Reed Horstmann Talks ‘The Villains of Valley View’ [Interview]

Please note this interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AGTRA strike, on Tuesday, June 11th.

Whether playing Jake Madden on The Villains of Valley View or Stick Goldstein on The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia, actor Reed Horstmann puts his heart into every character he portrays.

The Villains of Valley View Season 2 has given more focus to Jake and Amy’s sibling relationship, allowing Horstmann the chance to stand out amongst his peers. Jake has shed some of his naivety and has shown us a glimpse of what kind of hero he can be. After all, he is the family member with the most desire to do good.

We had a few questions for Horstmann about his work on the series and what we can look forward to from the rest of the season.

Tell-Tale TV: What’s the best part about working on The Villains of Valley View?

Reed Horstmann: That’s always such a hard question because there’s so much I love about working on Villains. If I had to sum it up to one thing, though, it’s the people. From cast to crew, The Villains of Valley View has become a family in the fullest sense of the word. We are all so supportive of each other, and every day I end up laughing harder than I ever have.

It’s rare that a work environment is this welcoming, caring, and collaborative. I have to give credit to our showrunners, Chris Peterson and Bryan Moore, because it was really them that set the tone for all of us way back when we filmed the pilot episode.

Tell-Tale TV: Jake and Starling seemed like they were going to make it as a classic couple, but the relationship was cut short a few episodes later. What’s your reaction to that? Can we hope for more Starling and Jake scenes in the future?

Horstmann: It was interesting to see the development of that storyline as it progressed through Season 1. It started as Jake’s secret gratitude for Starling’s actions while she was primarily Amy’s nemesis. As the season went on, however, the unique twists and turns of how Jake and Starling’s relationship affected his family made it very interesting for us, as actors, to try to theorize how things were going to end up for them.

Their decision to call it off for the sake of protecting the family, I think, was ultimately a very mature decision that fit within Jake’s character wholeheartedly. Despite his disagreement with his family regarding how to go about their lives, his sole motivation will always be in the defense and protection of his family — even if it means going against what he wants.

Jake has always been the character that’s comfortable making the self-sacrificial play to help his family. As far as the future goes, you’ll have to keep tuning in to find out! Season 2 was a big one of self-discovery as well as questioning for Jake. He finds himself in a position where he takes a look back on the path he’s been going down since Season 1 and begins to wonder who it is he really wants to be.

Tell-Tale TV: If you had Jake’s super strength for one day, what is the first thing you would do? 

Horstmann: Oh man, I wish I had thought about this before! Jake is always the character who uses his powers much more sparingly than the rest of his family. I like to think it’s because he’s so strong that he knows if he didn’t hold himself back, then things would shatter like glass at his touch. It’s a double-edged sword to his strength.

For me, though, the first thing I would do is probably the same that he did in the very first episode, just use it around the house to make my life easier while doing chores. 

Tell-Tale TV: This season is taking extra time to explore the dynamics between Amy and Jake. Have these interactions caused you to learn anything about yourself and your relationships?

Horstmann: Oh absolutely. From the beginning of the series, Izzy and I already had a bit of a sibling relationship going. This only progressed throughout the filming of Season 1.

In Season 1, however, we see a lot of conflict between the two siblings as their interests often clashed with each other.

In the second season, a new sense of understanding has grown between the two of them. While they still have their rivalries with each other, there are many more scenes of them coming together and actually growing as people and acknowledging their mistakes.

For the two of us, those scenes are always the most fun to film, because she and I really thrive in acting environments that are much more grounded and real. In the process of doing these scenes together, I think we’ve both grown tremendously as actors in how well we’ve learned to be present, listen to each other, and take cues from each other to make these episodes really shine for audiences.

Tell-Tale TV: Have you done any kind of training for the fight scenes?

Horstmann: I am someone who always takes any kind of stunt scene with seriousness, both for the sake of safety and believability for the audience. This season, we were given a lot more access to these types of scenes as a result of really pushing to prove we could do them in Season 1.

For Season 2, there are quite a few where Jake finally sees combat. With that, I worked very hard with our amazing stunt coordinators, Danny Wayne and Joe Perez, to make sure that what I was doing was as believable as possible.

We would put in serious hours choreographing, rehearsing, and performing these scenes at full speed to make sure that when we put it on camera, it’s the best it could possibly be. Granted, I am still learning, but I have a lot of enthusiasm to continue to do so as we’re given more in future seasons. 

Tell-Tale TV: What’s been your favorite or most memorable scene to shoot so far?

Horstmann: It’s always weird for us to look back on after completing a season because you kind of forget with each passing episode. We have to sort of let the last week go in our memory to make room for all the content that’s coming in for the following week. However, there are a few that stand out from the season as a whole.

Most of them I can’t expose yet for the sake of spoilers, but I will say probably one of my favorites was the fight scene I got to do with Izzy for the dojo episode. She had been instigating a fight between us since the first season and was absolutely elated when they finally gave it to us within the first five episodes of Season 2. I can’t tell you how many times we rehearsed that and really just had a blast with the choreography.

Tell-Tale TV: The characters seem to have grown quite a bit since the first season. Where do you feel Jake has grown the most?

Horstmann: I think, like I mentioned before, Jake’s at a bit of a crossroads right now; similar to how he was at the beginning of Season 1. Only this time, Jake may be starting to question this road he’s on.

In the second season, there are MAJOR events within his own family that cause his confidence to shake in his path to being a better person. Even outside of that, we see Jake really coming out of his shell to try new things and experience the fun parts of normal life now that the pressures from Season 1 are behind him.

Tell-Tale TV: Is there anything you can tease about the upcoming episodes?

Horstmann: I will say, because this one doesn’t contain any story spoilers, there is an episode towards the middle of Season 2 that took place when I was starting to play with my band outside of work, and I believe the writers took notice. So, there may or may not be an episode soon where we get to see Jake perform with his sister.

Tell-Tale TV: If Jake had his own spinoff series, what would you like it to be about?

Horstmann: Someone asked the same question to the entire cast while we were filming, and we all answered differently. For Jake, I really feel like there isn’t a world out there where he’s not close with his siblings, especially Amy. I think if there’s more story down the road as they’ve grown up and finished school, they’d still be trying to take on the world in their own ways, only this time they would support each other rather than compete with each other.

Tell-Tale TV: What Marvel characters would you like to see The Maddens face off with?

Horstmann: This is always fun to think about, especially as the world of MCU gets ever wider every year. I think I’d like to see the Maddens go head to head with a lot of the newer characters coming into the fold with recent projects that are similar in age to the Madden kids; this could be Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop or Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez.

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*Featured image credit: Rowan Daly

The Villains of Valley View airs Thursdays at 8/7 on Disney Channel.

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