Leonardo Nam has played plenty of memorable characters over his 25-year career, but nothing quite like this. In Descendants: The Wicked Wonderland, the Australian actor returns as Maddox Hatter — only this time, he’s swapped the character’s warm heart for something a whole lot darker.
Nam told WHO the villain turn is a dream come true, admitting he’s always had a soft spot for Disney’s villains growing up.
After exploring Maddox’s gentler side in Rise of Red, getting the call to go full villain in the sequel felt like a full-circle moment, especially as the role came with an unexpected twist: singing.
“I got kicked out of choir as a kid in Australia. I’m kind of like floored that they even considered me for this. And so when I jumped on board, I was definitely so nervous. But once I read the script, I just fell in love with this character,” he told WHO.
Nam explained that he was once kicked out of his primary school choir after the teacher noticed someone was singing off-key. The teacher subsequently went row by row, person by person, to find the culprit, and Nam was ultimately asked to leave.
If only the teacher could see him now!
Leo used Tom Cruise’s harness and it was ‘real snug’
The physical side of the role brought its own chaos for Nam, who revealed he was the one who suggested his character smash a teacup over his own head mid-song — a decision he came to regret after a few painful takes.
Even wilder was the film’s climactic number, performed while suspended above the set in a harness nicknamed the “Tom Cruise harness” (since it’s the very one the American actor had used), and he was asked to balance on a narrow chandelier walkway in front of 250 crew members with his villain song blasting at full volume.
“I thought, well, Tom Cruise wore it. I’m going to wear it too,” he said. “It felt real snug, real tight, real safe.”
Despite the nerves, Nam says the experience captured exactly why he loves the job — the chance to fully commit to big, theatrical emotion, then simply “cut” and head to lunch.
“I would describe it as just like an explosion of colour and wonder and imagination because this whole concept of going through and time-travelling and turning this whole concept of Wonderland upside down is just so imaginative. And that’s one of the big reasons why I love working inside of this Disney sandbox.”
Looking back across a career that’s spanned everything from The Fast and the Furious franchise to family comedies, Nam says he holds no regrets about the roles he didn’t take, preferring instead to celebrate the variety he’s built along the way. Landing a genuine, sung-and-danced Disney villain, though, feels like a milestone all its own.
The Descendants franchise is all about nepo babies of our favourite Disney characters
Disney’s Descendants franchise (of which there are five) is about the teenage children of classic Disney heroes and villains.
Maddox Hatter is the son of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, and the main four characters are also all the children of famous Disney characters — the lead protagonist Mal is the daughter of Maleficent, Evie is the daughter of the Evil Queen in Snow White, Carlos De Vil is the son of Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians, Prince Ben is the son of Belle and the Beast and Jay is the son of Jafar in Aladdin.
Descendants: The Wicked Wonderland is out now.
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