Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a sequel for many more players beyond the title character. Benedict Cumberbatch's second solo installment picked up right where Disney+'s Emmy-winning WandaVision left off, allowing Elizabeth Olsen to continue her Scarlet Witch legacy where she last left it. While supporting stars like Teyonah Parris will continue their stories in other Phase 4 projects, two of WandaVision's standouts got to bask in some blockbuster spotlight alongside Olsen.
Jett Klyne and Julian Hilliard, who portray Tommy and Billy Maximoff in WandaVision, return as the Earth-838 Variants of their characters in Doctor Strange 2. While both Maximoff boys were without their enhanced abilities this time around, the same joyous momma's boy energy from WandaVision was translated to the big screen.
Even with two Marvel projects to his filmography, Klyne is still very much living the dream.
Jett Klyne Talks Shooting WandaVision and Doctor Strange 2
The fastest youngster in Westview sped right from one Marvel production into another.
Speaking with The Direct's Liam Crowley, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Jett Klyne revealed he had "no idea" he would be part of this theatrical movie when he signed on to WandaVision:
"We had no idea, actually. It was not last minute, but it was closer to the end of the show that they put that together. WandaVision ended shooting in October, and we went right into mid November of 2020 to shoot Dr. Strange, and then into Winter 2021."
Even before he was brought into Multiverse of Madness, Klyne noted getting the call for WandaVision was a "dream come true:"
"I've always loved Marvel, so when I did get the call that I got WandaVision, it was like a dream come true. Shooting it for those months was really amazing; great new experiences, awesome directors and actors as well."
While this is Klyne's second MCU appearance, his Doctor Strange 2 character is technically a completely different person from who he portrayed in WandaVision. Klyne explained that for that reason, he approached playing Earth-838 Tommy Maximoff a bit differently:
"In WandaVision, we were just normal kids, but at the same time [we were] Wanda's creation. In WandaVision, I was just a bit more sitcom-y, if you could say. Doing those sitcom type of things in WandaVision. Going through those different types of sitcoms, and then going into drama horror in Doctor Strange, I would more play it as a normal kid instead of [sitcom style]."
Klyne shares all of his Doctor Strange 2 scenes with Elizabeth Olsen, an actress he had already worked extensively with on WandaVision. Beyond getting to share the screen with the Top Star of IMDb 2021, Klyne noted that Olsen was an asset to himself and Hilliard behind the scenes. Olsen herself began acting at age four, which allowed her to "understand" and be able to "guide" her young co-stars in dramatic scenes:
"With emotional scenes for [WandaVision], it was really great to work with her because of how great she was. She could always help us and even just guide us while shooting those big scenes. Her being a young actor, she did understand as well when we'd slip up or something, because her sisters were in Full House for years."
Aside from Olsen, Klyne shared numerous scenes with Evan Peters during WandaVision. Peters' Ralph Bohner turned out to be no more than an imposter Pietro Maximoff, but for the "All-New Halloween Spooktacular!", he was the fun uncle that Klyne's Tommy especially looked up to.
That admiration began behind the scenes, as Klyne mentioned having valuable talks with Peters before filming. From there, the buddy-buddy chemistry between the two directly translated, as Klyne noted one of his "most fun times" on WandaVision came during the Spooktacular pranks:
"We would just talk. One of the most fun times with Evan [Peters] was totally when we were pranking everyone, we actually got to smash the pumpkins. We actually got to silly string everybody and take all the candy. We did that a few times. It was really, really fun."
While the future of Ralph Bohner remains a mystery, another one of Klyne's WandaVision co-stars is in the fast lane towards her own solo project. Kathryn Hahn is set to reprise her role as Agatha Harkness in the upcoming Agatha: House of Harkness, which Klyne is a huge fan of:
"It was really great. She's really amazing. We love her. She's still in the MCU!"
As much as WandaVision was a "dream" for Klyne, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness took it to another level. The young star recalled being "very starstruck" the first time he met director Sam Raimi:
"Me as a child, I loved the Tobey Maguire Spider Man movies. That's what I grew up on. [The first one was] seven years before me! It's kind of crazy. Working with Sam was an honor. I love Sam. He's such a creative person. We had a lot more actual creative liberty with that than we did in WandaVision. We could bring what we thought our characters would be like to that. It was an amazing experience and he's such a cool, nice person. I would love to work with him again. When we first met him, with me especially loving the Spider-Man movies, I was very, very starstruck. I could barely talk when we were doing the rehearsal for it. I was just amazed that I was working with him."
In a fun twist, Klyne got to live the best of both worlds at the Doctor Strange 2 premiere: experiencing the film as both an actor and as a fan. Klyne noted the big reveals of John Krasinski's Reed Richards and Ansen Mount's Black Bolt were "total surprises" to him:
"Those were total surprises. When we actually read the script, they didn't tell us anything. When we saw them in theaters, it was a whole new thing. I was so surprised, but, like, so happy because it was crazy. It was totally surprising for us."
Klyne's final moments in Multiverse of Madness come when his character's mother, Earth-838 Wanda, confronts the Earth-616 Scarlet Witch, who enters his living room through an America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) star portal. While both Tommy Maximoff and America Chavez were in the same scene, neither of the young heroes interacted with each other.
Despite not conversing on-screen, Klyne noted that he and Hilliard did in fact meet Xochitl Gomez and hopes to work with her again someday:
"We met her, but if we could talk to her and if we could actually be in the scene with her and interact with her, that'd be really awesome. She's a great actress. We're all young. Sharing the screen with another young hero in the MCU would be something new to me, at least."
The future of Tommy Maximoff following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness remains uncertain, but Klyne himself already has another big project lined up for the fall. Klyne stars in Phantom Pups, which will stream on Netflix this October.
Until then, you can see Klyne as Tommy Maximoff in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, playing in theaters now.
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