In just a few short years, Joe Locke has had a life-changing career. His first professional acting role was in “Heartstopper,” which went from potentially being a nice little gem of a show on Netflix primarily intended for a UK audience to a global phenomenon. Not long after “Heartstopper’s” first season dropped, he was cast in the pivotal role of Billy Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch’s son (it’s confusing, I know) in Jac Schaffer’s “Agatha All Along,” and a lifelong “nerd’s” dream came true.
READ MORE: Patti LuPone revisits an emotional “Agatha All Along” journey and, yes, she really does love the new “Sunset Boulevard”
The “WandaVision” sequel began production in January of 2023 and didn’t arrive on Disney+ until last fall. That’s a long time to keep some pivotal Marvel Cinematic Universe secrets quiet. And when speaking earlier this month, Locke admits that’s not his strong suit.
“I am not very good at keeping secrets. I told all my friends and family who I was playing, and I didn’t tell them the big twist at the end of episode eight, the road twist,” Locke says “But I told them who I was playing, and there are a few of my friends, I told the big twist too. I was like, ‘I can’t keep this to myself. I have to have an outlet.’ But Marvel isn’t as scary as they might come across as secrets. Well, to me they weren’t, but I wasn’t telling the world. I was just telling my friends. But I remember the first time I tried on my superhero costume, I was sneakily taking pictures and I was putting ’em in my hidden folder on my phone. Cause I was scared that Marvel security was going to look at my phone. Obviously, they didn’t, but then, when we were shooting in Atlanta on set, I was taking photos of everything everywhere.”
Over the almost two years since production on “Agatha” ended, Locke has shot more “Heartstopper” seasons with a final movie set to film imminently. He also made his Broadway debut in a revival of “Sweeney Todd,” where he received advice from none other than his co-star and now friend, the legendary Patti LuPone. Not a bad way to kick off a career for a young gay actor from the Isle of Man.
(He is looking to star in a horror movie next for any casting directors paying attention out there, however.)
During our chat, Locke revealed how he balanced a character that is essentially the spirit of two people fused together, Billy’s guilt after the events of “Agatha,” improving with Agatha herself, Kathryn Hahn, his lifelong contract with Marvel, why “Heartstopper” had to come to an end, and much more.
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The Playlist: I know that you went through a ton of different auditions to get this role. When did you realize who you were auditioning for?
Joe Locke: I think it was the third audition, and they didn’t ever explicitly tell me until the sixth audition, but Casting Director Sarah Finn, I remember her being like, “It’s a character that we’ve seen before, but a grown-up version.” And I was like, “Oh, it has to be Billy.” That was my third audition, but then they didn’t explicitly [tell me]. It wasn’t until they sent me the scripts and then I was like, “Oh, O.K., so it is him.” But I knew it was, but they hadn’t ever said it out loud.
Did you know you were auditioning for an actual show?
Yeah, I mean the first audition was “Untitled Marvel Project,” and then it was “Untitled WandaVision Spinoff,” and then they announced it at D23 as I think it was “Agatha: Coven of Chaos” at that point. So, then I knew what it was.
But when they announced it, you still hadn’t gotten the role yet?
No, no. I think I was quite far into the process by that point because that would’ve been August, so I would’ve just been doing my chemistry read with Kathryn at that time.
Was it nerve-wracking?
Yeah, I mean it definitely was nerve-wracking, but it was almost like it was over five months. So, I’d do an audition and then I’d almost get to the point where I forget about it because I been so long since the last one. Then they’d be like, “Oh, I want you to come again.” I was like, “Oh, I thought they’d given it to someone else,” which is nice.
Very nice. You get the role. What was the most pleasant surprise about Billy and William’s arc in the scripts?
How quite dark it is. And how he goes through such a journey throughout the show, and you first meet him, he’s this, what you think is this green, naive little wee little teenager, but actually he’s not that. But not only is he not, but he’s putting that on as an act. It’s all fake, which is so interesting to play those scenes as that. But then also with the subtext of, I know I’m not that. Jac and I talk so much about how aware [he is], and then there’s also even a deeper nerdy spoiler – but when we find out that Billy created the road, then we were talking about the subconscious idea that he subconsciously must know he’s going to be O.K. So, subconsciously, he actually is as scared as everyone else in this moment because subconsciously in some way, as he’s controlling everything that’s happening, he knows that he’s not going to kill himself through that process. And so really confusing, but does that mean that when everyone else is scared, he’s less scared because he knows that he knows what’s going to happen next?
Does that mean it was a tougher role than you thought it was going to be?
Yeah, I mean, I just find it really interesting. I’m a bit of a nerd, so I love digging my teeth into this sort of really minutiae of the character and of all these nerdy things because when I got the part, I didn’t know that that was the big twist. And I was like, yeah, because it’s also such an obvious twist if Wanda’s son, but it’s such an obvious twist. It’s why it makes it such a good twist.
What was so great about it was that it wasn’t obvious. I remember getting the screeners and going like, “Oh wait, that hadn’t even occurred to me that could have been it. That this all wasn’t real.” Sort of a genius twist in many ways. An aspect I sort of loved about the show is that there’s this complex sort of dichotomy between does Billy think he’s Billy or does he think he’s William, and he doesn’t want to be Billy? And I’m wondering at the end of the show, who do you think he thinks he is now?
He’s Billy, but he’s also William. It is that weird thing of, I think he comes to terms with the fact that he is Billy Maximoff, but also he’s both, and he’s comfortable with that. I think by the end, we always saw he’s trying to find himself, and through the road he finds himself. I think he’s trying to decide which one he is, but then realizes that he can be both in the way that I think he sees the Kaplans as his parents. And there’s a scene where she, I guess, says something about Wanda, and he goes, “She’s not my mom. I have a mom.” He loves those people and he loves his family and he’s definitely that, but he is also Billy Maximov and that comes with its own things, which hopefully maybe one day we’ll figure that out.
Someday. Speaking of that, by the time we get to the end of the story, do you think he thinks he’s a hero?
No. No. He holds a lot of guilt through the fact that he’s killed three of his friends by accident. And if I ever get to play him again, I hope that I’ll be able to rack into that more. He’s not a bad person, but he has done bad things. Whether he likes it or not, his actions caused three people to die.

Well, I did speak to Patti just last week or two weeks ago, and she did say, “We’ve never seen Lila land, right?” We’ve only seen her fall. So, in theory, he may have only killed two people by accident?
I mean, maybe, but she’s definitely dead in the script. [Laughs.] But no one is ever fully dead in Marvel, so…
That’s true.
I would love Kevin Feige to bring Patti LuPone back. I think everyone would love that, and she could just do every Marvel thing ever.
I wanted to ask you about this. This is the second project you had made at the time, and you knew you were going to show up, and Kathryn was going to be there. What was your reaction when you found out that Patti was in the cast?
Yeah, I mean, I am a theater kid through and through, and I also was a Patti LuPone super fan. I still am more so now, actually. And so when I found out I love Kathryn, I love Aubrey, I love all of those, those amazing women, but Patti was the one I was like, “Wow.” And they say, don’t meet your idols. The exception is Patti LuPone. Every day you want her to be and more, even now. I saw her a few weeks ago, and then I flew back home, and she sent me a text. She was like, “Did you make a home safe? Are you back home safe now?” I was like, “Patti LuPone is asking if I’m home safe.” It is just great.
It’s amazing. So you work with her, and then you go to Broadway, you were in “Sweeney Todd,” which she did once. Did you ask her for advice?
Yeah, I did. I asked her for advice on it all, and she’s got so much advice and wisdom and the best, and when she came to watch, it was the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life, and I ruined my high note, but it was fine, whatever. I was so stressed by the fact that I knew Patti was watching.
You all shot this a long time ago. First, you had to wait to even tell people you were in the show. You shoot the show, you have to wait so long for it to sort of come out in the world. And you work on “Heartstoppers,” which has tons of hardcore fans wanting to know every little beat. How much harder is it to do a Marvel show than to do something like “Heartstopper” in terms of keeping secrets?
I am not very good at keeping secrets. I told all my friends and family who I was playing, and I didn’t tell them the big twist at the end of episode eight, the road twist. But I told them who I was playing, and there are a few of my friends, I told the big twist too. I was like, “I can’t keep this to myself. I have to have an outlet.” [Laughs.] But Marvel isn’t as scary as they might come across as secrets. Well, to me they weren’t, but I wasn’t telling the world. I was just telling my friends. But I remember the first time I tried on my superhero costume, I was sneakily taking pictures and I was putting ’em in my hidden folder on my phone. Cause I was scared that Marvel security was going to look at my phone. Obviously, they didn’t, but then, when we were shooting in Atlanta on set, I was taking photos of everything everywhere.
Oh, so they did care when you did that?
No, they didn’t. But they knew I wasn’t going to post it.
Yeah, of course. Yes. That would be super bad.
Yeah.
What was your overall feeling of the experience? Did you feel like you grew as an actor? Did you feel like it was harder than you thought it was going to be?
It was the best six months of my life. I had the best time. I learned so much. Even just watching these incredible, incredible actresses work and do their ingenious stuff and learning from them. Living in Atlanta on my own for six months, I felt I grew a lot as a person and as an actor during that time.