Ashby Gentry on the Evolution of Alex Walter and Season 2 of My Life With the Walter Boys
My Life With the Walter Boys was an instant phenomenon when it hit Netflix at the end of 2023.
The series brought to life Ali Novak's hit coming-of-age Wattpad novel of the same name, following a 15-year-old girl named Jackie Howard and her move to Silver Falls, Colorado, after the death of her family in a car accident. She's coping not just with their loss, but the loss of her comfortable life in New York City—and to top it all off, she's moved in with the Walters, a family with seven sons and one daughter. Of course romantic sparks are bound to fly, leaving Jackie in the middle of a love triangle between brothers, the charming and popular Cole (Noah LaLonde) and the bookish and thoughtful Alex (Ashby Gentry).
Through Jackie and Alex started dating in the first season, she also grew closer and closer to Cole all the while, and the finale ended with Alex confessing his love for her, only for Jackie to not say it back. She then decides to leave them both behind in Colorado, returning to New York. Only now will we finally get the chance to see where the story heads next. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere on Aug. 28, he had the pleasure of catching up with Alex himself, Ashby Gentry, to find out his thoughts on the story so far and his partnership with Invisalign, and to catch some clues as to what to expect in the next episodes.
Sweety High: When did you first discover your passion for performing? From there, when did you realize this is what you wanted to do with your life?
Ashby Gentry: I think I've always known I wanted to be an actor, but I never got around to it. My first impulses were probably during the summers when I was a kid watching Lord of the Rings on my couch. I knew you had to have a job—I've been class conscious since day one—but I didn't know you could do acting for the job. I was like, "Oh, wow! Well, if I can do that, then I'm totally doing that." I started in high school, and I've been getting lucky ever since.
(Image courtesy of Invisalign)
Also read about: Everything You Wanted to Know About My Life With the Walter Boys Actor Isaac Arellanes
SH: Was there one character or storyline in The Lord of the Rings that really captured your imagination and inspired that dream?
AG: I'm actually a huge Lord of the Rings fan, which is crazy. When I was growing up, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars were my things. I still have huge boxes of action figures for both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.
When I ended up playing Alex in Season 1, and he's a big Lord of the Rings and Star Wars fan, I was like, man, this oddly works out really well, because I don't even have to do anything here. I'm re-reading one of the Lord of the Rings books right right now. I love all of that stuff.
It was really about the whole experience, and I think, and truly, it was probably New Zealand—looking at all of the landscapes in New Zealand and thinking, wow! You get to be there doing that, and you get paid. Crazy.
And it's not dissimilar to our experience in Calgary, where it's so beautiful. Nothing in Walter Boys is green screen. Everything, even the stuff that looks green screen. You're like, oh, that's got to be green screen. It's not green screen! It's all just the the Albertan wilderness. It was just clocking the experience that they had to have in order to produce that work—that somebody had to make this. I wanted to be one of the people that that gets to do that.
SH: How similar do you feel like you are to to Alex? In what ways are you similar, and different? Is there possibly another Walter boy you relate to more than Alex?
AG: I think I got a little bit of every Walter boy in there. With regards to Alex, I think his drive, and his passion and lust for life, I share, because I think Alex is such a carpe diem-type dude. He loves life and the people in it, and I share that.
If there was another Walter boy that I was close to, I'd want to say, Danny, because of the acting thing, but the way Danny manifests, I don't think we're alike at all. I actually think, he and I are so far apart.
I think there's a little Cole. I'm kind of a mix between Alex and Cole—that's probably the most accurate. Which is cool. I like Cole. Cole's fun.
(Image courtesy of Invisalign)
Also read about: 96 Memorable Quotes From Seasons 1 and 2 of My Life With the Walter Boys as Captions
SH: Do you feel that, in filming the second season, you've understood Alex better and embodied him differently?
AG: I definitely embodied him differently. Do I understand him better? Sometimes. It was more challenging to film the second season than the first, for sure, which is weird, because I feel like he's so much more like me in the second season. In the first season, it felt like stretch, but this season, maybe because he's so similar to me, it was really challenging. I think it was tough to understand what elements to keep and what elements to discard, and so much of working as an actor is understanding the assignment, and getting really clear on what that was this year was difficult. It was challenging but I'm happy with it. There is a big change. When Season 2 comes out, jump back and forth between Season 1 Alex and Season 2 Alex, like I do. I think it's actually really crazy how different it is.
SH: Can you tell us about your work with Invisalign?
AG: I first worked with Invisalign at my doctor's recommendation, because my doctor knew I was an actor and knew that they'd be faster than traditional braces, so it would be a more seamless transition into working, into press, into photo shoots and all of that stuff. I'm really happy. It definitely made me feel more confident in my smile, and just generally. I think it also shows up in the show quite, quite drastically. There's a scene I was watching the other day. I can't spoil it, but there's a big smile, and I was like—that's the Invisalign.
(Image courtesy of Invisalign)
SH: The first season ended with a lot of drama, including a major love confession. What can we expect from the second season as we jump back into the love triangle?
AG: You could probably guess! But while you can guess what will happen, in some ways, there's some stuff that happens in Season 2 that'll have you going, "What!?" I think it's the form that it takes that you might be surprised about. I don't think you can quite anticipate how things play out in the second season, which is cool, because it keeps you on your toes. You definitely want to know what happens next.
Also read about: Jade LeMac Revisits Her Hit Song 'Constellations' and Its Continued Success
SH: Was there a memorable, spoiler-free moment from filming Season 2 you can share with us?
AG: Here's a funny thing that happened. I don't know if I've shared this yet, but we were filming in a town called High River and I was finished up for the day, but Nikki [Rodriguez] and Noah [LaLonde] and a few other cast were still working. I think it might have been a Friday night, and I decided to stay and hang around, and maybe after we'd go out and do something.
I had a I asked one of the drivers to drive me to this cookie shop in High River., because I figured I'd be nice and get everybody cookies on set. So I went to the cookie shop, and I said, "I'm just gonna buy whatever you have left."
She was like, "Oh, what show are you working on over there?" And I said, "My Life With the Walter Boys on Netflix." She goes, "Oh, my God, I love My Life With the Walter Boys!"
I looked at her, and I went… [Points at face] And she was like, "Oh, my God, you are Alex!" And then we like took pictures and everything. I thought that was really funny, because I was like, "I also love My Life With the Walter Boys a lot!"
SH: What has been your favorite fan reaction to the series so far?
AG: I've said this before, but I really like when people make fan edits to good songs. I'll send them to be my friends and be like, "This one hits, though." "This one's good." "I like this one."
I also didn't expect it to be so divisive. I'm not familiar with this game, you know. I didn't watch Vampire Diaries or Summer I Turned Pretty, or any of those love triangle shows, so I was not aware of how bloodthirsty people can be in this world.
On top of that, I like reading people's comments, because sometimes people are funny. Netflix posted a TikTok that I made when we went to the Calgary Stampede a week ago, and people were just like, "Why do they let Ashby do whatever he wants?" I think that's funny. What's funny is to watch people discover who you are. I always think that's so fascinating. I love entering new group settings because watching people's reaction to me is always so interesting because it's always been super varied. This just feels like that on a massive scale, where people are like, "Who is this?" Some people are like, "I love him," and some people are like, "I wish he would stop talking." I like that.
For more on My Life With the Walter Boys, click HERE to revisit our interview with Isaac Arellanes, who plays Isaac Garcia, in the show.