Wicked star Marissa Bode reveals director Jon M. Chu changes a MAJOR plot point over character’s disability in sequel

Wicked star Marissa Bode teased that Wicked: Part Two will feature at least one major departure from the beloved Broadway musical.

The 24-year-old actress, who plays Nessarose, the younger sister of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), revealed that after signing on to the project, one of her first conversations with director Jon M. Chu was about a “script change” made to allow for competent language to avoid.

While talking about a pivotal scene in the show’s second act, in which her character gains the ability to walk after her sister enchants her silver shoes, Bode recalled Chu telling her, “Hey, we got this part in this movie changed. so it felt less like an affirmation moment.”

Instead of her character “advocating for solving disability,” 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 guess!” said Bode People amid Wicked’s record week at the box office.

After her casting in Wicked, Bode made history as the very first physically disabled actor to play Nessarose.

Bode, who began using a wheelchair at age 11 after a car accident, was selected for the role after a “major, intense search.”

Chu received Bode’s entry late in the open call when he was tirelessly searching for someone “who is young, who can sing, who can act, who is a wheelchair user and who has both the sweetness and the darkness of what is inside us story happens.”

Bode previously recalled to The Los Angeles Times that she was drawn to the role because she loves “seeing disabled characters played authentically by real people with disabilities.”

Bode also relates to Nessarose as she also moved to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles in 2021.

“I see a lot of myself in her, especially as someone who is disabled, who goes to college and finally feels like you have that freedom for the first time,” she said. “I had the same eagerness as them: wanting to be independent, making new friends and finding your place in the world.”

Chu was thrilled that Bode “transformed” the way they “presented Nessa in so many ways.”

This included modeling her character’s wheelchair after Nessa’s, leaning the chair back and placing her backpack on the back of her chair.

Costume designer Paul Tazewell explained that she wanted Bode to “look almost like a beloved doll, with a cream or white base to underline her innocence.”

Following the release of Wicked, Bode called out the “very awkward” 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 rude and harmful comments” that have been circulating online since her film premiered on November 22.

In her video message, she started off by saying that it is okay and “totally fine” to dislike Nessarose’s actions and personality or to make jokes about those specific topics because she is a fictional character.

The actress said that she herself is a “very unserious” person, who likes to joke when it is funny and harmless.

However, she condemned jokes about Nessarose’s disability, saying they are “very uncomfortable.”

“Disability is not fictional,” Bode explained. “At the end of the day, the person who is still disabled and in a wheelchair is me, Marissa. So it’s just low-hanging fruit that too many of you are comfortable with.”

“This is so beyond me, Marissa, all I have to do is ignore the comments on the internet,” she continued.

“These comments don’t exist in a vacuum,” she said before beginning to give examples of the shocking and blatant jokes people have made about her character in regards to her disability.

“Aggressive comments about wanting to cause harm and pushing Nessa out of her wheelchair, or that she deserves her disability, are two very rude and harmful comments that real people with disabilities, including myself, have heard before.”

“When these jokes are made by non-disabled strangers, with the punch line being that they can’t walk, it feels more like laughing than laughing with,” she said.

In the TikTok video, she also admitted that “the most frustrating thing about all of this is how scared I am to even post anything. [and] talk about this.”

‘I’m scared too [to say this]the star added. “Because I’ve seen firsthand what’s happened to my peers with disabilities, who are outspoken online, when it comes to calling out inadequacy and making jokes about being and being a ‘vegetable’ – which, by the way, is a derogatory term for people with disabilities and a comment I saw about Nessa.”

She said she witnessed them being told to “just joke” or “stop complaining.”

Due to the backlash, she said they have had to take a step back from content creation and their artistry to protect mental health, which she said is “not good.”

She encouraged people to stop dismissing each other or “claiming that an experience can’t be true” because they “don’t feel that way” or can’t identify with their own lived experience.

Bode said she has learned that disability jokes are “made out of ignorance.”

However, Bode said she wanted to speak out to prevent anyone else from being “hurt” by the jokes.

“It would have had a much bigger impact on the younger me, and I fear that somewhere there is a younger version of myself on the internet who has been harmed by these comments,” she said.

‘I know and have seen, not in this specific case, but similar comments are made on the videos of my disabled colleagues and disabled creators, to the point where, once again, they are taken off the internet. That’s not good. Please be kind.”

She concluded, “Finally, I would like to say that one of the most important themes within Wicked is the ability to listen and understand each other. And I really hope that many of you can practice this more and take it with you.”

In the caption of her video, Bode wrote, “Representation is important, but it’s not the only thing that will save the disability community.

“I need a lot of you (non-disabled people) to do the work. To dissect and unlearn your own ability. Listen to people with disabilities. Follow other people with disabilities other than myself.”

She also recommended people “learn about the disability rights movement” and “watch the documentary Crip Camp!”

‘I understand that no one likes to be scolded. But real progress is never accompanied by comfort. And that’s okay.’

The first of the two-part Wicked films hit theaters last week, and the film has since broken the record for the biggest domestic box office opening for a Broadway musical adaptation in history.

Wicked: Part Two premieres on November 21, 2025.