Wicked star Marissa Bode teased that Wicked: Part Two will include at least one major deviation from the beloved Broadway musical.
The 24-year-old actress, who portrays Nessarose, the younger sister of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), revealed that after signing on to the project that one of her first conversations with director Jon M. Chu was about a ‘script change’ made to avoid ableist language.
While speaking about a pivotal scene in the show’s second act, in which her character is given the ability to walk after her sister casts a spell on her silver shoes, Bode recalled that Chu told her, ‘”Hey, we changed this part in this way just so that it felt less like a fixing moment.”‘
Instead of her character ‘pleading for a disability to be fixed,’ the performer explained that Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox’s script chose to focus ‘on the magic in general and the magic of the story.’
‘And that’s all I can say, I think!’ Bode said to People amid Wicked’s record-breaking week at the box office.
Upon her casting in Wicked, Bode made history as the first-ever physically disabled actor to play Nessarose.
Wicked star Marissa Bode teased that Wicked: Part Two, which hits theaters next year, will include at least one major deviation from the beloved Broadway musical; seen in 2024
Bode, who began using a wheelchair at age 11 following a car accident, was selected for the role following a ‘big, intense search.’
Chu received Bode’s submission late in the open call as he searched tirelessly for someone ‘who’s young, who can sing, who can act, who’s a wheelchair user and who has both the sweetness and the darkness of what happens in our story.’
Bode previously recalled to The Los Angeles Times feeling drawn to the role as she loves ‘seeing disabled characters be played authentically by real disabled people.’
Bode also relates to Nessarose as she also moved away for college to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles in 2021.
‘I see a lot of myself in her, especially as somebody who’s disabled, going off to college and finally feeling like you have that freedom for the first time,’ she said. ‘I had that same eagerness she has, of wanting to be independent, make new friends and find your place in the world.’
Chu raved that Bode ‘transformed’ how they chose to ‘present Nessa in so many ways.’
This including modeling her character’s wheelchair after Nessa’s, making the seat recline and placing her backpack on the back of her chair.
Costume designer Paul Tazewell explained that she wanted Bode ‘to look almost like a cherished doll, with cream or white bases to underscore her innocence.’
The 24-year-old actress, who portrays Nessarose, the younger sister of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), revealed that after signing on to the project that one of her first conversations with director Jon M. Chu was about a ‘script change’ made to avoid ableist language (seen with Erivo in Wicked)
Following Wicked’s release, Bode called out the ‘deeply uncomfortable’ jokes on social media about her character Nessarose’s disability.
On Friday, she took to TikTok in a five-minute clip to address the ‘very gross and harmful comments’ that have been circulating online ever since her film premiered on November 22.
In her video message, she began by saying that it is OK and ‘totally fine’ to dislike Nessarose’s actions and personality or to make jokes about those particular subjects because she is a fictional character.
The actress said that she herself is a ‘deeply unserious’ person, who loves joking around when it is fun and harmless.
However, she condemned jokes about Nessarose’s disability and said they are ‘deeply uncomfortable.’
The first of the two-part Wicked films hit theaters last week, and since then, the film has broken the record for biggest domestic box office opening for a Broadway musical movie adaptation in history; seen with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande
‘Disability is not fictional,’ Bode explained. ‘At the end of the day, me, Marissa, is the person that is still disabled and in a wheelchair. So, it is simply a low-hanging fruit that too many of you are comfortable taking.’
‘This goes so far beyond me, Marissa, just needing to ignore comments on the internet,’ she continued.
‘These comments do not exist in a vacuum,’ she said before she started giving examples of the shocking and egregious jokes people have been making about her character regarding her disability.
‘Aggressive comments of wanting to cause harm and push Nessa out of her wheelchair, or that she deserves her disability, are two very gross and harmful comments that real disabled people, including myself, have heard before.’
‘When these jokes are being made by non-disabled strangers, with a punchline of not being able to walk, it very much feels like laughing at rather than laughing with,’ she said.
Bode, who began using a wheelchair at age 11 following a car accident, was selected for the role following a ‘big, intense search’ (seen last month)
In the TikTok video, she also admitted that ‘the most frustrating part about all of this is how scared I am to even post [and] talk about this.’
‘I am scared also [to say this],’ the star added. ‘Because I have seen firsthand what has happened to my disabled peers who are outspoken online, when it comes to calling out ableism and jokes of standing and being a “vegetable” — which is a derogatory term, by the way, for disabled people and a comment that I saw about Nessa.’
She said she witnessed them being told to ‘just take a joke’ or ‘stop complaining.’
Because of the comments, she said they have had to step back from content creation and their artistry to protect mental health, which she noted is ‘not good.’
She encouraged people to stop dismissing each other or ‘claiming an experience can’t be true’ because they ‘don’t feel that way’ or cannot relate with their own lived experience.
Wicked: Part Two is set to premiere November 21, 2025
Bode said she’s learned that jokes about disability ‘are made out of ignorance.’
However, Bode said she wanted to speak out to try and stop anyone else from being ‘harmed’ by the jokes.
‘It would have affected younger me a lot more, and I’m worried that a younger version of myself is somewhere on the internet and is harmed by these comments,’ she said.
‘I do know and have seen, not in this specific instance, but similar comments be made on my disabled peers and disabled creators’ videos to the point where, again, it runs them off the internet. That’s not good. Please be kind.’
She concluded: ‘Lastly, I want to say one of the major themes within Wicked is having the ability to listen and to understand one another. And I truly hope that is something a lot of you can practice more and take with you.’
In the caption adjoining her video, Bode wrote: ‘Representation is important but that’s not the only thing that will save the disabled community.
‘I need a lot of y’all (non-disabled people) to do the work. To dissect and unlearn your own ableism. Listen to disabled people. Follow other disabled people outside of just me.’
Following Wicked’s release, Bode called out the ‘deeply uncomfortable’ jokes on social media about her character Nessarose’s disability in a five-minute TikTok
She also recommended people to ‘read up on the disability rights movement’ and ‘watch the documentary Crip Camp!’
‘I understand no one likes feeling like they’re being scolded. But true progress never comes with comfort. And that’s OK.’
The first of the two-part Wicked films hit theaters last week, and since then, the film has broken the record for biggest domestic box office opening for a Broadway musical movie adaptation in history.
Wicked: Part Two is set to premiere November 21, 2025.
