Who’s Playing Dorothy in Wicked: For Good? Mystery Actress Revealed, as Report States She Was Stopped From Attending Major Premieres

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The mystery of who plays Dorothy in Wicked: For Good has now been revealed — even though you won’t see the character’s face on-screen.

It’s now been confirmed that British theater actress and pilates teacher Bethany Weaver portrays the iconic character within the Wicked sequel — which goes to great lengths to keep the character as anonymous as possible.

The Sun reports that Dorothy only appears on-screen for 69 seconds of the movie’s 2 hour 17 minute runtime, and says just six words. Behind the scenes, too, there’s been an effort to keep Weaver out of the spotlight, with the actress reportedly stopped from attending major premieres. Other cast and crew were also banned from publicly interacting with Weaver on social media.

Weaver’s Instagram is empty of any suggestion she is starring in one of the year’s biggest movies, presumably by design.

Speaking about the deliberate move to keep Dorothy as anonymous as possible, Wicked director Jon M Chu said it had been a conscious effort to not distract audiences with the Wizard of Oz star, or replace other instances of the character’s portrayal — such as the legendary 1939 performance of Judy Garland.

“I didn’t want to step on who you think Dorothy is in whatever story that you came into this with,” Chu previously told People. “She is a pawn in the middle of all of it.”

The choice makes sense — after all, Wicked is Elphaba and Glinda’s story, which happens concurrently with The Wizard of Oz. Elphaba and Glinda’s portrayal by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande has been a focal point of the movie’s marketing campaign, and introducing Dorothy as another major role could prove a distraction. And, of course, the second act of Wicked’s stage musical also handles the character of Dorothy similarly, with audiences only getting a glimpse of the character.

Prior to this confirmation — which has only come after the movie’s review embargo lifted — there had been intense speculation on who would play Dorothy, with Matilda star Alisha Weir and even Taylor Swift suggested.

“Wicked: For Good has all of the great parts of the first movie — opulent sets, heart-wrenching songs, the perfect lead cast — and all of its problems, too,” we wrote in IGN’s Wicked: For Good review, awarding the film a 6/10 score.

As the movie’s promotional tour continues, a YouTuber has been charged with public nuisance after star Ariana Grande was grabbed by a man who rushed onto the red carpet during the film’s Singapore premiere. Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum, meanwhile, has revealed why Wicked has made him give up eating meat.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social