Nick Wolfhard is The Last Kid on Earth! - All About the New Season

Do you feel like “The Last Kid on Earth” since you can’t hang out in person with your crew of pals? Actor Nick Wolfhard called us from his place in Vancouver, B.C. to chat about the upcoming (April 17^th) second season of the fun animated TV series “The Last Kids on Earth” from Atomic Cartoons for Netflix. The 22-year-old actor and social media personality whose bro is “Stranger Things” Finn, voices lead character Jack Sullivan, a nerdish middle schooler who is crushing on yearbook editor June (voiced by Montse Hernandez), hanging with science whiz, best bud Quint (voice of Garland Whitt) and bullied by muscle-bound Dirk (Charlie Demers).

"The Last Kids on Earth: Book 2" Trailer

 

A wormhole to another dimension opens up and all heck breaks loose! It creates zombies and unleashes huge monsters. Jack’s foster parents take off without him and he has to fight zombies and monster invaders alone until he gets in touch with Quint and the two move into foster family’s treehouse and finally make semi-friends with Dirk. Together they “rescue” June (or more like she saves them) and an unlikely team of teen survivors is born.

The new season on the show involves meeting and dealing with a humanoid beast hunter named Thrull (Keith David) and a new batch of monsters and aliens all while struggling to work well as a team and deal with the usual teen relationship angst.

Nick, a Canadian, a big presence on Instagram and Twitter, has acted in Aftermath, Under Wraps, and The InBetween and has recorded a load of voices for animated shows. He and younger “Stranger Things” brother Finn recorded voices for Adult Swim’s wacky new animated pilot “Smiling Friends” and have other projects together coming up.

Kidzworld checked in with Nick for his take on the new “Kids” season, his craziest recording session (it involved Finn), his love of anime, his fave band and much more. Check it out!

Kidzworld: Big question. Short hair or long hair and which do you have now?

• Nick: I do have short hair. I got a haircut, I wanna say two or three months ago so it’s not necessarily that short anymore but it’s shorter. That’s for sure. I’ve been reminiscing about how much I miss my longer hair. The big problem is it just gets in the way but I kind of like the look of it better.

Kidzworld: The show features 13-year-olds driving out of necessity but fans think it’s really cool. What is your ride now and what is your dream ride?

• Nick: I actually don’t drive because I feel like I could get easily distracted behind the wheel but if I had to choose a dream car, oh man, my friends love the BMW E-30 (classic earlier BMW). Or if I had one of the old cars, I’d like to modify it with newer stuff like a Dodge Challenger, an older muscle car or something European, something stylish but well-built.

Kidzworld: Cool! When you were 13, were you crushing on somebody like Jack is and did you ever get that person to get out of the friend zone?

• Nick: That’s the one part of Jack that I didn’t really relate to as a kid. I went to an all boys’ school and I was a late bloomer in that sense. I wasn’t really focused on relationships then.

Kidzworld: How else are you like Jack and how very different?

• Nick: Going back to middle school, me and Jack are both loners. We didn’t really have many friends, were bullied and stuff like that. I guess trying to fit in and be one of the cool kids, just trying to get into that little group is definitely me. I didn’t have someone I was crushing on to impress though so that’s different.

Kidzworld: Jack is brave and optimistic but he makes mistakes. Will this continue this season or is has he changed a bit?

• Nick: I would say he has flaws still and I think that is great for a main character to have. That character can learn from those mistakes and it can also teach kids how to learn from them as well. He’s definitely going to make mistakes.. Not just him, probably every member of the cast makes some mistakes that they have to try and learn from or at least make up for.

Kidzworld: I heard that you are a huge Anime fan… what is it about Anime that really attracts you?

• Nick: I still am into Anime. I love the animation. A lot of people think that Anime is a genre but it’s a medium. You can tell just as many different stories in Anime as you could in live action for example or more. There is some romance Anime I like. There’s some Sci-Fi, some action. There are so many different kinds to choose from. As long as it’s written well and the music and animation is excellent (I love it). It’s a lot of the same qualities I like in other things.

Kidzworld: As a kid were you into books like “Captain Underpants” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”? This show seems that but with “The Walking Dead” thrown in. Did that attract you to play Jack?

• Nick: Yeah, but I actually spent like three months auditioning for the show. I wasn’t just offered the part. But that is a great (description). I recorded for Dirk too but I got a call back for Jack.

Kidzworld: When you voice a younger character do you have to channel your younger self to get the voice right?

• Nick: For Jack I pitch my voice up slightly. Jack isn’t me. We might have stuff in common but he’s not me. Jack is very hyperactive. I guess I’m like that in a different sense. It depends on what the line is and how I have to deliver it. It’s acting.

Kidzworld: Do you have your own Rover at home or the more Earthly version of the alien “dog” in the show?

• Nick: I have a pet. She’s a cat named Poppy. She’s very adorable. There are pictures of her on my Instagram.

Kidzworld: Awwww. The first episode of the new season “Mall Quest” is especially relevant right now with families having to stay home. The kids on the show start fighting and get cabin fever. Other than watching the show, what do you suggest everyone do to get along better since nobody can go to the mall?

• Nick: That’s true. The best thing I can say honestly is use those voice chat services like Skype, Zoom, Discord (gaming) use those and if you meet friends stay six feet apart. Keep yourself occupied by watching all your favorite movies, watch new movies and there are tons of video games still coming out. Like, I’m playing the “Final Fantasy” re-make. Try to think of literally anything you’re interested in that you can do inside and I guarantee you, that you can keep yourself occupied.

Kidzworld: Before stay at home orders, did you ever record in the same booth with any of the other actors or always alone?

• Nick: We did. I recorded with Charlie Demers (voice of Dirk) and Montse Hernandez (June) and Garland Whitt (Quint) in L.A. and we used this technology called Sync Speak where all four of us get to deliver the lines together. There’s a tiny delay and they deliver their lines. It wasn’t like a booth, more a big room with similar qualities to a recording booth.

Kidzworld: Sounds like more fun. You get to react right there to the other actors. A lot of times the voice actor is alone.

• Nick: Yeah. When you record Anime dubs you almost always have to do it by yourself. Even recording the voice-overs before it is animated, that happens as well.

Kidzworld: What was the craziest voice-over session you’ve ever had on any show and why was it the nuttiest?

• Nick: The craziest voice-over session I had was for a pilot called “Smiling Friends” (pilot on Adult Swim) and I remember I was recording this drowning electrocution scene and I had to grab a big bottle of water and drink it and make these crazy sounds (He makes some weird sounds). I had water sloshing all down my shirt. I was drenched and sweaty. I had to do insane screaming noises. That gig I also recorded upstairs in my room. We recorded many different deliveries. My brother (Finn) was part of it too and he recorded some stuff as well.

Kidzworld: Are you and Finn doing any more podcasts together? Or, do you have any new projects coming up together?

• Nick: Well “Smiling Friends” just came out about two weeks ago. At the moment, we would love to do more stuff together, but there is some stuff that may or may not be happening. Uh, that’s all I can say now.

Kidzworld: Will you be creating new songs either for the show or just in general?

• Nick: I don’t play an instrument. Oh, the June song. We actually spent an entire year doing improv for that song. We eventually improv-ed that bit. We had to come to a happy medium. I didn’t “write” those lyrics. We just put together funny stuff.

Kidzworld: What is your favorite movie and why?

• Nick: Oh, that’s hard. I really like Bladerunner. I like the older one and the new one for different reasons. I think the first one has a better world and the second one has a better story.

Kidzworld: What musical artist are you listening to regularly now?

• Nick: I’m really into The Gorillaz (a British virtual band) with Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn. I really like them because I love Jamie Hewlett’s art style and the music is fantastic. They are always collaborating with new people. No one album sounds the same. No one song really sounds the same either because they are always collaborating with new people. Jamie Albarn is fantastic so go listen to that (check YouTube).

Kidzworld: What can you tell viewers about the new season of “The Last Kids on Earth”?

• Nick: There is going to be a lot of character drama this season but there is also going to be a lot of comedy as well; characters making mistakes, like I said, and having to learn from them and work through them with each other. We have Mark Hamill in the show and Rosario Dawson, Bruce Campbell, Keith David who voices Thrull. There’s plenty there. Bruce Campbell is Ash in The Evil Dead. There are wonderful homages to old horror movies. That’s cool.

Kidzworld: Other than Thrull, are most of them guest characters or do they appear more?

• Nick: They’re doing more. Rosario voices Skelka who is this big warrior lady and Bruce Campbell voices the character Chef, just Chef. Dirk gets really into cooking and they have like a cook off and Dirk teaches him how to make food more appealing with monster sensibilities.

Check out “The Last Kids on Earth: Book 2” on Netflix April 17^th

What if you were The Last Kid on Earth?

Right now we have to stay home to fight an evil virus but what if monsters and zombies invaded Earth? If you were alone, could you cope or would you search for fellow survivors? Are you into Nick and/or Finn Wolfhard? What animated shows do you watch? Let everyone know with a comment or blog it on your profile page!

By: Lynn Barker