Big Hero 6: Baymax Returns (which premiered on Disney XD last night) marks the launch of Big Hero 6: The Series, which officially debuts in 2018, and picks up with 14-year-old tech genius Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) as a new student at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, determined to rebuild his personal health companion Baymax (voiced by Scott Adsit). But like with any teenager, Hiro’s overconfidence and penchant for taking shortcuts leads him and the newly minted Big Hero 6 team – Wasabi (voiced by Khary Payton), Honey Lemon (voiced by Genesis Rodriguez), GoGo (voiced by Jamie Chung) and Fred (voiced by Brooks Wheelan) – into trouble.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Ryan Potter talked about how long they’ve been working on the Big Hero 6 TV series, why voicing Hiro comes as second nature for him, what it means to him to get to bring a character like Hiro to life, the evolving dynamic between Hiro and Baymax, and whether he’d like his own Baymax. He also talked about signing on to play Garfield Logan, aka Beast Boy, for the Titans TV series that’s set to premiere next year on DC’s new streaming service, and his hope that he’ll get to do some of his own stunts.

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Image via Disney XD

Collider: When did you first learn that you’d get to be reprising the role of Hiro for a Big Hero 6 TV series?

RYAN POTTER: It was awhile ago, actually. We’ve been working on Season 1 and Season 2 for close to two and a half years now. About six months after the film came out, we started working on the series. It wasn’t too long after, but fans waited awhile to hear. We’d started working on Season 1, but we didn’t announce that we’d be doing a series until eight months into that process. I think that’s the timeline.

Did the fact that you didn’t have to wait too long to voice Hiro again help with keeping the character fresh for you?

POTTER: No, I think Hiro is such a part of me that it’s almost second nature to bring the character out. I also have such a great resource with the film. I can go back and watch it, at any time, and listen to myself. I can also give the directors from the film a call, at any point, and be like, “I’m having some trouble here,” but I’ve never had to do that. I think the film is a good enough resource.

Hiro is such a cool character and a great role model. What does it mean to you to get to bring a character like Hiro to life?

POTTER: I think it’s every kid’s dream come true to be able to see a character like themselves in a Disney film and feel included, in that sense. Growing up, for me, the Disney films that I could relate to were Mulan and Treasure Planet. Other than that, there wasn’t a whole lot. So, the kid inside me is freaking out about [this character], and the fact that I get to voice him is absolutely mind-blowing.

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Image via Disney XD

Have you always had that appreciation, or has that appreciation grown, as you’ve gotten older and understood the significance of that?

POTTER: At first, it started off as this fun project and a surreal experience. Now, it’s not only a fun project and it’s visually stunning, but with what Disney and the directors came up with, we were able to knock down some racial barriers, as well, and set a new precedent in the animation world. This project was so inclusive, in so many ways, and because of its color blind nature, we were able to build a fan base wider than just one demographic. That’s what I love about this project so much.

Why do you think this is the perfect story to be told over a longer period of time on TV?

POTTER: When you look at the cast, they look like people you know, in real life. They look like people that are your neighbors, your friends and your family. Everybody just is who they are. They don’t have to play into stereotypes, of any sort. When people watch this, 50 or 100 years from now, people will be like, “Oh, that’s what society looked like,” without the flying robots. People of all different races, heights and genders hang out, and that’s what major metropolitan cities look like. You’ll see insane amounts of diversity, and everybody can sit together and laugh. That’s what I love about Big Hero 6.

Big Hero 6: Baymax Returns is all about Hiro getting Baymax back in working order. What can you say about the evolution of the relationship between Hiro and Baymax, in the series, as well as Hiro’s relationship with the other superheroes?

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Image via Disney XD

POTTER: Baymax and Hiro went through multiple relationships. At first, Hiro was babying Baymax. Then, they became friends. And then, they became almost brothers. Then, Baymax was the one who was teaching Hiro lessons, so he almost becomes a father figure, in a way. The writing was just so genius, to begin with, with the relationship between Hiro and Baymax. That evolution, throughout the film, is one that anybody can relate to because, at different points in the film, they have a different set of guidelines for their relationship. And there will always be a little bit of that disconnect [with the team]. That’s where the humor comes from. Even though Baymax has good intentions, there are certain cues that he misses. That being said, there are things that he’ll point out to the rest of the team, that we sometimes overlook, but he’s programmed to be so compassionate that he’s not allowed to walk away from helping somebody or from standing up for somebody. Baymax Returns is a great intro back into the world, but in the series, you’re going to get so much more of each of the characters’ stories and their own personal arcs. All of the characters are going to be flushed out, so much more. These stories that are being written and these arcs that are being created are going to make these characters feel so much more real, and Baymax is gonna have a huge role in that?

You’ve signed on to play Beast Boy in the live-action Titans TV series.

POTTER: Yeah.

How exciting is it to be playing a superhero for real now?

POTTER: It’s a trip. There’s not a lot that I can say, but what I can say is that it was vital to Geoff Johns, in the process of casting this characters, that the character be Asian American and mixed race, of some sort. He understands the importance of having media that represents everybody, so that when kids are growing up, they have the opportunity to see faces like themselves on television, in the roles of superheroes and in characters that have good morals and can teach a good lesson. Growing up, for me, there weren’t a lot of faces that I could identify with on television. There were a few Asian American faces and there were Caucasian American faces, but I didn’t look like either one of them because technically I’m a combination of the two. It feels awesome to be able to bring to life a beloved character, but also to attach a new face to him. It’s funny, a lot of people have been drawing similarities between me and Garfield Logan, but his ethnicity has never really been established. Ultimately, I think the direction that Geoff is trying to take with Titans is awesome. The fact that we haven’t had an Asian American superhero before just blows my mind. Not to take any thunder away from Katana in Suicide Squad, but technically, she is a villain who, for ulterior motives, is being the hero.

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Image via Disney XD

Are you looking forward to getting to do the action and stunts for real?

POTTER: Oh, yeah! I got into this industry through my martial arts and that ability, so hopefully I’ll be able to get to do a lot of my stunts. The nature of Beast Boy is that he fights in the form of animals, so it may be a little bit tough because it will end up being CG. But if I can do the motion capture and the fight choreography with the stunt performers, that would be a dream come true. Oh, my god, that would be so cool! I’ve got a great stunt double, that I’ve worked with in the past, so for any of the things that are out of my league, I’m sure he’ll step up and make me look good.

What do you think Beast Boy and Hiro would think of each other, if they were ever to meet, and how do you think Baymax might feel about the Titans?

POTTER: [Beast Boy and Hiro] would get along amazingly! Hiro is 14 or 15, and Garfield Logan is 15 or 16. They’re both teenage boys who like to eat, they play video games and they get into trouble. That’s just who they are. If you put the two of them in a room together, they would just get up to all the no good. They would probably use Baymax for mischievous ends. With his parameters for what normal health should look like, if Beast Boy were to transform into an octopus, I think Baymax would have a stroke.

Would you personally like your own personal Baymax?

POTTER: Honestly, I would love my own Baymax! I do pretty good on monitoring my health, and eating healthy and exercising, but if I had Baymax, it would give me that daily structure. He’d tell me when I could have cheat days and when I could relax because I got X-amount of cardio in for the week. It would be cool to have something that could measure you exactly, and not just have a rough estimate. Not to downgrade what doctors do, at all, but they give you their best educated guess, as to how your body is and how you’re feeling. Baymax can scan you and tell you exactly what’s going on. That technology is still so mind-blowing to me. I think that’s another reason why Big Hero 6 is so entertaining. We’re using this technology that people are working on today, but it’s the completion of what it would be, in five to ten years from now. Baymax showing these futuristic capabilities of the healthcare industry is a draw for smart, intellectual people who like to see futuristic tech.

And who doesn’t want a hug from Baymax?!

POTTER: No kidding! He’s the most adorable thing on Earth!

Big Hero 6: Baymax Returns premieres on Disney XD on November 20th, and Big Hero 6: The Series debuts in 2018.

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