One of the best things about The Wilds Season 1 is that introduces an ensemble full of emerging talent well worth keeping an eye on — in this show and beyond. As though highlighting eight rising stars the first time around wasn’t enough, Season 2 of the Prime Video series adds eight more, including Zack Calderon and Aidan Laprete.
The Wilds Season 1 kept the focus on the Dawn of Eve subjects, one part of an experiment designed to test teenagers' ability to work together and survive. The women of Dawn of Eve board a plane thinking that they’re off to Hawaii for a retreat, but that plane is actually rigged to “crash” and strand them on a deserted island so that Gretchen (Rachel Griffiths) and her team can monitor their behavior. But of course, Dawn of Eve requires a control group. That control group is The Twilight of Adam, eight very different young men who are also challenged to find ways to see eye to eye in an effort to survive while stranded on an island.
It’s impossible to call any one The Wilds star a standout because every single one of them successfully brings a unique personality to screen that feels purely their own and also informs the larger narrative in distinct and thoughtful manners. But, I can still tell you Calderon and Laprete are exceptional in their roles.
The Wilds actually marks Calderon’s very first screen credit, and he wastes no time showing off his ability to tackle Raf’s inner struggle trying to find self-worth and how to use his voice within the group. While it may appear as though Calderon’s a seasoned pro who didn’t skip a beat when stepping onto the set of a Prime Video show, during our Season 2 interview, he did emphasize the importance of being surrounded by a hugely supportive cast and crew:
“Given the opportunity that we were given and to be working with such incredible actors and incredible crew and writers and directors, you can’t help but feel the energy from them and feel that you know that you’re in the best of hands possible. I think that they, especially the crew, did such an incredible job of welcoming me in and making sure that I felt comfortable. With how the shooting of everything went down, I was the first day of shooting, the first day of production, and truly felt like a fish out of, not even water, it was a fish out of the sea, out of the largest thing you can possibly think of, but they were fantastic at making me feel really at home.”
In Laprete’s case, he came into The Wilds with a good deal of industry experience acting and making music, but he did pinpoint an opportunity the show afforded him that marked a very significant first:
“The Wilds is the first time I was able to actually grow with a character and have an arc and be able to make decisions, really. And [I] just felt very creatively fulfilled, and I was just like, ‘Wow, I love this feeling,’ and being able to bring Henry to life was such a pleasure.”
Further bolstering how specific these characters feel to each actor, Laprete highlighted how costume designer Brittany Griffin went out of her way to tailor each character’s wardrobe to the actor playing them:
“Brittany, our wonderful wardrobe designer was so open to hearing what we had to say and kind of let us do our own thing, honestly. She had these mood boards of us before we even came in, and a lot of them were pictures from our Instagrams and was kind of trying to compare it and bring some of us into our character. She was really open with us and that whole team was so wonderful in letting us do our thing … I came in with my glasses that I usually wear in life for the past four years and ended up wearing them in the show.”
[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for The Wilds, Season 2, Episode 1, "Day 30/1.”]In addition to featuring a massive ensemble full of hugely talented individuals, The Wilds also benefits from the infectious chemistry they share with one another. Watching the groups navigate their specific set of deserted island highs and lows and seeing them grow closer in the process is often an especially satisfying element of the series, but Calderon gets the added bonus of being able to show off that cast chemistry with his Twilight of Adam co-stars and a Dawn of Eve star as well.
As revealed at the end of Episode 1, “Day 30/1,” Raf does make it off the island and into the bunker, and that’s where he comes face to face with Dawn of Eve’s resident conspiracy theorist-turned-ace mystery solver, Sarah Pidgeon’s Leah. Here’s what Calderon said about first finding out he’d be the one to get to share scenes with Pidgeon:
“I remember we got the scripts for one and two when we were in quarantine and all the boys that were in quarantine hopped on a Zoom, we were reading it in real time, and right as we got to the end of Episode 1, the Zoom cut out because it had been 40 minutes, and so we were like, ‘Oh my god, no!’ So we were trying to read on our own and try and get to the end, so reading that for the first time, I was so excited that I was gonna be the one to get to work with her."
Calderon went on to highlight what he appreciated most about Pidgeon as a scene partner:
"I think what was so cool about working with Sarah is we’re both from the theater, and so I think we both take that theater training and that kind of mentality and that teamwork to really kind of craft our scenes together. And I think what’s so beautiful about these two characters is that they have such different energies and yet, when you’re in that room with them, when you’re in that environment when she’s explaining what’s going on, it is just this battle of, what is reality? What is going on? I think that Sarah’s an incredible actor and getting to work with her allowed us to play and have so much fun, and in between scenes, really be able to be like, ‘Okay, that worked for me. Well, that didn’t work. Let’s try this,’ and it was just a really collaborative effort, which I loved.”
Eager to hear more from Calderon and Laprete? You can catch our full conversation in the video interview at the top of this article!