Warning: This story contains spoilers for Wicked and Wicked: For Good.
Marissa Bode first saw Wicked at age 12 after her mother surprised her with tickets to the Broadway show.
What she didn't know then was that just ten years later she would star in the big screen version opposite Cynthia Erivo And Ariana Grande in a blockbuster that broke box office records upon its 2024 release.
“I’m so grateful for this experience and especially for my first experience,” Bode, 25, told TODAY.com. “I'm definitely grateful for it…to be a part of something so big.”
Fans of Wicked may remember that Bode's character, Nessarose, was born unable to walk because her mother ate too many milk flowers while pregnant for fear of giving birth to another child with green skin like Nessarose's much-maligned sister, Elphaba (Erivo).
The show has been on Broadway since 2003, but Bode first actor to use a wheelchair get the role of Nessarose.
In the first part of Wicked, Bode's character is full of youthful hope and in love with Bock (Ethan Slater), a munchkin boy with whom she falls in love while dancing at the Ozdust ballroom and who, in her opinion, reciprocates her feelings.
Fast forward to Wicked: For Good. Installed a year later, Nessarose is the new governor of Munchkinland, a dark, domineering workaholic who learns that Bok, her true love, has actually been pining for Glinda (Grande) all along.
It's this betrayal that makes Nessarose one of the sequel's villains, a label Bode says is largely undeserved.
“I think Nessa is completely misunderstood. I think sometimes people can confuse the big picture and just write it off as a villain or inherently evil,” Bode says. “But I think the goal of the film is to show that there really are layers to all of these characters.”
In “Wicked: For Good,” Nessarose transforms from a happy young girl into an isolated, cold woman—a metamorphosis that Bode calls “devastating.”
“I think even the whole dance scene affected me because I have other disabled friends who had similar things happen to them,” Bode explains.
“When people are long-distance friends with them or they get asked out on a date, but it's just for a photo op or something to make the other person feel good instead of truly caring about them and discarding them when they're no longer needed or can't benefit them,” Bode says.
According to Bode, Nessarose is not immoral, but simply a product of her circumstances.
“She's the one who just desperately wants to hold on to the moments that she thinks are good in her life. Wanting to really, really deeply hold onto the moment of her dancing, which was actually one of the happiest nights of her life,” she says of her character.
“Then when she finds out that none of this was true, and on top of the fact that her sister abandoned her – or at least that's what she feels like – and that at the end of the day she really has no one left, I think there are moments when she says, 'Well, I've got nothing left to lose,'” she says.
Nessarose and her estranged sister are briefly reunited after the deposed witch returns to Munchkinland, trying to gain support for her campaign to restore animal rights.
After Nessarose confronts Elphaba about her perceived loneliness, she tries to help Nessarose reunite with Bok. In doing so, she makes Nessarose fly, restoring her childhood joy, at least for a short time.
The main scene is symbolic in many ways.
“I think in a song like 'Defying Gravity,' where one of the lyrics is, 'Everyone deserves a chance to fly,' to me it's not just the physical flight, it's also the metaphorical feeling of being on top of the world or feeling like you're finally somehow in control of your life and flying at that height,” Bode says.
As for what it was like filming?
“It was physically fun for me to fly in the air. The hardest part for me was pretending it wasn't,” Bode recalls. “I laugh about it, but coming from that and then coming back to it, I think it was definitely a stunt.”
But when she shows Bok that she can fly, he tells her that she doesn't need him anymore. He asks if he can go away and confess his love for Glinda.
“When Bok sees Nessa flying, there's a very clear connection between her and Elphaba, Slater tells TODAY.com. “I think, yes, it’s magic, but it’s also the power that allows Elphaba to fly.” So I think that in some ways points to where the fear is going.”
Nessarose reacts by trying to make him love her – with magic. She tries to cast a love spell using Elphaba's Grimmery, but it causes Bok's heart to shrink. To save his life, Elphaba turns him into the Tin Woodman from The Wizard of Oz.
The physical transformation into the Tin Woodman took Slater up to five hours. But Slater suggests that Bock remains more similar than different.
“I think it was very important to me that Bok before the transformation was the same Bok after the transformation. From his point of view, the world around him is changing, and he's just reacting to it,” says Slater.
Nessarose and Bok met tragic fates in Wicked. Bok loses his humanity and Nessa dies after Madame Morrible brings a tornado (yes, that tornado) to Oz, causing a house to fall on her.
But the character actors are looking to the future. Slater will play the lead role in the play “Marseille on the Train” which opens on Broadway on February 22.
Bode says she's grateful for the opportunity to be a part of something so epic, but at the same time, she's ready to move on.
“I think I'm just a person who can't stay in the same place for too long,” she explains. “I enjoy acting and wearing different hats, so I’m excited for the future.”
