EXCLUSIVE: A crew of eight actors will join the season 2 cast of Amazon’s YA drama The Wilds.
Set to appear in the sophomore season are Zack Calderon, Aidan Laprete, Nichoals Coombe, Charles Alexander, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Reed Shannon, Tanner Ray Rook and Alex Fitzalan.
They will join cast members Rachel Griffiths, David Sullivan, Troy Winbush, Sophia Ali, Sarah Pidgeon, Jenna Clause, Erana James, Mia Healey, Helena Howard, Reign Edwards and Shannon Berry.
The Wilds season two will continue to follow the harrowing ordeal of eight teenage girls, stranded on a deserted island under mysterious circumstances. This second season will also focus on a new group of survivors, all boys, who find themselves in the same perilous situation. Both groups will be forced to navigate emotional and physical obstacles in the face of their extreme circumstances.
The Wilds is created and executive produced by Sarah Streicher alongside showrunner Amy Harris, Jamie Tarses of Fanfare, and Dylan Clark and Brian Williams for Dylan Clark Productions. The Wilds is co-produced by Amazon Studios and ABC Signature, part of Disney Television Studios.
Calderon will play Rafael Garcia a quiet, sensitive teenager who lives in Tijuana but attends high school in San Diego. Straddling two worlds has made it difficult for Raf to get a clear and certain sense of himself, so he gravitates toward people with stronger, more charismatic personalities than his own. Calderon graduated from Ithaca College with a B.A. in musical theater. He has appeared in CBS’ FBI and is repped by by Buchwald, Luber Roklin Management and Zoom Talent.
Laprete will take on Henry Tanaka. The opposite of his personable step-brother Seth, Henry is an emo reclusive type who prefers to retreat into the safety of his noise-canceling headphones and dwell on the darkness in the world. Laprete is a singer-songwriter and music producer who has opened for artists including Jack Johnson, Michael Bolton and toured with Train. His credits including Hawaii Five-0, Alexa and Katie, Everything’s Gonna Be OK and Chad.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold actor Nicholas Coombe will play Josh Herbert, a talkative, hypochondriacal teenager from a wealthy family in San Diego. Unlike the rest of his athletic, tennis-playing family, Josh is an awkward, nervous type who takes a number of homeopathic supplements to handle his chronic stress. Coombe will appear in Lionsgate and BuzzFeed’s 1UP. His credits include Paramount’s 68 Whiskey, ABC’s Imaginary Mary, Open Road’s Midnight Sun, The CW’s iZombie, SYFY’s The Magicians, and Netflix’s Spy Kids: Mission Critical. He is represented by LINK Entertainment and The Characters Agency.
Alexander will play Kirin O’Conner, a short-tempered lacrosse player who doesn’t have much patience for weakness. Among the castaways, he’s ready and willing to take the lead first, though his hot-headed approach might not appeal to everyone. A graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Alexander has appeared in The Matchmaker and Present Laughter. In 2019 he wrote, produced and starred in the short film Mother Dearest.
Gutierrez-Riley will play Ivan Taylor, an activist and aspiring playwright with an impeccable fashion sense and a razor-sharp wit. But his words can be cutting, sometimes too deeply, which has cost him friends along the way. The actor will appear in Leah Bleich’s The Moon and Back. The Wilds marks his television debut. He is represented by One Entertainment.
Shannon will take on Scotty Simms. Short in stature but big in personality, Scotty’s a fast-talking teenage entrepreneur from the Florida panhandle who dreams of making the Forbes 400 list one day. And by his side always, both in life and on the island, is his best friend Bo. Shannon’s credits include Blaze and the Monster Machines, Canal Street, Station 19, School of Rock, Speechless and Henry Danger. Shannon is represented by Danny Estrada at Trillion Management and Bonnie Shumofsky Bloom at Stewart Talent.
Rook will portray Scotty’s best friend Bo Leonard. Bo is a soft-spoken, contemplative teenager, also from the Florida panhandle. He has a naively optimistic outlook on life, despite a difficult upbringing, and he’d gladly lie down in the street for his best friend Scotty. His loyalty knows almost no bounds. Rook is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Los Angeles, where received his Associates Degree in performing arts.
Lastly Fitzalan will play Seth Novak, who is naturally funny, Ivy-League smart, and full of charisma. Though he doesn’t necessarily aspire to a leadership role, Seth’s steadiness and sense of humor win him the respect and loyalty of the others, except for his step-brother Henry who clearly has issues with him. An Australia native, Fitzalan made his U.S. screen debut with Sony Screen Gems’ Slender Man. He also appeared opposite Kathryn Newton in the Netflix series The Society. He also acted alongside Asa Butterfield in the Quibi feature Grey Cloud Island as part of their 50 States of Fright series.