Wheelchair User Marissa Bode Plays Nessarose in Wicked Blockbuster

Wicked is one of the most beloved musicals of our time, but many disabled actors have been bothered by the fact that they were left out of casting for a character in a wheelchair. While Nessarose uses a wheelchair in the Tony Award-winning musical, she is eventually able to walk when her sister Elphaba casts a spell on her shoes. Now, in the major film adaptation of Wicked Premiering this Friday, Marissa Bode becomes the first person in a wheelchair to play Nessarose.

Bode is a 24-year-old actress who grew up in Wisconsin and suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident when she was 11 years old. He entered theater in high school and performed in musicals throughout middle and high school before attending the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles.

Now Bode is sharing the big screen with established stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in a film that is expected to gross $100 million in its opening weekend. Bode’s casting was a major victory for an authentic representation, especially since it required some creative adaptation from the stage version.

While Bode can’t reveal how the plot point of his bewitched shoes will be depicted in Evil Part 2 (to be published in November 2025), said Variety that it be handled with care. “Casting authentically and showing an authentic disabled person is very important, but how they show us is also very important,” he says. “I’m very happy with the changes that have been made, without a doubt.”

you can see Wicked in theaters nationwide starting Friday, November 22.