It nearly always happens these days. You’re watching a trailer for an upcoming blockbuster musical adaptation, then boom: James Corden shows up in some goofy way and does what James Corden does. In the last few years, The Late Late Show host has snagged featured roles in Ryan Murphy’s The Prom, Into The Woods, Amazon’s Cinderella, and most notably the absolutely cursed adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats.
With recent cast announcements made for the upcoming live-action Wicked feature, someone wanted to get ahead of the problem and created a Change.org petition that calls to “Keep James Corden out of Wicked the movie.”
In the petition written to Universal Studios, creator Mikel Miller simply states, “James Corden in no way shape or form should be in or near the production of Wicked the movie.” At the time of writing, the petition has racked up over 69,000 signatures, nearly reaching its goal of 75,000.
Despite his Broadway experience, fans of the long-running musical are begging for the “Carpool Karaoke” host to not appear as Toto the dog or a flying monkey. It’s not that Corden is a bad guy, he just has a particular way of ruining musical viewing experiences with his banter. Oftentimes he does not appear truly in character, but as himself in animal form. We know that sounds harsh, but unfortunately he has that effect on at least 69,000 people.
Thus far the cast announcements for Wicked have been met with joy, as pop sensation Ariana Grande and Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo have been cast as Glinda and Elphaba, respectively. The film adaptation will be directed by Jon M. Chu, whose previous work includes Crazy Rich Asians and In The Heights.
The musical film is currently set to release in June 2022.