Director and writer Lindsey Anderson Beer opens up about her unmade vision for a sequel to The Wizard of Oz. Directed by Victor Fleming and starring Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton, the celebrated 1939 feature is an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s fantasy novel that saw a young girl transported to a fantastical world of witches, magic, and living scarecrows. Beer’s latest feature is Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, a prequel to Stephen King’s classic horror tale.
Beer opened up about her past work on notable IPs in an interview with Dread Central, revealing that she had developed a script for a sequel to The Wizard of Oz that she hoped would one day be made a reality. While the story honed in on the joy and whimsy of the original feature, the director teased that her treatment also had an edge to it. Check out Beer’s comments below:
The list is too long, and in Hollywood, television is so fast, but features are so slow, and sometimes it can take a decade or 20 years for something to get made, The Wizard of Oz is one I really hope actually gets made because I was really proud of that script. It’s not easy to make a Wizard of Oz sequel that feels worth making, but I was proud of that one.
It was a mix between darkness and the whimsy of the original, but a little bit of that darkness that I think a modern-day audience may need to feel realistic.
What Is Next For The World Of The Wizard of Oz?
As a major piece of cinematic history, The Wizard of Oz continues to shape pop culture to this day. As such, there have been many attempts to expand the world of Oz both into its past and future. These attempts have included Sam Raimi’s tale of the Wizard’s journey in 2013’s Oz The Great and Powerful and Walter Murch’s Return to Oz, which imagined a realm left corrupted following Dorothy’s experience.
However, one of the most notable expansions on The Wizard of Oz is Wicked. Based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, the story focuses on the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West, here named Elphaba, as she sets out on a journey of self-discovery that will lead to her becoming the infamous villain. A two-part movie adaptation of Wicked is in production at Universal and helmed by Jon M. Chu, with Cynthia Erivo playing Elphaba in both movies releasing on November 27, 2024 and November 26, 2025, respectively.
With a wide variety of projects reinterpreting The Wizard of Oz over the eight decades since the 1939 feature premiered, Beer’s version may not feel too outside the norm. Despite joyful songs and the bright technicolor visuals of the original movie, the world of Oz still offers plenty of room for darker twists. As such, Beer’s ideas for a sequel could find an audience should her script ever be brought to the screen.
The Wizard of Oz
Based on Frank L. Baum’s book of the same name, The Wizard of Oz follows young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) as she’s swept away to the magical land of Oz. Upon arriving, she falls afoul of a witch, then enlists the help of a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion in order to find the Wizard and get home to her family.
- Release Date
- August 25, 1939
- Director
- Victor Fleming
- Cast
- Margaret Hamilton , Jack Haley , Judy Garland , Bert Lahr , Ray Bolger
- Rating
- PG
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
- Genres
- Musical , Fantasy , Family , Adventure
- Writers
- Florence Ryerson , Noel Langley , Edgar Allan Woolf
- Budget
- $2.8 million
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
