Furious Wicked fans accuse Ethan Slater of ‘spoiling plot’ with new photos

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the upcoming film Wicked: For Good.

Wicked fans are up in arms after actor Ethan Slater uploaded a so-called spoiler from the upcoming sequel to his Instagram profile.

The epic conclusion to Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of stage sensation Wicked, based in turn on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, arrives this November.

The second part of Elphaba Thropp (played by Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda Upland’s (Ariana Grande) story, titled Wicked: For Good, features fan favourites reprising their roles, such as Jonathan Bailey as Prince Fiyero and Slater as Boq Woodsman.

The latter, however, has landed himself in hot water with fans ahead of the release by posting a still from the flick on social media.

Following the release of the final Wicked: For Good trailer yesterday (September 25), the 33-year-old shared a picture from the movie musical with his 246,000 Instagram followers.

The two black-and-white images confirmed that he would transform from Boq into the mysterious Tin Man, who featured briefly in the video teaser.

"What have you done to me?” the actor’s character could be heard saying.

Both the official clip and the images Slater shared have sent social media into a meltdown, with many accusing both the father-of-one and Universal Pictures of ‘spoiling’ the Wicked: For Good plot.

"I’ve never seen the musical (and won’t until i’ve seen part 2 movie) and I be feeling like Im getting spoiled. I don’t even watch any trailers lmao,” typed one X user.

Another commented: “I get that spoilers were going to be hard to avoid but my god."

Ethan Slater has confirmed he will be transforming into the Tin Man in Wicked: For Good (Instagram/ethanslater)

“Why would you spoil the twist for those who haven't seen the play lmao,” a third remarked.

Mentioning the fact that Wicked opened on Broadway in October 2003, another X user typed: “Y’all talking about spoilers and it’s a 20 year old musical oh btch please.”

Someone else echoed: “For those complaining about spoilers, it's an adaptation. It's not a spoiler if it's already based on a well established pre-existing work.

“That's like saying it's a spoiler for saying Mufasa dies in The Lion King. People can publicly discuss things that happened 20+ yrs ago.”

A third penned: "Yes. You cannot spoil an adaptation especially one thats 20 years old at this point. The concept is f****ng dumb and frankly on whomever gets upset over it. They should've read the book/comics before hand. Before the Hunger Games came out, I went and read the series to appreciate and understand what I was about to watch."

Wicked fans have been debating whether the reveal is a 'spoiler', considering the book came out in 1995 and the play in 2003 (Universal Pictures)

It turns out, though, that Slater isn't actually the first person to reveal that he would become the Tin Man in Wicked: For Good.

In January, the film's hair and makeup artist Frances Hannon addressed his transformation, explaining to VFX Voice that the look was created using a combination of practical and CGI design.

“For Tin Man, we wanted to achieve something sympathetic because it should have never happened to Boq,” Hannon said.

“In our story, Elphaba’s spell goes wrong in Nessarose’s office, and everything metal in that room attaches to Boq; his breast plate would be the tray on the table, and his hands become the thimbles, salt and peppers. Then, the visual effects took over because all the joints were blue.”

The theatre favourite played Boq in the first Wicked film (Universal Pictures)

Earlier this month, Slater shared some insight into returning to the Wicked universe with Fandango.

He explained: “It was so fun to get to focus in on Boq and Nessa, and our relationship and spend more time there.

“[We explain] how things get twisted over time.”

The character of the Tin Man has appeared in many adaptations and follow-ups since being introduced in L. Frank Baum’s 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

As well as featuring throughout the Oz books, he’s in an episode of Once Upon a Time, the 2007 miniseries Tin Man, and even in The Muppet’s Wizard of Oz.

If you really want to get a grasp on what will happen to Boq and the rest of his friends in the upcoming film, then you can purchase the book.

Wicked: For Good is slated for release on November 21.