Interview with New Adventures of Peter and Wendy's Kyle Walters on: Peter, Hook, and Working with Jim Beaver

Some of you might remember that a while back I mentioned my favorite webseries, based on classic novels. One of those on the list was The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy, which is in it's final stages of post-production for Season 2 as we speak. Luckily, I was able to get ahold of Kyle Walters, who is one of the creators of the series as well as the star, and he filled us in on a few things to expect from the new season, who he relates to most, and where this all began.

How did you and your co-creator come up with the idea to turn the story of Peter Pan into a weekly vlog?

Inspired by Welcome to Sanditon (another webseries found on Pemberly Digital) and it's fans, I wanted to create an adaptation of a story... one that we could have the rights to.... noticed that the Peter and Wendy novel was in the public domain... and the rest is history!

Did you want to play Peter from the start, or did that come up spur of the moment because you helped create it?

Oh, heck yeah. I'm an actor first. So it was always, I'm Peter Pan and FIIINEE we have to have other characters.

Did you always intend for The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy to span over two seasons, and that's why you held off bringing "Hook" in?

We actually always planned on the story to span THREE seasons! We are very loosely adapting the three act structure from the original novel. And so Hook doesn't really come into play until the second act of the novel... plus it's a fun little suspensefui tactic not to show him until season two!

How did you come up with the ideas of how to modernize Peter, Wendy, and the others (Wendy the motherly advice columnist, Peter the child-like cartoonist, John the OCD germaphobe [who has some of the best lines and scenes] and Michael who seems to just be... fun loving)

Most of the actual characterization came from the writer/co-creator Shawn deLoache. When I came to him with the idea, I knew that Peter was an illustrator/animator/painter/creative person... since I am as well (his cartoons are featured on the show and site). We knew that Wendy had to be motherly. She went through a few careers as we plotted out the story, but advice columnist just seemed to work.

What was it like working with Jim Beaver of Supernatural fame?

He is awesome. Such a skilled thespian, it was a pleasure to work with him. [Fun fact] When his character is drinking coffee in our show... it's actually Dr. Pepper

What was the most difficult scene to shoot?

Well, there are some scenes that are just devastating emotionally. The end of Season One is an example. To help sell moments like that, I pull from what I know, so I dug deep and pulled from some similar life experiences and that didn't feel great for a couple of hours after filming. But it's for the art, y'know! The twelfth episode of season two was hard, too!

What was your favorite scene to shoot?

Peter films some costume theater this season!

I know that you did Welcome to Sanditon, did that help inspire or prepare you for Peter and Wendy in any way?

Well, while acting in that show, I got to see some of the production side of things. It basically gave me the confidence to spear head NPW. Also, a ton of the creative team from Sanditon joined us for NPW or talked to me and gave advice/support.

Do you feel like you are more like Peter Pan or anyone else from the series?

From Season One, I probably relate to a mixture of Peter and Wendy. I am this crazy ball of creativity and imagination... but I couldn't stay at home/suburbia.

Can we expect a big showdown between Peter and Hook over Wendy's heart?

n the novel. Peter and Hook are rivals, straight up! So yeah, that's going to be a thing. Whether it is for Wendy's heart or her time, you'll have to wait and see!

What I can tell you is that our James hook went to school with our Neverland crew back in the high school days... Peter and James didn't get along back then, for sure.

Who is your favorite actor to work with on the series?

Paula is always amazingly on point. She's done at least three times the prep a normal actor would do, and I really love the chemistry between my Peter and her Wendy.

Will we ever see Tink?

Only time will tell! I will say that early productions of the play had Tinkerbell only as a moving light on the wall.... and it wasn't until much later that we got to see her as Julia Roberts.... we have ideas, but we also wouldn't want to mess it up, as there's something wonderful and magical to never really seeing her.

Any spoilers or hints for the coming season?

Peter Pan wears tights. Michael still has his teddy bear backpack. James has a mean right HOOK. We spend some time with George Darling. John may take off his shirt at some point.

And probably the most important question.... I know you are a Whovian, who is your Doctor?

Tennant for LIFE ::drops screwdriver and walks away::