Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Explains Simon’s Real Secret

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II says Simon Williams’ superpowers aren’t the real problem—his doubts are. Ahead of “Wonder Man” Season 1 streaming on Disney+, the Emmy winner discusses shaping the Marvel character’s anxieties, why the marketing leaned into meta moments,

It starts with a confession that doesn’t sound like superhero lore at all.

Sitting across from Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in a conference room inside IndieWire’s Los Angeles office. the Emmy winner speaks most animatedly about what’s actually holding his “Wonder Man” character back. The Disney+ series follows Simon Williams. who wants to become a successful actor but must keep his superpowers secret to do it. Yet Abdul-Mateen pushes back on what the “secret” might be.

“That’s not the secret. Simon’s secret is that he doesn’t actually think that he can do it,” Abdul-Mateen said. “It’s the convenient excuse. ‘Oh, I have these powers, what if my powers break out?’ You’re not worried about the powers. There’s something else going on. Move, move, move. I see you. You don’t believe in yourself. You want to do it, but you have doubts. Oh, you’re afraid. Oh, man, you don’t have to be afraid.”.

The framing lands differently when you remember Abdul-Mateen shares an occupation with his character—at least on paper. There’s a common assumption that the pep talk would mirror his own path after leaving architecture and urban planning for acting at the Yale School of Drama. Abdul-Mateen didn’t deny the overlap, but he insisted his acting journey wasn’t the same as Simon’s.

“I had a tendency to take up space and to be one of the people in the bunch who was attracted to the light. But that’s really what it was about. It was feeding the thing in me that liked to be the center of attention. ” he said. explaining what drove him toward acting. He recalled his first performance in a play called “Measure to Measure” staged around 2007 or 2008. where he had only two lines: “Eleven. sir” and “Lord Angelo is severe.”.

The memory still has heat. Abdul-Mateen said he felt nerves and excitement waiting in the wings, then peeking out to see who was in attendance. He turned to ask his friend. actor Daniel Petzold. “‘Is it always like this?’ He said. ‘Every time.’” When Abdul-Mateen walked out onstage. “as soon as the light hit. all the nerves went away. and I was right at home. ” he said. “Simon doesn’t have that thing to make the nerves go away.”.

That distinction becomes the emotional engine of the series, Abdul-Mateen argues: the story doesn’t treat powers as mystery, but as a physical expression of what’s already inside.

“Whereas other people have the ability to hide their doubt or to mask it behind other things, Simon doesn’t have the luxury of doing that,” Abdul-Mateen said. “When he experiences the same thing that everybody else experiences, his body explodes.”

He described it as a chain reaction—walking out onto the stage. even when his heart is beating. becomes the fight. “Simon has to learn how to walk out onto the stage even though his heart is beating on the inside. because when he doesn’t. that’s when he gets in trouble. when he lets the doubt overwhelm him. He’s not having anxiety attacks because he has powers. He’s having anxiety attacks because he has doubts. And when he has doubts, everything boils up. And now he’s worried and then the powers start creeping up and then boom, something happens. But it never starts with the powers.”.

That’s where the character ends up sounding less like a fantasy and more like someone trying to survive their own thoughts. “He’s just got to live. He’s just got to either continue or quit. So every single time, it’s do or die. It’s do or die. And Simon’s a hero, man. Simon’s so brave going out there and living with that condition. It’s funny. because he’s out there trying to cope. but man. Simon’s terrified the entire time. ” Abdul-Mateen added.

Part of why Simon feels so personal to Abdul-Mateen is that he says the role gave him room to shape the new take on the Marvel character—one that co-creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest invited him to build. The Marvel character first appeared in “The Avengers” comic over 60 years ago.

“When it came to the scripts. the thing that I liked the most was the fact that Andrew Guest and Destin. they talked about the story as if it was a work in progress. ” he said. “They made me feel special. They made me feel important when they talked about the script as if it was a work in progress. That let me know that there was going to be a space for me to be seen in this project. that I would have a voice.”.

That involvement didn’t stop at the acting side. Abdul-Mateen said House Eleven10 production company founder status extended into marketing conversations for the series. “I like to be in on the business to know what’s going on and to be helping to make decisions and giving my opinions. And some of the things that we put out are because I was in there having those conversations. I would say, ‘Simon would do it like this. Simon would do it like that.’ So I was in those rooms helping to craft the narrative that we were putting together about this show. ” he said.

It also helps explain why “Wonder Man” marketing looked so deliberately untraditional. The campaign gave little away about the series plot and leaned into meta stunts. Abdul-Mateen described showing up in character to “The Fantastic Four: First Steps. ” and appearing in an “Actors on Actors” parody opposite Sir Ben Kingsley as his long-running MCU character Trevor Slattery.

Industry insiders applauded the creativity, but general audiences had worries that another Marvel series on Disney+ could end up “buried.” Abdul-Mateen didn’t dismiss that fear—he framed it as noise they had to move through.

“We were fine with what we were giving them because we believed in the project and I think patience is a virtue. And I think we were patient even while people were making a lot of noise. And eventually, the bit of noise was good because the noise made noise and that became some press,” he said. “Sometimes you’ve got to sit back and look at that as a sign of saying people are really excited about Yahya in this show. And after all of that. what I will say is that I am thankful to have had people say. ‘Hey. man. you have to look out for our guy. ’” he added. pointing to fans who believed the studio might have been doing a disservice to his star vehicle.

For him, the payoff is the existence of Season 2. “While Abdul-Mateen does his best to pay attention to feedback and concern from fans. ‘the fact that we got a Season 2 shows that we did some things right. and it shows that the people who really wanted to make sure that I was being protected in this space. that they did their job in showing up in numbers and making some noise about it. So I felt really loved and supported all around,’” he said.

“It’s good business to know what people want. It’s better business to know what people want, to give them what they need, and make them think that it’s what they wanted the whole time,” Abdul-Mateen added.

So what happens next inside Simon Williams’ world? Abdul-Mateen says he isn’t getting the usual lead-time.

“I’ve had no creative conversations yet about Season 2, like zero,” he said. As a fan, he likes that Season 1 laid down a foundation: “we know his quirks, that we know what type of anxieties he’s susceptible to, and we’ve got an idea of his character and some of his skills and his dreams.”

“What’s interesting to me is that we’ve watched him in pursuit of something. We got to see what he wanted. It’s an interesting idea to me to see what he’s going to do with it. because we all know the guy who is behind all of this … we knew you before you were a star. So this can go really good or this can go really bad.”.

He ended by praising Simon himself, turning the conversation back to what he thinks makes the character so watchable. “He’s smart. he’s crafty. he’s got a good heart. and we’ve seen him do something good with the fame. I want to know what fame looks like on Simon. If he is a celebrity, I want to know what kind of celebrity he is,” Abdul-Mateen said.

“There’s a whole journey, but wherever we go, I’m glad that the people know him, that whenever they meet him again, they feel like they’ve already known him because of the way that we’ve introduced him in the first season.”

“Wonder Man” Season 1 is now streaming on Disney+.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Wonder Man Marvel Television Disney+ Simon Williams Destin Daniel Cretton Andrew Guest marketing Season 2 Emmy winner Trevor Slattery Sir Ben Kingsley