with the Scarecrow (Jonathan Bailey), Tin Man (Ethan Slater) and Cowardly Lion (voiced by Colman Domingo).

The decision to hide Dorothy’s face was deliberate. The role is played by 30-year-old U.K. actress Bethany Weaver, yet Chu chose not to reveal her visually. “I didn’t want to step on who you think Dorothy is in whatever story you came into this with,” Chu told People. “She’s probably more in this story than in the show and yet not taking over the story — it is still Elphaba and Glinda’s journey, and she is a pawn in the middle of all of it.”

TheCrazy Rich Asiansdirector also noted the film’s deeper look at Dorothy’s crew. “You get to see the origin stories of classic characters: the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow,” he said, teasing a “shocking” moment — likely referring to Boq’s transformation. In For Good, Nessarose’s misguided love spell shrinks Boq’s heart; Elphaba’s attempt to save him leaves him permanently transformed into the Tin Man.

One of the most noticeable changes in Dorothy’s limited screen time is her footwear. Instead of the ruby red slippers she’s famous for, she wears silver ones. Oscar-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell explained that this choice honors L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. “They’re not ruby. In the book, they were these odd little silver boots,” he told People. “There’s the idea of Cinderella and the glass slipper, and then it’s like how we make shoes a myth and how we’ve indulged them into our fantasy fairy-tale storytelling. In the book, they were silver shoes, and then they became crystal and silver shoes.”

Beyond Dorothy’s brief appearance, the film includes plenty of nods to the Broadway musical (which originally starred Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Idina Menzel as Elphaba) — especially near the end. The scene in which Dorothy throws water on Elphaba, prompting Elphaba to stage her death, mirrors the staging in the musical. As in the show, Dorothy’s face remains unseen; only her silhouette appears as Glinda watches from behind a closet.

In the final sequence, after it’s revealed that Elphaba survived and escapes with Fiyero (now the Scarecrow), a montage of the witches’ friendship plays. One shot revisits a scene from the first film — this time from a new angle — showing Glinda whispering to Elphaba, who reacts with a smirk. The moment mirrors the iconic artwork from the original Broadway poster, still displayed outside the Gershwin Theatre, currently home to the Broadway production of Wicked, in New York, as well as the show’s playbill. While whatever Glinda whispers remains unknown, the image encapsulates the heart of the story: the untold friendship of the Witches of Oz.