The Spiderwick Chronicles Star Reveals Anakin Skywalker Was One Of His Character Inspirations

The Spiderwick Chronicles follows the Grace family, who have moved to their ancestral home in Henson, Michigan, the Spiderwick Estate, after a messy divorce. While in the new home, the family begins to experience strange occurrences, especially Jared, who discovers a boggart that opens up the reality of the magical world to him. Only his great-aunt Lucinda listens, and she implores him to find the pages of her father’s field guide to the magical world in order to protect them from the murderous Ogre, Mulgarath.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is based on Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s series of novels of the same name. The visuals are stunning, bringing the fantastical world to life that so many fell in love with through their own imagination while reading the novels. The cast is fantastic, but Christian Slater is brilliant as the villainous Mulgarath, who causes havoc for the Grace family throughout the series.

Screen Rant interviewed star Lyon Daniels about his new fantasy series, The Spiderwick Chronicles. He explained the importance of portraying mental health struggles with respect and the complicated family dynamic in the series. Daniels also discussed the cat-and-mouse relationship between Jared and Mulgarath as well as the pressure of adapting a beloved franchise.

The Spiderwick Chronicles Star Talks Mental Health & Family Dynamics

Daniels shared not only how he prepared for the role of Jared, but what elements he wanted to be especially careful about. He explained how he, the showrunner, and the writer were particularly careful in how they approached Jared’s mental health.

Lyon Daniels: Well, my character delves deep into mental health. He has mental health issues, and that’s something that’s very personal and important to me. I really wanted to respect that in my performance. So I tried to be as authentic about it as possible. I talked with the showrunner, Aaron, and the writer as well. We avoided certain words and just tried to figure out how to do it in a very natural and coherent way as possible.

I prepared for it by just watching movies. I watched Donny Darko, Goodwill Hunting. I pulled from Anakin Skywalker, just kind of trying to get a variety of things to emulate in my performance. I’m so grateful to play a character as complex as Jared, and it was a great learning experience.

The theme of belief of the Unseen plays a significant role in The Spiderwick Chronicles. How do you think that scene resonates with audiences, and what did you learn from playing your character who navigates these challenges?

Lyon Daniels: I think Spiderwick is kind of attuned for this generation. We touched on mental health and just all these relevant topics that are prevalent today, and I think it definitely taught me so much about mental health and how to grasp with it.

And I think, honestly, this might sound frivolous, but I think the folklore aspect of the story as well. I mean, we take things like fairies don’t like iron, and fairies can’t lie, and all of these awesome cool little facts and putting them into one world. It’s so awesome.

Jared’s relationship with his family, especially his brother Simon, play a significant role in the series. How did you and Noah work on showcasing that dynamic and complexity of the family relationship?

Lyon Daniels: Yeah, it was really kind of natural between us. We read with each other a lot. We read with each other on Zoom, and then they flew us to LA we read with each other, and then we had a month or two to hang out. We were doing school banking our hours, so we just got into the little shenanigans, and that’s kind of where the twin-ish energy was coming through.

There’s just been little weird coincidences between us as well, just wearing the same shirt or same clothes. But yeah, even when McKayla and Joy pulled up, it was just natural from the get-go, it was kind of just magical how well we just all blended our dynamics together and created this one beautiful vibe and energy.

This show also has a lot of action and adventure. Can you talk about preparing physically for the role?

Lyon Daniels: We actually trained with our scooters, and they let us take them back, which they were quickly taken away, for obvious reasons. I guess physicality wise, I try to make him more kind of brash, because he’s such a rageful kid, and he kind of turns the violence pretty fast. And so I wanted to, at any spur of the moment, he can kind of just go at things, acts before he thinks, but I think that’s the beauty of Jared.

Lyon Daniels On Bringing A Beloved Series To Life On Screen, “There’s Definitely Added Pressure”

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a beloved series that has been a huge part of many people’s childhoods. Daniels not only touched on the pressure that comes from taking a new approach to a beloved story but also shared his own love for the original novels. He also explained why going back to the books was such an integral part of his preparation.

Lyon Daniels: There’s definitely added pressure, knowing that it’s a massive fan base already, but I kind of just took a deep dive into the books. I really did want to respect Tony and Holly’s work originally and kind of try to get the original spirit of Jared and put that in my performance as well.

But yeah, no, there’s definitely added pressure. But I think the cool thing about my character is that he is not like a demi god. He’s not a wizard. He’s just a normal kid who, and I feel like this is very relatable, he pulls out his bravery, and he goes against a magical, magical, immortal ogre. There’s so many things about it that was scary, challenging, but it was a great experience overall.

Were you familiar with the book series prior to getting the role, or did you dive in after you knew you got the part?

Lyon Daniels: Yeah, I was familiar with the book series. I grew up on the books, the movie, and I’ve always been such a big fantasy geek as well. Definitely after I got the part, I took a deep dive, like I said, and pulled things out. I watched the movie a bunch, just kind of trying to get the genuine overall vibe of the project.

Were there any particular books or scenes from The Spiderwick Chronicles book series that you found particularly helpful in understanding Jared as a character?

Lyon Daniels: In the beginning of the book, when they pull up to the house, they’re kind of talking about each sibling individually. It kind of said, Jared doesn’t really know where he belongs. Mallory knows that she wants to be a fencer. Simon knows he wants to be a zookeeper or something, but Jared doesn’t know what he wants to be.

And that really, really helped me understand Jared because that’s completely relatable. I’ve been there once or twice, and I completely understand where he’s coming from. And then just his brash moments in the book as well, and just pulling those aspects out. And also just creating my own history, since it’s a different kind of take. What happened in New York and what he did and who he hung out with. It was just kind of all these kind of elements.

What are you hoping viewers take away from Jared’s journey in The Spiderwick Chronicles?

Lyon Daniels: I hope they take away that you’re not alone and you can write your own destiny. You’re completely capable of doing what you think you can do, and that you’re kind of the hero of your own story. Because I think everyone sees themselves less than capable.

Everyone doesn’t see themselves as a hero, and to some extent, especially in their story, everyone kind of sees themselves as a villain of someone else’s, and that’s not the way to go about things. I just hope they relate to my character, his troubles, not being believed, and just feeling like an outsider. My personal experience, when I was a kid, I was always into the arts.

I never was into football and basketball, sports. I loved music and drawing, and because of that, I felt kind of like a loner, like an outsider, because I didn’t really relate to any of the kids in my class. That’s why I related with Jared too. I hope people can take away from that and be like, Yeah, it’s cool to be an artist. It’s cool. It’s cool to like this thing.

The Spiderwick Chronicles Balances Brilliant CGI & Practical Effects

Daniels described Jared as a scapegoat and black sheep in his family. He explained how Jared, who initially didn’t know his place in the world, is able to step up and become a hero as he is pulled into this fantastical world. He also touched on both the CG and practical effects.

Lyon Daniels: I always see Jared as kind of a scapegoat. He kind of gets blamed for everything. He’s the outsider of the family. Mallory knows who she wants to be and what she is, and Simon knows who he wants to be and what he is. But Jared doesn’t really know where he fits in. He doesn’t really know his place, and because of that, he feels less than capable of anything, especially being in this heroic role that he is kind of forced to be put in since no one believes him.

And to see his evolution from this kid who thinks that all of his issues are flaws, even though they’re just human, and to see himself as capable of being a hero is a very exciting evolution. It’s beautiful. It was beautifully written, and I’m so lucky that I can dive into these complexities.

It’s crazy for a show like this to be on streaming simply because I feel the production value is so high. Every episode almost feels like a movie in itself. With the world being so expansive, full of fantastical creatures and elements. Can you talk about acting with the CG that’s in the show?

Lyon Daniels: It was awesome. I always love working with CGI. It was my dream. I’ve always had a vivid imagination, and luckily, it was also very practical. We had little thimble tack puppets on set, and we had Magrath who was just completely covered in prosthetics, and the dude on 10 foot stilts. It was amazing. Not to mention the set designs.

The house was completely built, and every little nook and cranny was filled to the brim with artifacts. There’s little fairies hidden in the wallpaper. It’s magical through and through without VFX, and that couldn’t have happened without our set designers and prop people.

So being on set with that immersion and all the practicality, how did that help inform your performance?

Lyon Daniels: It helped so much. I already have a vivid imagination, so it was super easy to kind of already envision those creatures. But no, it helped so much. As soon as I kind of stepped into that house, I felt I’m not lying anymore. I’m kind of taken over by my character because it was so immersive. It was like the craziest DD session I could ever think of. So it was really cool.

If you could have any magical item or power from the world of The Spiderwick Chronicles, what would it be and why?

Lyon Daniels: Ooh, magical item. The vorpal sword is so cool. I love swords, so yeah, I wish I got to keep that. And then power, I think shape-shifting takes the cake. That’s pretty awesome. You can do some good, some bad with it, but I’d do some good. I’m just thinking Loki or something.

Lyon Daniels On Working With Christian Slater, “I Love That Peter Pan and Hook Dynamic”

Daniels revealed which scenes were his favorites to shoot and why he enjoyed creating the dynamic with Slater. He also reflected on what he learned from Slater while working on The Spiderwick Chronicles and We Can Be Heroes.

Lyon Daniels: I have so many. I think my first encounter with Thimbletack is number one. That was so fun to shoot, especially because the director, I thought I was just going to have to scream at a puppet and it would be really awkward.

But no, she made that super comfortable. She screamed with me, and it was a really fun time. And then I guess also my cat and mouse scenes with Christian were so, so fun, and I love that Peter Pan and Hook dynamic. It was really cool to act out with him, especially with a legend like himself.

Speaking of Christian, I want to talk about him for a second because he is an absolute legend. He’s been doing this for a long time, and every single time I see that dude, I’m like, Man, it’s Christian Slater! Can you talk about working with him and what you took away from working with him?

Lyon Daniels: Yeah. Well, it’s funny, I worked with him on my last project, Netflix’s We Could Be Heroes. I just love him so much. He’s a live wire. He brings a certain energy to set, especially playing a villain who I have to despise, but he’s a hard guy to hate, and he’s amazing.

He kind of taught me how to take things seriously without taking them too seriously and taking yourself too seriously. Which is I think it’s always important to have that. He brings so much charisma, and it was so fun to improvise and play with scenes with him.

I want to switch gears with this last question because you kind of brought it up and I just wanted to talk about it. The Netflix family film that broke records with 44 million household views, We Can Be Heroes, you are phenomenal in it. You got to work alongside Priyanka Chopra, Pedro Pascal, Boyd Halbrook, and Sung Kang. Can you talk about your experience working on that project and what you took away as an actor from that project?

Lyon Daniels: It was kind of my first big thing that I’ve ever done. Netflix project, superhero role, Robert Rodriguez. It was just kind of a dream come true at the time. Working with those greats you just mentioned, and also just doing all the stunt work and really getting to feel the habitat of a set, feel that out and kind of experienced that the first time was really a great learning experience for me. I took so much away from that. I definitely feel I grew as an actor from that time as well. I think it kind of just taught me how to navigate a set, how to act on a set, and it was very helpful.

About The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles follows the Grace family as they move from Brooklyn, New York, to their ancestral home in Henson, Michigan, the Spiderwick Estate. Helen makes the move with her 15-year-old fraternal twin boys, Jared and Simon, and her older daughter, Mallory.

Check out our other Spiderwick Chronicles interviews:

• Authors Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi
• Christian Slater & Joy Bryant
• Aron Eli Coleite (Pre-Release)
• Aron Eli Coleite