“Gelphie” is the shipping term for Elphaba and Glinda, the two leads in Wicked. There were thousands of stories and artwork centered around the romantic entanglements of the Shiz University roommates before the movie musical came out, and now there’s thousands more.
Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda, has seen some examples of “Gelphie,” although maybe she wishes she hadn’t.
“I wish I could unsee some things,” the actress told The Hollywood Reporter. “I mean, wow, I had a feeling, but I didn’t know it would be on this scale or this graphic.”
Grande also discussed the audition process to play the pink-loving witch. “People who didn’t understand would say, ‘Oh, that’s so silly, they know how talented you are,’ and I was like, ‘That’s very nice, but Glinda requires so much. I have to be able to earn this and I don’t want it unless I’ve earned it.’ It became this beautiful evolution of getting to know myself beneath it all,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I love this person underneath the drag.’”
The Wicked sequel, Wicked: For Good, comes out on November 21. Until then, Grande is up for Best Supporting Actress at the 2025 Oscars against Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Isabella Rossellini (Conclave), and Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez).