You might recognize Billy Harris from his three seasons on Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, but to fully appreciate his range of talent, everyone should hear him voice the HECK out of the character of Puck on Apple TV’s animated series The Sisters Grimm.
Based on Michael Buckley’s series of novels, The Sisters Grimm follows sisters Sabrina and Daphne Grimm as they discover their new home, Ferryport Landing, is filled with the characters from fairy tales and folklore.
Harris’s Puck lives in the woods behind the Grimm house and is friends with their Grandma Relda before they arrive in Season 1, seeing her as his own family and feeling a bit jealous when they move in.
And of course, Puck is one of the oldest and most well-known characters, a perpetually young trickster with the power to shape-shift and fly.
In this exclusive interview, we discuss Puck’s growth as a person in The Sisters Grimm Season 2 with Harris.
After moving into the house with Relda Grimm and the sisters at the end of The Sisters Grimm Season 1, Puck experiences a whole new world of experiences, including but not limited to soap operas, school, and dodgeball.
Where do you see the greatest evolution in Puck’s character in Season 2?
Billy Harris: I think he starts the season very much similar to Season 1. When I read the script for Season 2, I was like, “Okay, there’s another dynamic. There’s another layer of him that we aren’t seeing.” It’s great, very subtle.
We’re seeing a boy that’s realizing that he doesn’t necessarily have to always be smart. Smart in the sense of always being comical, jousting with Sabrina, type of thing. He’s finding another way to communicate.
How have the connections he’s formed with the members of Relda’s household deepened or changed?
Relda has really brought him in. He really appreciates that. Him and Canis… I don’t think he really understands Canis, ’cause Canis is on a different path of breathing it out and a bit of yoga and a bit of this and that. Puck sees him as an anomaly.
We get to see Puck’s room, which is fun in itself. How he lives, and [how he] is completely different to Sabrina. He’s still at the level of Daphne in maturity. Sabrina is way ahead. Season 2 is maybe him trying to get to where Sabrina is.
But he and Sabrina team up once they’re in a school environment!
Yeah, he starts to see what Sabrina is doing. She’s become really independent. I like this season because she’s trusting herself a lot, navigating through it. She’s also having a tough time at school.
Again, Puck is kind of seeing that and kind of not. He does see it towards the end. That’s what’s rewarding as an actor: that you get to see your character grow.
Puck embodies so many personalities from classical literary sources like Shakespeare and JM Barrie’s Peter Pan. Who or what is your touchstone as you’re piecing together his character?
Mine are very modern. Jim Carrey as The Grinch- just silly, but also, it kind of [parallels] with him and Cindy Lou and the way he is with that “I love you, but I care too much: I don’t want to care too much!” kind of thing.
And then, as time has gone on and seeing him soften, I have taken a lot of inspiration from Ben Whishaw in Paddington, and having those little tender moments, him being soft. It’s really interesting what comes to you when you’re in the voice booth. You learn from the greats, really.
It’s very nerve-wracking to be in that space and think, “Am I doing justice?” Actors, when they are panicked or stressed, they just copy. [laughs] I’ll just copy Ben Whishaw. I’ll just copy Jim Carrey and hope that that works.
Do you approach live acting and voice acting differently?
Before I did this, obviously I’d done a couple seasons of Ted Lasso. I thought, “Oh, I’ll just go into the booth and give it a go.” But because you lose the ability to use your body, and it’s all on voice, I’ve learned so much. Every part is a tool. In voice, you have a couple things less than you do on [live action]. You just have the voice.
Before, I didn’t necessarily know that. Seeing what I’ve done in Season 2, and hopefully, if there is a Season 3, I’ve learned from what I did in Season 2. It just snowballs from there. I was very much a novice going into Season 1 of The Sisters Grimm.
Referencing that growth you mentioned at the end of Season 2, what do you think motivates the leap from his trickster self to heroic behaviour?
Instinct. It’s instinct, if you have a good soul, which Puck ultimately does. All of his jesting and silliness and stuff is all lighthearted, and he masks a lot of his well-meaning, well-intentioned parts of his personality. I think it’s very instinctual for him to turn into a hero.
Maybe he didn’t know it at the time. What we see in the finale, which is great, is almost instinctual. This is Puck. It is who he is.
Because Puck straddles the line between Ferryport Landing’s Everafters and the Grimm family, do you see his loyalties being tested in the future?
Because he’s been around for some time, he’s learned to just live that way. His care for Sabrina and Daphne will only grow stronger and stronger. That’s obviously going to be tested. He’s with them a whole lot more.
Do you believe Puck will find some humanity within himself?
He needs to. To be a more well-rounded, chill guy, it’s just part of the process. The things that I thought when I was 15, I just don’t think anymore. You have to grow, otherwise you’re just going to stay still, frozen.
People are gonna expect you to do that thing, whereas what’s great about Puck is — and what we can learn from that in the real world — is that you surprise people when you do something different. You surprise people when you soften or try a different tack. Yeah, he has to! He has to grow!
There are nine books in Michael Buckley’s The Sisters Grimm series. Have you read them and taken a peek into the characters’ future?
I have! Obviously, if we find out we’re getting a Season 3, my excitement will drive me to get the book and really invest in it.
When I did Season 1, I had a brief analysis of where it goes. Reading the scripts, they do such a great job of bringing the books to life. If there is a Season 3, I’ll be buying that book!
If Puck could grow as a character without any restrictions, what path would he take?
He’d look at himself differently. He might think, “Wow, okay, I’ve been doing that for some time. I’ve been being that way for a very long time.”
He doesn’t know at the moment that he doesn’t have to jest all the time. That’s his survival instinct. Once he realizes that he can stop doing that, that’s when he realizes that he is safe. That he’s not always in danger.
He doesn’t have to do this for other people to please them. People like you when you’re your genuine self.
And if the barrier around Ferryport Landing came down, what would be the first thing he’d do?
He would probably do something silly, like go to an In-N-Out Burger. There we go.
Watch The Sisters Grimm Season 2 Fridays on Apple TV, and read our interview with Granny Relda herself, Laraine Newman.
