One question that has been on many fans\u2019 lips in the lead-up to the release of Wicked For Good<\/a> was just who would be playing Dorothy in the film<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Anyone who has seen the stage musical Wicked knows that Dorothy, the iconic character from The Wizard Of Oz<\/a>, does play a role in the story, although the character never actually appears on stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s a running bit that Dorothy is never seen, although she is spoken to off stage, and appears in silhouette form \u2013 and this trend is largely followed in the big screen adaptation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n For the past year, Matilda actor Alisha Weir<\/a> had been <\/span>heavily rumoured<\/span><\/a> to be playing Dorothy after she walked the red carpet at the first film\u2019s premiere in November 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Alisha already has plenty of experience in musical theatre both on stage and on screen, and would have also been the perfect age to play Dorothy. She even fuelled the speculation<\/a> when she refused to confirm or deny whether the rumours about her taking on the role were true.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, it\u2019s now been revealed that it is actually Bethany Weaver<\/a> who plays the character first made famous by Judy Garland in the new screen <\/span>musical<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bethany<\/span> is an English choreographer, dancer and actor who trained at The Urdang Academy in London. She appeared in a number of theatre productions, including Rumi the Musical and Broken Wings the Musical, as well as choreographing the West End musical play Asmahan.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although Bethany has not yet spoken directly about the exciting casting news, <\/span>What\u2019s On Stage claims her Spotlight casting page<\/span><\/a> has been updated to include both the original Wicked film (in which Dorothy appears for a few seconds during its introduction) and its sequel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to members of the <\/span>press<\/span><\/a> who have seen <\/span>Wicked For Good<\/span><\/a>, Bethany appears for just over a minute on-screen, but has no dialogue, and her face is always obscured.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Director Jon M. Chu<\/a> has a very specific reason for keeping Dorothy\u2019s face concealed in the film.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to step on who you think Dorothy is in whatever story that you came into this with,\u201d he told <\/span>People<\/span><\/a>, adding that the new film \u201cis still Elphaba and Glinda\u2019s journey, and [Dorothy is just] a pawn in the middle of all of it\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elphaba herself, Cynthia Erivo, also approves of hiding Dorothy\u2019s face and believes it helps maintain the legacy of the original film. \u201cI think that\u2019s such a wonderful thing to do because then everyone gets to keep the Dorothy they know,\u201d she told <\/span>Empire<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Judy](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/691dcc6e170000714ea9097c.jpg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale&format=webp)
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