‘My Life with the Walter Boys’ star Jaylan Evans opens up about on-set secrets, hopes for his character ‘Skyler’s’ future, and more.
Photo credit: Netflix
Written by: Gracie Lowes
Fans of Wattpad, love triangle tropes, and teen dramas are in luck because Netflix just released their adaptation of the hit novel “My Life with the Walter Boys” by Ali Novak.
The series follows “Fifteen-year-old Manhattanite Jackie Howard who after losing her family in a tragic accident, leaves behind her privileged and proper life in New York and moves to rural Colorado to be with her guardian - her mother's best friend, Katherine, who is raising ten kids with her husband, George. While settling into her new, chaotic countryside home, Jackie is determined to stay focused on her dream of getting into Princeton...all while wrapping her head around her feelings for two very different Walter brothers: the reliable and bookish Alex, and the mysterious and troubled Cole.”
I had the chance to sit down (virtually) with actor Jaylan Evans who plays “Skyler” in the series, to talk about his time on set, what drew him to the character, future projects, and more.
You can read the full interview below.
Gracie Lowes: I want to start by saying congratulations, I know you have your upcoming release, “My Life with the Walter Boys”. That's super exciting, what is that like getting to film this and soon having it come out globally on a platform like Netflix?
Jaylan Evans: “It was crazy, it really was. It was a dream come true, getting to film it. I was a musical theater major in college, so I've always loved performing, but as far as TV and film, I was embarking into a new medium of the industry post-grad, and having graduated from college virtually in March of 2020, the theater didn't exist and Broadway was shut down. It was kind of a silver lining because everything was self-tapes and it didn't matter where you lived. And the market in New York closed, people were all over, everyone went home and I was able to get some traction in TV and film.
So it's just been a dream I always used to say in college, everyone would always ask ‘What's your dream job if you could have any job, what would it be’ and my answer always was to be in a series. Of course, Broadway is a huge dream and I'll always love theater, but there are lots of things that I wanna do within the entertainment industry, to have this dream fulfilled and manifest is truly wild, I never could have imagined it.”
Gracie: I mean, you're doing great so obviously the manifesting and the hard work is paying off.
Jaylan: “Yeah, it really does.”
Gracie: Yes. And I love that you talk about how COVID kind of changed things for you. I'm wondering what's something you learned from that whole experience. Because obviously the acting world has changed since COVID and even being on your first series, that can be a huge difference too.
Jaylan: “This is kind of broad, but I would say you really can just like go after what it is you want. I think in college, it's easy to feel put in a box and that you have to follow the way the crowd is going. And say ‘This is what everyone else is doing, I have to do this’ but the pandemic and the world stopping and everyone literally being shut inside at home… it was unprecedented.
For everyone to be in that together, I think my biggest takeaway was life's too short. I want to do everything that I want to do. Tomorrow's not promised and not to get all dark but that is my biggest takeaway from COVID, I just want to do things that fulfill me and make me happy not even just career, but like in life. For example, this year I've spent so much time at home because I really value family. So just making Jaylen's priority list and following that was huge and just a nice eye-opener for me in the pandemic.”
Gracie: Definitely, I feel like that's such an important mix to have of work versus personal time, especially now that everything's kind of switched from online to back in person.
Jaylan: “Exactly. You have to carve out the time for yourself because only then will you have extra access to give over to others. There's a quote that says, ‘Only when your cup runneth over, then you have more to give’.
So you know, self-care, self-journey, self-love, self-anything, I feel like should be valued not only as artists but all humans in general because by loving yourself and feeling confident and secure yourself, it acts as a mirror and invites others and reflects onto others to love on you and connect with you.”
Gracie: I wanna talk about your experience on this set, your character specifically. All of these characters go through a lot throughout the series, but what did you see in character growth from your first day on set to maybe the finale of this show? How did you see your character grow and what was that like stepping into that?
Jaylan: “Mm, that's a good question.”
Gracie: I know you can't give a lot away because it's not out yet, but vaguely.
Jaylan: “Right. Well, Skyler is so much fun, I love him. We have so much in common, and I truly feel like he's an extension of me. He's grounded, confident, ambitious, and driven, and those are qualities that I feel and I would hope I possess. He's very open and quickly adopts Jackie into his bestie circle.
He's also stylish, which was an immediate connection for me because I've always loved fashion design growing up. He's a great guy, but we all have our red flags or our room for growth, and with Skyler being so headstrong and committed, I think he's down for change and open to becoming his best self. Given the life he's had to live, marginalized and understanding how hard his walk through life will be, he can be guarded in particular with his heart, maybe as a prevention method.
I think we get to see him let people in this season in a way that's new to him and exciting. There's a lot of hard work and discipline with Skyler. He's smart but not like a nerd, and with the cool kids and finding that balance and that equilibrium is really fun.”
Gracie: Definitely. And I love that you say he has a great fashion sense and you tie that into yourself. I was going to say I love the outfit you're wearing today, that was literally the first thing I thought of when I got onto this call. I was like, ‘Wow, I feel really underdressed.’
Jaylan: “Oh no, you look so cute. Like there's a prep and you're giving preppy vibes. I love it.”
Gracie: We matched.
Jaylan: “Yes, I have an event to go to after this and I wanted to look nice for this. So I'm always down to turn a look as they say.”
Photo crredit: @jaylanevans on Instagram
Gracie: From the short clips that I've seen all over social media, this seems like a very tight-knit cast. I'm wondering, from your time on this set or with your co-stars, do you have a most memorable moment on set?
Jaylan: “There's so many. But you're right, we are close-knit and it is like a family. And just the nature of the cast being a large ensemble cast, it kind of reminds me of Cheaper by the Dozen. I grew up on that movie and I'm one of five, so it was really easy for me to connect to the world and the show. Although it's not 10 kids, five is still a lot, and growing up with a single mom and being the second oldest of five, and the oldest son, it was really familiar to me.
But as far as my favorite set memories, the first one is probably when I met Ellie who plays Grace for the first time. I was so eager to meet her, I remember being like, ‘Who is Grace?’ this is my onscreen bestie, I need to meet her I'm just ready to kiki and hang out. And we actually ended up meeting for the first time, moments before we had to film a scene highlighting the years and years of our characters' friendships in the show. So the adrenaline of it all, the challenge at hand, and having to step up to the plate, it was just so exhilarating. It was like, ‘Hi, I'm Jaylen. Hi, I'm Ellie, three, two, one, action’ and we had to film this scene where we were finishing each other sentences and the dialogue was just running off of each other. So to meet someone and have to execute that was just so thrilling. And the director, I remember came over to us and was like ‘Don't get big-headed, but that was good.’
There was also a scene we had to shoot overnight, and I can't say much without spoiling, but we had a ball that day. It was really cold out, but I think the extreme circumstances at hand and all of us being there together made it really fun. I had never done anything like that. I woke up at 6pm to start my day or night. Got to set and we had breakfast at dinner time at 8pm. I remember being one of the last scenes to film way in the early morning hours at like 5 or 6am, the sun was rising and afterward, I remember all of us just feeling delirious and like zombies, but we actually kept the day going. We went to a diner and I think Noah's Place and just all hung out. You'd expect all of us to crash after having an overnight shoot from pick-up time at 6 pm and wrapping at 6am but we actually stayed up over 24 hours and it was wild. I think that's just a testament to how much fun we were having. Who needs sleep when you're having fun, you know?”
Gracie: Sounds like everyone had a fun time. Have you guys talked about what you would wanna see if season 2 does happen?
Jaylan: “You know, we've all joked around. Well, I don't know if joke is the right word, but we've all talked about it here and there. It's hard to talk about the ambitions or our dreams and hopes for season two without spoiling season one because I can't talk about the plot just yet, but I will say speaking for Skyler, I think easing into his passions and exploring his steps and how he pursues that could be interesting.
I personally, would love to spend more time working with some of the actors. I know I got more time than others on set and that's just the nature of having a big, amazing cast which is great and it gives our show so much life, but further developing those character relationships and experiences together would be really cool. Like I know I've made a joke to Ashby, maybe Skyler helps Cole with fashion and he's trying to impress Jackie. Maybe, I don't know, I'm interested in exploring Skyler's creative side as well, because he is so smart and, that's immediately why he's drawn into Jackie, that straight-A student, student council, they hit it off because of their mental capacity, they’re brainiacs. But I also think it would be cool to explore what Skyler does creatively.”
Gracie: We'll see. I don't want to get you in trouble so we don't have to talk specifics.
Jaylan: “Yeah, maybe after the show we can always touch base and we'll have a recap of the whole series.”
Gracie: Sounds great. If you could describe this series as a whole in three words, what would they be and why?
Jaylan: “Tender, it just gives you a hug and it's not out there and spectacle. We're not trying to do a lot, it's very simple, and I think relatable would be another good word. There's a character for everyone. Like I've said, we have this huge ensemble cast and it's great because you have Cole who's the athlete and that’s a little troubled. You have Alex, who's the bookworm and he likes to play video games and is a little more kind and friendly. You have Nathan, who's a musician. You have Isaac and Lee. You have Danny, who's an actor and just so poetic-like. You have Will, the older brother, who is the leader of the family, and the oldest of the kids. You have the younger kids. You even have a friend group at school. I mean, there's literally a character for everyone and someone to see themselves and kind of be like, ‘Hey, I know that person or I can relate to what this person's going through.’ So we've got Tender, relatable, and I think my final one would probably be wholesome. It's really wholesome. It's grounded. It's genuine, it's sweet, swoon-worthy. I think it just really is gonna be nice for the holiday season, but then also piggybacking off of the pandemic that we talked about earlier. People just wanna feel good, we need some joy, we need some love, we need some light. And I think that it's gonna be that for a lot of people this holiday season, not just kids, but it's a family show. Like I said, Cheaper by the Dozen, because we have Sarah Rafferty from Suits and Mark Blukas as the parents. You have the teens and then you even have some people in that middle age range. It's a whole universe that we've created.
And I cannot wait for people to see this, especially because there is already such a huge fan base about it and it hasn't even come out yet. It was originally on Wattpad. I never got around to reading it when I was a kid, but I have some friends and family members who read it when they were younger. I have since read it, and I'm so excited to just see what people think and see the community and the fans that have supported this since it was on Wattpad and since then become a published novel. I'm so curious to see how people react and receive the live-action version.”
Gracie: Yes, I remember reading Wattpad when I was younger. So seeing all these Wattpad books get adapted into movies and TV shows is like so heartwarming for me.
Jaylan: “Yeah, I bet. That's so cool. I wish I had read it when I was a kid, it would be even more full circle. But I was probably too busy playing sports. I’m a former athlete and now we're here.”
Gracie: Now we're here. It's a big gap in between, but you're doing great.
Jaylan: “Exactly. Thank you.”
Gracie: My last question for you, obviously this release is exciting, but what future projects do you have that you can hint at or talk about if any?
Jaylan: “None as of right now. You know, we're coming out of strike and I think it's gonna be a really exciting time for a lot of us actors. Hopefully, there's a plethora of opportunities and work for people. So yeah, right now I'm just vibing, doing me. I'm still on my personal journey and I have faith that you'll be seeing a lot more of me soon. So just stay tuned.”
