When Marvel fans tune into the new Disney+ show VisionQuest this week, they’ll finally get to meet the fourth part of Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) nigh-on-impossible nuclear family. Ruaridh Mollica plays Thomas Shepherd, a Scottish teen fresh out of foster care who is haunted by memories of a life that has never been his. He remembers being “Tommy,” one of the sons of a witch named Wanda and a kind android with a face like a red devil named Vision. He can hear the laugh track of the WandaVision audience and remember when his dog died, but he doesn’t know where these thoughts came from. (His twin brother Billy [Joe Locke] used magic to put the soul of his lost brother into the body of a drowning Scottish boy in Agatha All Along.)
**Spoilers for the first two episodes of VisionQuest, now streaming on Disney+**
At the start of VisionQuest, there’s only one person in Thomas Shepherd’s life who makes sense and that’s best friend and fellow pickpocket Lisa Molinari (Lauren Morais). We meet the teens pulling a clever confidence game in a pub before being pulled into the drama of the larger story. When Tommy falls into a panic attack, it’s Lisa who calms him down. VisionQuest Episode 2 opens with a flashback to when the kids met on a bus headed for a brutal psychiatric hospital; a terrified Tommy latches onto Lisa and the two help each other escape.
“I think Tommy’s brilliant, but he does need a Lisa to get him through,” VisionQuest star Lauren Morais told DECIDER when she visited our offices last week.
Lisa Molinari is known as “Coat of Arms” in the comics. She’s an artist and a bit of an anti-heroine, as likely to team up with the baddies as she is to stand by long-time friend (and sometimes love interest) Tommy Maximoff. When Morais visited DECIDER HQ, she teased how the new Disney+ show VisionQuest brings her character’s magical coat to life and confirmed that she’s totally game for a long-awaited Young Avengers project. (As for Avengers: Doomsday? She was mum on that, but totally down to explain how she became the MCU’s first Welsh character…
DECIDER: You are joining the MCU. How much of a Marvel fan were you before starting this project? And were you familiar with WandaVision and Agatha All Along?
Lauren Morais: You know what, I was a recent Marvel fan. So in the last like year or two, my partner, she was watching Agatha All Along, and she was like, “This is a bit of you, Lauren. It’s so fun, it’s so camp, it’s got witches. You’re gonna love it.” I watched it and absolutely fell in love with it. Love Kathryn Hahn. Then she’s like, “If you like that, you’re gonna watch WandaVision.” So I actually watched it upside down almost, but I kind of appreciated it a lot more because I could see the bits. Then from there I got obsessed and obviously watched the new Spider-Man and Thunderbolts. But it felt like there was something for me in it, you know?
You’re playing Lisa Molinari, who has a history in the comics with Tommy Shepherd. What was it like building that with Ruaridh on set? Because from the very jump you guys have this great chemistry.
I mean, it’s so easy with Ruaridh. He’s so nice, he’s so fun. I think that was shown in our meetings when I had my final auditions. We had chemistry reads and he was so easy to get along with. We did funny bits with each other. I think we just got the same references and had similar vibes.
Then our first scene was actually the meeting scene [in Episode 2], so we filmed that kind of in chronological order. I think that helped us because we were getting to know each other literally and in the series itself. Then it just built from there. So many jokes.
I’ve only seen the first two and a half episodes so far. So let’s jump to Episode 2. What was it like shooting that on that tense bus? What moment do you think Lisa and Tommy truly connect for the first time? Is it over the foster care comment?
Well, it was mad on the bus because I wasn’t on an actual bus. I was in Pinewood on a set with these blue screens around and it plays the video, but it felt so real. Me and Ruaridh were always like, “I feel like I’m on an actual bus going from London.” So that was so fun.
I think the moment that they connect, I’d say the foster bit because Lisa’s so good at reading people and I think she felt like he was one of her own. She finds it very hard to trust people because she’s always in survival mode, so I thought if she can trust Tommy there’s a big connection for Lisa.
Yeah, speaking of which, like you talked about the survival instinct. I was really shocked how in that scene she instills the idea that you can wake up and be whoever you want to be, whoever you need to be to survive and that seems like a theme of identity through the series so far. How important is it to you that Lisa kind of gives Tommy that advice and how Tommy takes it forward?
I think Tommy’s brilliant, but he does need a Lisa to get him through, I’d say… when you see the series. I think that Lisa is good at giving Tommy that confidence. I think Lisa doesn’t think that Tommy needs a lot from her, she feels that everything that Tommy needs is within him but she’s very good at taking it out of him. From her perspective and the things that she’s gone through in her life, she just sees this lost boy that needs a bit of help along the way, and a bit of fun as well, to get to those moments.
The first time we meet you in Episode 1, it’s kind of both kind of a con game and a pick pocket moment. She describes herself as a kleptomaniac. Did you do any research into that, into pickpocket art to kind of like get that side of her down?
Yes, we did. We did sleight of hand training, so I can say I’m quite good at it now. I don’t do it in my daily life, but we did that training in Pinewood with William and that was so fun because it’s all about distraction. It’s all about look over here and then you’re doing something over here. That was really cool. It was really cool to do that knowing what comes next with her robot arms that you see in the trailer and how that manifests into her character. It’s so sick.
Speaking of which, obviously the comics fans will know her as Coat of Arms. Can you give us any teases for how they brought that to life with the Robot Arms? Was it CGI? Did you have anything technical on set to play with? I’m just curious about how you took that costume on and how it made you feel as an actor.
We had choreographed bits with the fight experts so we did a lot of… He would always tell me to imagine where your extra arm is going to hit, which is really fun as an actor because you can make the story with our fight directors. There was a lot of, “Oh, I think it’ll be really cool if we give a right hook over here with this arm and then go for it with the other arm.” I also had this cool piece of set on me that had a bit of weight to it because, as you can imagine, if you had robot arms that would be quite heavy. So that really helped me as an actor. There was a lot of practicalness to this as well, like SFX and things. That really helped bring these robot arms to life.
Obviously I’ve not seen the whole series yet, but I feel like there might be some fan theories that might connect you to this character known as the Butcher Bird Killer. There’s a mystery about who that is. This show is known for twists and turns. Are you ready for all of those fan theories that could be out there?
I’m ready for all the theories. I’m ready for them all to begin, and I’m so excited. What’s good is that it’s literally out in a week, so let these theories begin. I’m sat to hear them all.
I know that you are the first Welsh character in the MCU. Ruaridh has, I think his native Scottish accent. What was it like to kind of bring that local color to this world that usually is just Americanized or just, you know, upper-Englishized, if you will?
I actually auditioned in an Essex accent throughout the process and I thought Lisa could be this Cardiff girl. A lot of her attitude, I felt, was quite Welsh and Cardiff and I saw in my friends. So I did loads of the auditions in my Essex accent. I remember one time we tried it in an American accent and then when I got the job, the next day I went to rehearse the reading of it and I thought, “I’m just gonna take a risk and I’m gonna do it in my accent.” I did it and I think Ruaridh sounded so good with the Scottish accent, and Orla said that as well because she’s Irish, and she was like, “I think it really should be in Welsh.” So I went to Terry and I said, “I did it in a Cardiff accent, what do you think?” And he was like, “I loved it. I think it works really well.”
I want to get into her look because you’re obviously brunette, but she has very striking reddish, kind of purpleish hair. Can you take me through the design for that and the process? Did you enjoy being a redhead?
I loved being a redhead. It was such a different look to me. I talked to Fran about it literally as I got to cast the next day, we were like, “What kind of vibe do we want?” She said red hair and I was like, “I was thinking the same thing,” because Lisa’s so bold, adventurous and out there. It really helped me get into that mindset and also is quite super hero-y and fun, so I really enjoyed that.
Obviously Paul Bettany is kind of number one on the call sheet. What was it like working with him and what kind of tone did he establish for you guys on the sets?
He was really, really fun to work with. I think what I admire the most about him is that he really knew how to have fun when you could have fun, then when it got down to business, because he was so passionate about the story and he’s been with this character for so long, he still took it seriously. He knew how to involve us and he knew it was my first massive job, so he really welcomed me with open arms. He said to me in regards to the robot stuff and the stunts, “You’re gonna look stupid and you’re going to feel stupid in front of this huge cast and everyone, but if you commit to it and go for it, it’s going to look absolutely sick in the final product.” I can confirm Paul Bettany knows what he’s on about.
Obviously your character is kind of known as being kind of a femme fatale character kind of morally gray in the comics. Are we going to see more of that throughout this season beyond just her being a pickpocket? Will we see sort of how her morality could lean back and forth?
Yeah, definitely. She’s a survivor, so I think if you’re surviving you tend to make quick judgments about people, and I feel like sometimes that’s her flaw. She’ll make a judgment and that becomes a belief. You’ll see a bit of that where you’re like, “Lisa, maybe you should cut some slack.” Also, she does have a point and I think that’s what’s so good about the series: there is a lot of humanity to it and human flaws. How do we just go through life as a flawed human? We can do good things, we can do bad things. It’s just so sick.
What is the thing that you’re most looking forward to, fans of the Marvel series, to see in this particular show? Is it the costumes? Is it action sequences? Is it fun twists down the road or revelations about the larger lore? What are you most excited for them to get?
I mean without saying too much, I definitely think people are going to love the twists in the series and the amazing balance between the witty, funny things, but the deep grief that’s in it and the relationships between fathers and sons. Then you have amazing characters like E.D.I.T.H. popping around and doing incredible things. Also the practical sets — there’s so many little secrets and lore hidden in the background of props and things, people are going to have a treat.
I was very struck in the very first episode how the chemistry between you and Ruaridh is so interesting because you’re friends, and they keep saying we’re friends. But there’s almost a flirtatious edge to it, like when he’s imagining going into the city off of his rugby time to get a gift for you. It almost feels like they’re on the verge of something more when it all starts to kick off in the other direction. Can you tease whether or not there might be a little bit of a love story that’s going to develop or not?
If you’re going through this huge journey with this person, you never know what’s going to happen, and I don’t think Tommy and Lisa know what is going to happen. I think when I was preparing for this character, all I could think about is the song, “Stuck in the Middle With You.” I would think, “That is what Lisa is thinking: I’m stuck in the middle with you. There are robots to the left of me, androids to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you,” and let’s see what goes on from there.
Yeah, before I go, obviously over the years Marvel has introduced these young heroes and the next generation of heroes. There’s been a lot of buzz about a Young Avengers project or a spinoff or a movie. Is that something that you would love to be involved with and to explore these characters more down the line?
Yes, I would absolutely love to be involved in it because if you think about the comics of Lisa and what you were saying earlier about the villainy, the superhero-ness of it and how she questions that, she sees superheroes and villains as a performance art almost. I think that’ll be really fun to explore and the relationship between her and Tommy. There’s a lot going on for Lisa. Also the arms as well.
And while you’re here — I think anyone in Marvel has to be asked this question — are you in Avengers: Doomsday?
Babe, come on now. [VisionQuest is] out in a week. Let’s watch that first and then we get to Doomsday.
Got it.
You have to ask.
The first two episodes of VisionQuest are now streaming on Disney+
This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.