The Wizard of Oz is an enduring Hollywood classic that has captured the imaginations and hearts of audiences of all ages for the last 85 years. The movie’s popularity has also led to countless prequels and sequel films, retellings, and TV shows based on the story to be produced over the decades.
Notably, Wicked, which is a prequel set to be released later this year. However, with very few exceptions, all the films (including Wicked) and TV shows are based on the L. Frank Baum Oz books and not the 1939 MGM film.
Well, if it were up to Drew Barrymore, we might have actually gotten a sequel to The Wizard of Oz. In a recent interview with Us Weekly, Drew revealed that she has been trying to get a sequel* titled Surrender Dorothy made for the last 28 years.
According to Drew, the script for Surrender Dorothy was one of the first scripts she developed when she started her production company Flower Films in 1995, adding, “I fell in love with [it]… So it feels very personal to me.”
The film was actually announced back in 2002, and Drew was set to star in it. The plot involved the Wicked Witch of the West actually surviving after being melted by water, escaping Oz, and coming to modern-day New York in search of the ruby slippers — which are now in the possession of Drew’s Dorothy, who is the great-great-granddaughter of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.
Now, we know this would have been a sequel to the original movie because the ruby slippers are not part of the Oz books (in the books the slippers were silver, but MGM changed them for the movie so that they would “pop” in Technicolor). In fact, the ruby slippers are copyrighted, so if any studio were to use them in any adaption, they would be sued.
After that announcement, the project went dormant until 2010, when it was announced that Drew would now direct Surrender Dorothy, with a younger actor portraying Dorothy.
While ultimately Surrender Dorothy never got made, Drew would still like to make it, saying, “As a director, I would give anything to [make] that.”
Okay, now I am curious: Would you want to see a sequel film that followed the Wicked Witch of the West trying to get the ruby slippers back? Sound off in the comments below!
