Marissa Bode teases dark storyline for Nessarose in ‘Wicked: For Good’

Marissa Bode dropped hints about what to expect for younger sister of Elphaba, Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the East in the upcoming sequel of Wicked.

The actress, who accepted the honour as this year’s recipient of the ReelAbilities Film Festival’s Spotlight Award on Thursday night, reflected on her journey in the Jon M. Chu-directed films.

In the original storyline of Broadway musical adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel, Elphaba used enchantment that allows her sister Nessarose to move without wheelchair.

However, Bode explained that they "made some changes" to the film which she teased would be darker than the first.

"I cannot say what those are just yet, but they did make those changes so that the magic within Wicked is still there, but the narrative is less harmful to disabled people," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

Bode credited Winnie Holzman, co-writer of Wicked screenplay and book writer of Wicked musical for bringing the twist in the story.

The actress also admitted that she doesn’t speak for all the disabled community since her partner, who also deals with disability and chronic pain wishes she wasn’t suffering from it.

She added, "In general, I think a lot of non-disabled people already have the preconceived idea that all disabled people want to be fixed."

Sharing her own experience of her disability being seen as something tragic, pitiful or in need of being “fixed” has made her feel “extremely uncomfortable” throughout her life.

Hence showing it being removed "in something as big as Wicked can have negative effects", Bode added.

The upcoming sequel of Oscar nominated film, Wicked: For Good, is slated for release on November 21, 2025.