Dorothy’s presence in Wicked has been an enigma since the smash hit briefly showed her walking down the yellow brick road last year, but star Cynthia Erivo seemingly just confirmed an old theory about how Wicked: For Good would handle the original Wizard of Oz heroine. Set to wrap up Elphaba (Erivo) and Glinda’s (Ariana Grande) story, Wicked: For Good will hit theaters on November 21.

Dorothy has been featured in Wicked‘s marketing since its first trailers began coming out last year. However, Wicked is actually about the friendship between Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West against the backdrop of the Wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) vicious smear campaign against the latter. But the absence of some of Dorothy’s advertised scenes from the first movie increased speculation about her return.

Now, Empire has confirmed that Dorothy will only be seen from behind or afar in Wicked: For Good. Erivo said of this: “I think that’s such a wonderful thing to do, because then everyone gets to keep the Dorothy that they know.” Ironically, audiences had previously theorized that Dorothy’s face would be obfuscated in Wicked, as only her silhouette is seen in the Broadway show.

Empire released some new images of Elphaba and Glinda at the site of Dorothy’s crash landing, consтιтuting a remake of the scene from The Wizard of Oz. See these images below:

Grande also weighed in to discuss Glinda’s perception of Dorothy, somewhat tainting their cheery interactions in the 1939 classic:

I love the little bit of shadiness that Glinda has towards Dorothy. There’s a lot going on, and she doesn’t really have time to deal with this. She could have told her to take the Emerald City train! But she didn’t. That’s a little shady, Glinda! So I leaned all the way into Glinda sort of having an eye roll for Dorothy whenever she has to deal with her.

What This Means For Dorothy In Wicked

By doing this, Wicked is preserving the version of Dorothy that exists in The Wizard of Oz, primarily the zeitgeist’s most popular image of Judy Garland as her. And this strategy lends additional thematic heft to Wicked, with Dorothy continuing to exist in our imaginations in this way.

Wicked deconstructs characters like the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who was always a con man, examining the implications of his being in power. But Dorothy is an innocent character, and bringing her too far into Wicked‘s story could needlessly destroy her hopefulness.

The original Wicked novel even draws comparisons between Elphaba when she was younger and had a more hopeful outlook and Dorothy’s characterization. There is a lot for Wicked to gain by hinting at Dorothy but leaving the old version of her intact, while the other characters are the ones who benefit from reinterpretation.

Our Take On Wicked: For Good’s Depiction Of Dorothy

This is a rather clever way to approach Dorothy, which will allow Wicked: For Good to elaborate on how it overlaps with The Wizard of Oz without drawing too much attention away from Elphaba and Glinda. However, adapting a version of the scene from the book where Elphaba and Dorothy properly meet could still be great for the sequel — but it will be even more impressive if they manage to do that well with this approach.