The Spiderwick Chronicles‘ first season debuted on Roku this past Friday and, as part of the show’s press junket, I recently got to sit down and chat with three of the show’s stars. Lyon Daniels, previously known for the Netflix film We Can Be Heroes, who plays main character Jared Grace, Noah Cottrell, whose past works include the 2021 Punky Brewster reboot and the Dwayne Johnson film Skyscraper, who plays Jared’s twin brother Simon, and Mychala Lee, who previously starred in shows like 9-1-1: Lone Star and the Apple TV+ original Truth Be Told, who plays the twins’ older sister, Mallory.
Also Read: The Spiderwick Chronicles (2024) Review – A Fantastical Pleasant Surprise
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“Simon’s trying to find his independence and crawl out of Jared’s shadow and Jared is trying to pull him back in.” – Lyon Daniels
The first thing I discussed with the trio was about their own perspective on their characters’ arcs throughout the show. Both Daniels and Cottrell spoke about the “divide” between the twins early on and how they work through it and bond over the course of the season. Daniels specifically spoke about how Jared feels “scared to be alone” during the early episodes and how connecting with Simon, Mallory, and their new friends in Henson throughout the season helps him get over that fear.
Daniels and Lee also spoke on Mallory and Jared’s rocky relationship prior to the start of the series and how Mallory “blames him for everything. In contrast to the twins’ more direct and immediate bond, Lee acknowledged that her character has more growth to do throughout the show to “step up and be the big sister that these kids deserve; with Cottrell adding that “you definitely start to see the dynamic shift over the course of the season.”
“This is a Spiderwick attuned for this modern generation.” – Lyon Daniels
I next asked the trio about their thoughts on the representation in the series and what providing that represenation, especially in the context of a major genre piece like The Spiderwick Chronicles, means to them. Cottell spoke very highly about how important representation is and was very happy that the show did it in a modern and realistic way that wasn’t “forcing it on you;” particularly in regards to the Grace family being biracial as “at the end of the day, they’re just a family whose going through realistic problems.”
Speaking on the mental health representation specifically, Lyon Daniels spoke about the importance of mental health to him personally and how getting to be “a beacon of that and present that in this character was just so awesome and beautiful.” He collaborated very closely with show-runner Aron Eli Colette on the portrayal of mental health to make sure everything remained “very grounded, very natural” and very respectful in the portrayal, even going so far as to “avoid certain words” in order to do so.
When giving her answer, Mychala Lee gave high praise to the show’s writing team for finding ways to portray and include people from various backgrounds and demographics while still feeling “very natural.” She spoke about the “intersection of identity” and how the different interlocking layers of people reflect the “beautiful layers” of the series itself and how those layers make the show “so easy to rewatch over and over and over again.”
All three of them gave such thoughtful answers to my questions that we actually ended up going slightly over our planned time, but we did sadly have to wrap things up shortly after that question. But all three of them were wonderful and I ended things off by encouraging everyone to check out their just-as-wonderful performances in The Spiderwick Chronicles, just as I will do for all of you right now.
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