Dorothy’s iconic red slippers, synonymous with The Wizard of Oz, will not be featured in the upcoming film, Wicked: For Good. Viewers caught a glimpse of Dorothy in 2024’s Wicked, walking the yellow brick road with Toto and her companions, but her footwear was notably not ruby red.
The absence of the shimmering red heels also extended to the trailers for Wicked: For Good, set for release in 2025. This creative choice aligns with other decisions made by director Jon M. Chu, including keeping Dorothy’s face off-screen entirely.
Chu explained his reasoning to People in April 2025. He stated he aimed not to interfere with audience perceptions of Dorothy from other stories. He emphasized that Wicked: For Good focuses on Elphaba and Glinda’s journey, with Dorothy as a secondary figure.
In the Wicked films, Dorothy wears silver shoes. This color choice is a direct nod to L. Frank Baum’s original 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In Baum’s literary version, Dorothy’s shoes were silver.
Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, also depicted Dorothy’s shoes as silver. The change to red occurred in MGM’s groundbreaking 1939 musical film, which utilized the then-new Technicolor technology.
Director Jon M. Chu confirmed that creative boundaries influenced the decision. Speaking to Variety in November 2024, Chu stated, “We had boundaries of what we could and couldn’t mention. We never use ruby slippers.” This suggests an awareness of intellectual property linked to the 1939 film.
The film’s costume designer, Paul Tazewell, also aimed for fidelity to the source material. Tazewell told People in November 2024 that the shoes are "not ruby." He described them as "very strange silver boots" from Baum’s original book.
Tazewell highlighted the mythical quality of shoes in fairytales, noting how the silver shoes from the book evolved into "crystal and silver shoes" in various interpretations. Chu further elaborated on the design of Dorothy’s shoes in digital film comments. He described them as "glass shoes" designed to resemble two tornados, with one on each heel.
Chu also noted another deviation from the 1939 film concerning the Yellow Brick Road. While the phrase “yellow brick road” is not copyrighted, its distinct spiral shape is. This led the filmmakers to create a circular path that continues, symbolizing that the journey does not end there.