Zachary Levi Talks ‘Chuck,’ ‘Heroes Reborn,’ Mental Health, and More at Wizard World Chicago

Many people know Zachary Levi as Shazam, DC’s newest superhero to hit the big screen. But loyal fans like me have been following his career for years. From sarcastic desk jockey on Less Than Perfect to the lovably nerdy title character on Chuck, and even a hero-killing hitman on Heroes Reborn, Levi has made his way around the television landscape, and it seems he’s just getting started. 

While at Wizard World Chicago, Levi ran his panel slightly differently than most celebrity speakers. Instead of having a moderator ensuring things ran smoothly, the actor wanted to make himself completely accessible to fans, allowing them to ask any questions the moment he walked on stage.

He gamely answered any question that came his way, whether it was serious, funny, or just plain out-there, not only joking back with the audience, but he also offering relevant life lessons when appropriate. 

“I just want to keep open bridges of communication and the relationship with who I believe to be the producers of all entertainment — you guys are the producers of all entertainment,” Levi said of his decision to forego a moderator.

“You make things happen with the almighty dollar. When you go see our movies, you are saying ‘I like that person, I want more of them.’ And when you don’t go see our movies you are saying the opposite. So spend your money wisely,” he continued. 

One of the most popular topics during the panel was Chuck.

Levi admitted that role wasn’t much of a stretch for him: “With Chuck, I was just being me. It was like a documentary almost. I’m a big kid, there is a lot of me in there.”

Fans in the audience made it clear that when Chuck left the air so many years ago, they were not ready to say goodbye. This far removed from the finale, Levi feels that a revival season isn’t very likely.

“I appreciate that you want a full season, but it’s just too much to get everybody back together. Moreover, I don’t think it is really necessary, because I think every episode was its own mini-action movie,” Levi explained.

“”I think what we need to do every couple of years is make an hour and a half to two hours ‘Chuck Versus the Blank.’ I think the first one has to be ‘Chuck Versus The Movie’ — that absolutely has to happen,” he said.

“I love playing that role, and I love that entire cast and crew. They are special and very dear to me. I would love to get the band back together and do another deal, but no revival season,” he concluded.

Before letting him put the idea to rest, a persistent fan insisted Levi name a couple of actors who he would like to have star in a revival. Levi finally relented, suggesting, “I think Jean Claude Van Damme as one of the bads would be fun.”

“It would be cool to have the Rock in a Chuck movie — even if it’s just a glance of him walking by,” he went on. “There are so many people from all the movies I watched in the ’80s that I would love to get. […] That was one of the most fun parts of the show — the guest stars. I can’t believe that Scott Bacula is my dad and Linda Hamilton is my mom.”

In more recent years, Levi took his own turn to the dark side on screen, playing a villainous role in Heroes Reborn. And as many fans agree, it was great to see Levi play a character so far removed from the gun-shy Charles Bartowski — there was no way that Luke Collins was using blanks!

This departure from being the good guy reflected a bit on the darkness in his life at the time.

“It was a really interesting, enjoyable, and difficult experience, to be honest with you,” he told the audience. “I was going through a really hard time in my life — I was going through a divorce actually.”

“I was up in Toronto shooting that series. My former wife was from Vancouver, so we spent a lot of time in Toronto together. I was in this town, working and alone for the first time. I was looking around and everything reminded me of that pain. It was very difficult, but I tried to quite literally channel that into the character,” Levi shared.

“The character is suffering from this major loss and becomes a different part of himself. Then his wife goes on a killing spree, and they end up splitting from each other. The parallels between my life and the show were uncanny. It was a gnarly experience and it was a difficult thing to shoot,” Levi explained.

Before putting on the red tights as Shazam, Zachary Levi also starred in the Thor franchise and Psych: The Movie, which was based on the television series. Levi shared a rather interesting story of how he got involved in the latter project. 

“Dule and I knew each other through mutual friends. I started doing Nerd HQ, and we were looking for shows that were going to be at Comic Con that would want to do a panel with us. They were with us from the first time we invited them — that’s how I got to know that whole group of folks,” he said.

“They were trying to get me into the show. In the Psych episode “Psych: The Musical,” Z is named Z because that is the character they wrote for me, but I was doing Thor, and I couldn’t do it,” he continued.

But things didn’t end there: “I got a call from James [Roday] a few months later saying, ‘What are you doing in May?’ He proceeded to tell me they were doing the Psych movie and to keep it under my hat.”

Aside from being on television and in films, Levi has also starred on Broadway, even earning himself a Tony nomination for his role in She Loves Me. He told fans that it was an incredible experience for him he hopes to revisit someday. 

“I love being on stage. I can’t wait to get back to Broadway, or some stage — not even necessarily Broadway. I’d love to go back and do more theater as long as God allows me to keep living and working,” he said.

“The truth is, I don’t know that many different shows. I know the shows I’ve done in my life and the shows I’ve seen in my life. There are probably some great roles out there to revive that I don’t know of. She Loves Me was one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” Levi added.

This line of questioning then transitioned into the topic of Levi’s singing talent, which was also featured in the hit Disney movie Tangled. With a voice like his, it’s a wonder that the star hasn’t released an album yet. 

Truth be told, an album is actually in the works, and this excited fans immensely: “I have every intention of doing so.”

“I tried to do one last year — I was working with a producer and everything. He was very busy, and I was very busy,” Levi told us. “It’s scheduling more than anything in my life right now. I so badly want to get back into music.”

With his career heating up so much right now, it may be quite a while before he can give us the album we all want. As long as he doesn’t vanish altogether, I’ll be happy to see his face wherever I can.

Alongside all the questions about where the actor had been and where he is going to be next, there were a few that were a little out-of-the-box. One involved the actor’s favorite word. “On a deep, philosophical level, I would say my favorite word is ’empathy,'” he said.

The audience applauded that answer while Levi added, “It’s okay, you can applaud that. More than applaud that, let’s go live that. Let us ‘amen’ that by actually going and being love and kindness — embrace it!”

If the world needs more of anything right now, it is without a doubt empathy.&nbsp

While on this serious topic, Levi often delved into some serious life lessons that he has learned over the years and wanted to share with the fans. A lot of these dealt with the importance of self-love.

“We have got to love ourselves. When you look in the mirror in the morning, look at yourself, and tell yourself that you are worthy of love. You are so worthy of love,” Levi said. “Build on that, and as you start to feel stronger in your love, then you can love everyone around you so much more competently — so much more beautifully and wholly.”

Levi informed us he learned the importance of self-love through some life-saving therapy sessions. His struggle with mental health and depression once led him into a very dark place.

“I technically didn’t want to live anymore. I went to this place, and I figured out I didn’t understand a crucial part of life — which is self-love. If you don’t understand it, please go look into it — think about how you talk to yourself in your own mind,” Levi said.

“A lot of us are eviscerating ourselves all the time,” he continued. “We won’t eviscerate other people, we will be kind and cordial. You show patience, and you show love, but how do you talk to yourself? Based on the way I talked to myself — I hated myself.”

“What you achieve in this world, what you own, has nothing to do with your worth. You are infinitely valuable. The world is not on your shoulders — it’s not,” he said.

The conviction in his voice as he spoke these words proved how powerful and transforming they were to him. It was obvious this lesson was not wasted on him, and that he needed to spread the love to other people.

As the panel wrapped up, Levi wanted everyone to know what his next move was going to be. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with being on stage, or getting back into singing, or anything like that. His next step is giving back.

“I want to go and make a better world. I want to go and make my own version of Disney World, where people can go and not just have fun, but also live better lives,” he said. “Ever since I was a little kid, God gave me a lot of empathy. I felt so deeply about fairness and justice. It’s an incredible superpower — I see things and I want them to be the better version of what they are.”

“My motto is if it can be better, then it should be better. The people that have the money and the power in this world, that’s their f*cking job to do it. So that’s what I want in the world,” Levi concluded.

The crowd erupted into applause at these words, realizing that Levi not only acts as a superhero on the big screen, but also has the heart of one as well.

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