Anthony Mackie, Mario Lopez and 3 More Actors Reflect on Finding New Ways to Play Their Famous Characters

Nicco Annan ('P-Valley', Starz)

When Nicco Annan was asked to audition for the role he had originated in Katori Hall’s play Pussy Valley, the actor says he truly didn’t mind. “Uncle Clifford is such a specific character, and I knew her flesh and bones and spirit from the creation. I wanted the opportunity to show them who Uncle Clifford is,” says Annan of his nonbinary character that owns a fledgling Mississippi Delta strip club. “The other thing that I wanted was to give other actors on the LGBTQ+ spectrum an opportunity to see that there are stories being written for them.” Annan compares his character’s development in the show against the theatrical original. “Uncle Clifford is definitely much more whole in the series,” says Annan. “You get to see her accept everything: You get to see her accept her full-figuredness. You get to see her battle with love and letting goodness happen to her.” While the scope of a series has let Annan dig into the origin story of the strip joint The Pynk and explore Uncle Clifford as a caretaker to her grandmother, it is the evolution of Annan’s own understanding of the character that is the actor’s greatest discovery. “Initially I did not use the pronouns ‘she’ and ‘her’ when I was referring to Uncle Clifford, but as I was playing her, it didn’t feel like you could say ‘he,’ ” says Annan. “She really identifies as ‘she’, but she also wants to use her male privilege. That’s something that evolved for me over time, and it felt right.”

Paul Bettany ('WandaVision', Disney+)

Paul Bettany could not have been more excited about reprising his role as Vision on the Disney+ limited series ­— primarily because he thought the call from Marvel boss Kevin Feige was to let him go from the franchise. “My contract was up, I’d died twice in Infinity War, and I got a call from Kevin saying, ‘Hey, come into the office. We need to have a chat,’ ” says Bettany. “I was convinced I was getting canned.” Instead, he was pitched Jac Schaeffer’s series exploring the uniquely humorous relationship between Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision. “I thought it was bonkers and such a clever way for Marvel Studios to segue into television,” says Bettany. That did not mean the actor didn’t have trepidations about the structure of the nine-episode series, where each installment takes the shape of a sitcom of an era. “I was concerned with how he would remain Vision, if we’re skipping through all of these different genres,” says Bettany. “Then I thought about how he’s always been in a process of evolution. If the core of him is decency and kindness, then it’ll probably be able to withstand a little bit of Dick Van Dyke.” Getting to explore grief, fear, triumph and love through the eyes of an aubergine robot that eventually realizes his journey is complete was, for Bettany, a joyous deep dive. “Really being able to expand and explore all of that history that we’ve only really hinted at in the movies was a fun act of creativity with all of these amazing minds,” says Bettany. “It will forever be one of the joys of my career.”

Mario Lopez ('Saved by the Bell', Peacock)

Although there had been no shortage of enthusiasm for a Saved by the Bell reunion before the Peacock reboot, Lopez had never found a good enough reason to return to Bayside High in the 30 years since the much-beloved gang said goodbye. “I thought, creatively, it might be difficult because we’re all in high school, and we can’t necessarily keep flunking. The easy answer was to be part of the administration. I wasn’t inspired,” he says. It wasn’t until 30 Rock writer Tracey Wigfield approached Lopez about the idea to turn the Saturday morning sitcom into a single-cam comedy, which would poke fun at the original while cleverly exploring socioeconomics in Los Angeles County, that the actor felt inclined to return. “This re-imagining preserves the heart of what made the original show resonate while evolving into a modern, relevant, refreshing new take,” says Lopez. “It was incredibly well written, and the way they were able to expand on these characters made it all make sense.” While A.C. Slater has made a few more laps around the sun, Lopez asked Wigfield to keep the character’s personal growth to a minimum. “I wanted her to make him the biggest loser possible,” says Lopez. “I love that he’s one of those dudes that is stuck in his era. He doesn’t want to grow up, listens to the same music and rocks the same clothes. I know people like that, and I just think that they’re the funniest characters.” In the process, the actor has garnered a whole new generation of fans — including his own kids. “They didn’t like the original,” says Lopez with a laugh. “Fortunately, they like the new one.”

Ralph Macchio ('Cobra Kai', Netflix)

At 56, Ralph Macchio thought he had hung up his gi for good. “The legacy of Karate Kid has been so embraced, and the character someone that people connected with for so long, it felt like, why tank that legacy?” says Macchio, now 59. But when the creators of Cobra Kai approached the actor about rebooting the franchise from the point of view of Daniel LaRusso’s arch enemy Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), Macchio saw potential beyond the cash-grab pitches he had grown used to. “It was all about finding the angle — being nostalgic yet relevant,” he says. While few see joy in a midlife crisis, for Macchio this was where he found the most potential. “Karate Kid was very black and white in its way, whereas with Cobra Kai, the gray areas are where it really lives,” he says. “That is what’s so enriching to me as an actor. To have been the key hero protagonist of that time, and then become a fully fledged adult character, who’s a bit of a rudderless ship, needing to find that balance and recalibrate his life, that was really exciting to me.” Although Macchio feared he might have difficulty getting into the mindset of his character, it turns out he is still Daniel LaRusso’s biggest advocate. “We’re always pushing and pulling of what the parameters are to being true to the character,” he says. “I take a great deal of pride in being the guy lucky enough to have played that part, so I become very protective of it.”

Anthony Mackie ('The Falcon and the Winter Soldier', Disney+)

Anthony Mackie’s reaction to taking his Avengers character Sam Wilson from big screen to small can hardly be described as enthusiastic. “I was horrified,” he says. “I didn’t feel like we would be able to do, on television, the scope of the work that we do in the [movies].” A conversation with Marvel boss Kevin Feige convinced Mackie that this was not going to be the project that ruins the brand, and with creator Malcolm Spellman and director Kari Skogland at the helm, the actor came around to the opportunity of expanding the character he originated in the film franchise. “I was very excited to see what Sam Wilson’s background was and what type of person he was going to be,” says Mackie. “I think you truly know a man by his relationship with his family, so to see Sam’s ties to the legacy of his parents, his relationship with his sister, his love for his nephews, the family home they live in ­— that gives you a lot about this dude. He didn’t become an Avenger and run out and buy a Ferrari and a mansion in Beverly Hills.”

Where Mackie had some doubts about the character’s background was having Wilson originate from New Orleans, the town from which the actor himself hails. “What scared me was that it would make it about me and not about Sam Wilson,” he says. “But after talking to Malcolm, it all made sense. It adds depth. It adds humanity. The community that you see rally around him after he goes back home — that’s a very Louisiana, a very bayou thing. I see what they wanted to achieve by that, and I think they did a great job.”