Ruaridh Mollica says playing Tommy Maximoff as a bisexual character in VisionQuest means a lot to him personally. “I feel like Marvel did a great job by casting a bisexual actor for this and it’s such an honor to be portraying that in the MCU,” the Scottish actor told Variety ahead of the series’ U.K. premiere. “I feel so seen.”
Mollica plays Tommy Shepherd, the twin brother of Joe Locke’s Billy Kaplan from Agatha All Along, and he loves what that pairing means. He called the two of them “these queer twin brothers in the MCU together,” adding, “it’s so cool.”
Who Tommy Is In VisionQuest
Tommy arrives midway through the first episode as a teenage hustler, pickpocket and con artist working the streets of London. Mollica described him as a grifter and said he drew a lot from Matt Damon’s performance in Good Will Hunting.
“He’s an orphan. He not got anyone. He’s had to build who he is by himself, and there’s a loneliness to that, and a yearning for family,” he said.
That yearning collides with a lot of Marvel history. At the end of Agatha All Along, Billy places Tommy Maximoff’s consciousness into the body of Tommy Shepherd, who had drowned, so Mollica’s character suddenly has memories of a family that includes a synthezoid father and a witch for a mother. Mollica put it more bluntly: a dad who is a robot, a mom who is a witch, and both of them Avengers.
Why Tommy Flirts With Lisa
Mollica said there was some discussion about the fact that Tommy isn’t shown being attracted to other men in the series. “He’s flirting with Lisa Molinari, but I think that’s makes me feel more seen as bisexual,” he said. “Because that’s the whole point. It’s not necessarily about who you’re dating, it’s about who you are inside, and who you want to flirt with.”
He added that he hopes him being bisexual and playing the part helps people “feel seen and represented.”
A Scottish Superhero
Mollica, who was born in Italy and raised in Edinburgh, also gets to keep his own accent. During his screen test with Paul Bettany and showrunner Terry Matalas, nobody had decided whether Tommy would sound American or English, until Bettany asked Matalas what he thought about Mollica just using his own voice. Mollica’s reaction was disbelief that a Marvel superhero could be Scottish.
He also dropped a hint weeks before news of his casting got out. While starring with Locke in the West End play Clarkston, Mollica appeared at the stage door one evening in a VisionQuest hat, standing next to Locke in an Agatha All Along cap. “It had been a little secret that we had to keep together on stage,” he said.
VisionQuest premiered on Disney+ on October 13, and it arrived Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes hours before its debut. New episodes stream Tuesdays.
For the latest news and updates make sure to follow us on social media! Facebook | Twitter | Threads | Instagram | TikTok
