With the two-part Wicked movie musical adaptation approaching the end of the Yellow Brick Road, a familiar face is returning to Oz.
Director Jon M. Chu recently teased that the upcoming sequel Wicked: For Good, which premieres Nov. 21 in theaters, will feature more of Dorothy Gale than was originally included in the Broadway musical.
“That intersection is the place that we were first introduced into Oz,” he told Vanity Fair with a first look of the upcoming trailer, which shows Dorothy and her pals on the Yellow Brick Road. “We tread lightly, but try to make more sense of how it impacts our girls and our characters than maybe the show does.”
Chu assured that Dorothy’s inclusion in the screen adaptation won’t pull focus from Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda’s (Ariana Grande) story. “We’re delicate. We’re delicate. We’re delicate,” he ensured.
Although the stage musical only shows Dorothy’s shadow from the other side of a scrim, her inclusion in the story is pivotal for Elphaba, who fakes her death after the Wizard of Oz protagonist throws a bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West.
“I think the meat of what Wicked is all about happens in movie two,” added Chu. “To me, this is why this story exists. This is where our childhood dreams collide with our adult selves.”
Chu previously stopped short of revealing how much of Dorothy will be featured in the sequel, noting that an actress has been cast in the part, following mixed reactions from fans to her appearance in the first movie’s teasers.
“Well, we definitely did cast Dorothy. You see her in some of our teasers,” he told Cinema Blend in December. “How much of do you see of Dorothy? I’m going to leave people— I can’t confirm or deny how much you see of her. I will say that I do think it’s important for, whoever Dorothy is to you, to try to respect that as much as possible. But does The Wizard of Oz and our movie intersect in movie two more than ever? 100%.”
