Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania introduces a whole batch of curious new characters to the MCU via the Quantum Realm Freedom Fighters. There’s the leader of the group, Jentorra (Katy O’Brian), a fierce warrior who’s essentially a supernova named Xolum, David Dastmalchian’s Veb, a gelatinous curious creature who’s obsessed with holes, and William Jackson Harper’s Quaz, a telepath who isn’t thrilled about being a telepath.

While lost in the Quantum Realm, Scott (Paul Rudd) and Cassie (Kathryn Newton) run into the Freedom Fighters and the group doesn’t exactly welcome them with open arms. Given their experience with those from above, namely Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Kang (Jonathan Majors), they’re reluctant to trust the newcomers. However, both parties soon come to realize that working together could be the key to finally stopping Kang the Conquerer once and for all.

With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania playing in theaters nationwide, I got the chance to have a quick chat with Harper about his experience playing Quaz. He shared his take on Quaz’s backstory, what it’s like to read Veb’s mind, what might happen if Quaz read Harper’s own mind, and loads more! You can read about it all in the interview transcript below.

Given we only get to see so much of Quaz in the film, are there any backstory details or little things you came up with on your own that we don't see in the film or hear via dialogue, but we can feel informing your performance in a way that fills out his history and solidifies his drive in the movie?

WILLIAM JACKSON HARPER: I think that it's kind of in there, but I do think that Quaz is over it as far as being able to read minds. I think that probably at the beginning of his life [he] didn't understand what was going on and why he was thinking that people were just saying all this awful stuff to him. Then he looks at them and they're not talking, and he's just like, “What is happening?”

In my head, it's been a long, long, long, long time with him trying to learn how to pick when he's gonna read and when he's not going to. And I think that he's probably behind Jentorra because what is in her head is what she is saying. So that's why he throws all of his weight behind her. Whereas other folks, you know, they say all sorts of stuff, but I know what's going on in their head and they should definitely not be leading any revolutions.

Now all I want is a Quaz origin story. I want to see that moment of him discovering his ability!

Let's say there was no need for the Freedom Fighters and Quaz was just living happily ever after wherever, what do you think that might look like for him?

HARPER: He’d probably just be somewhere in the Quantum forest by himself where he can get some real peace and quiet. Just away. Just silently reading and meditating.

Fair enough! I have some really weird, specific telepath questions for you now. During Quaz’s first encounter with Scott, he wants him to stop thinking about something. What do you think that something might have been?

HARPER: I think that he was looking at all of us, was saying, “Everyone looks so weird and disgusting.” I think that he was probably scared of me and then also thinking of how he could, you know, render me incapacitated. I think I was probably most offended at him looking at my head. I feel like everyone looks at my head and talks smack about it in their brains and in their hearts, and I think that Scott was doing that and people do it a lot, and I think that Quaz hates it.

You took that in a much more PG route than I thought you were going to!

You, as in real you, encounter a telepath. You panic. What is the first thing that's going through your head that shouldn't be that the telepath can pick up on?

HARPER: Oh god, I mean, honestly, I would be afraid that the first thing that would hop into my brain is some person that I saw that I thought was very attractive and I'm imagining certain things in my head that I shouldn't be imagining, if you know what I mean [laughs], and them picking up on it and being like, “You're a disgusting person.” That would be my fear. Like, just don't go in there.

For what it's worth, you're probably not alone in that fear.

If you could play Quaz again in another MCU movie or show, what movie or show would you want it to be, and whose mind would you most want him to read?

HARPER: If Quaz could come back I would love for him to try to read, probably, is it Mantis? Yeah, she's fascinating. That character is really fascinating to me. There's been some hints at some things that she's buried, they come up in certain ways, and so for a character and for a person that's so beguiling in their way, I’d really be curious as to what that is because it doesn't seem like she's tortured, but it doesn't seem like everything has been sunshine and roses either.

That is an excellent choice.

Can Quaz read Veb’s mind, and if so, how might Veb’s mind differ from anyone else in the Quantum Realm?

HARPER: Well, I think Veb is probably legitimately fascinated by things. Veb is curious. I think that Quaz probably tries to not read Veb’s mind so much because it's just a constant onslaught of questions, and there’s probably just a lot of racket and he’s just like, “I can't. I can't deal with this.” And so, you know, yeah, he reads Veb’s mind a little bit, but it's just an onslaught of questions and he doesn't have time for that. It's just constant noise.