Film

Fans are disgusticified with Wicked: For Good’s new character posters: ‘AI slop garbage’

Fans are not thrilled with Wicked: For Good’s new character poster (@wickedmovie/ X)

Fans are not thrilled with Wicked: For Good's new character poster (@wickedmovie/ X)

Wicked: For Good has dropped new character posters for Ariana Grande’s Glinda and Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba – but fans claiming the posters use generative AI are not thrilled.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the outermost corners of Oz, you’ll know that Wicked: For Good is well and truly on the way.

Starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, the follow-up to 2024’s Wicked is a film adaptation of the second half of iconic Broadway musical of the same name – and excitement for For Good is ramping up.

But after some initial teasers, a first full-length trailer and the promise of some key plot tweaks, the train to Oz has stalled slightly.

That’s because the 6 August release of a character poster each for Glinda and Elphaba has caused some fans to claim that they both used AI in their creation – and it’s scandalotious.

Elphaba’s poster shows the outcast witch perched atop a rocky outcrop, the sky filled with flying monkeys, in front of a castle.

In response to Elphaba’s poster, fans have pointed out that the monkeys filling the sky all seem pretty similar. In fact, one user wrote, “The same monkey duplicated six times… oh brother.

Another added: “Like what are we doing here.”

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And a third wrote: “Pay me to do your graphics.”

But it’s with Glinda’s poster, which sees the character stood in a pink and green dress, waving, that fans have taken real issue, with some claiming that AI has been used in its generation.

One user called out individual issues as potentially being AI, listing, “Faceless AI ‘people like’ blobs,” in the background behind Glinda, the texture on the flowers in the carts as being a red flag and a “messed up wheel” on one of the carts.

“Y’all could afford Ariana Grande, but not proper design resources?” they asked.

“Maybe there’s a pattern on the floor and the carpet is hiding it, but I think those bricks should line up properly in circles,” another said.

And RuPaul’s Drag Race star Megami even chimed in, writing: “What in the AI slop garbage is this cr*p?! Hey [Wicked: For Good] hire a graphic designer please.”

“Now make it without AI,” another commented.

“Oh that’s ai… that’s ai in my wicked for good poster,” one user chimed in.

Of course, others are thrilled at the posters, with one writing: “MOTHER LOOKING GOOOOOOOD!!!” under Elphaba’s, and another commenting on Glinda’s: “This costume is the gag of the century, her makeup, the pose, she looks fucking amazing.”

PinkNews has contacted Universal Studios for comment.

Grande, Erivo and Bailey will all star alongside Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible and Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard in the Jon M. Chu-directed sequel. Ethan Slater as Boq and Marissa Bode as Nessarose join.

Wicked: For Good is set to be released in cinemas on 21 November.

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