Gentry

SPOILER ALERT: This piece spoils Season 2 of My Life With the Walter Boys which is now streaming on Netflix.

My Life With the Walter Boys has galloped back onto Netflix with its second season, and Ashby Gentry’s Alex Walter returns after a transformative — in more ways than one — summer training in rodeo riding.

The opening scene of Season 2 sees Cole Walter (Noah LaLonde) pick up his younger brother from the bus back home from Montana, plunging viewers right back into the tension between the two counterparts of the show’s main love triangle. Add Nikki Rodriguez’s Jackie back into the mix, and the show is off to the races, but this isn’t Alex’s first rodeo, as he and Jackie were together romantically last season before she abruptly left to go back to New York.

“With those changes in Season 2, I think it makes Alex a genuine contender for Jackie, which is important because the show is, to some degree, a love triangle, and you want to believe both possibilities. At the same time too, it’s a testament to his confidence and his personal growth in response to the breakup that he went through or the trauma, whatever you want to call it,” Gentry told Deadline of Alex’s glow up and new attitude this season. “I think he needs the confidence to put what happened behind him and really go after her, because he loves her. The façade enables him to act authentically in a weird way. If he didn’t have this ‘glow up,’ quote, unquote, with rodeo, and if he wasn’t manufacturing a more conventionally masculine appearance, perhaps he never would find the courage to pursue what he really wants, which is to be with her. I think it’s as simple as that. I think that’s why he goes after her is he just still loves her, and that’s it. I think if he could help it, he probably would. [It’s] certainly not convenient.

In the below interview, Gentry unpacks his research into saddle bronc riding, which Alex takes up in Season 2, how he balanced Alex’s new confidence with the care and compassion he showed in Season 1, the dynamic between Alex and his riding coach Blake Hartford (Natalie Sharp) and more.

DEADLINE: What would you say you learned from playing Alex in the first season, and what did you want to bring to the role in Season 2 that we didn’t get to see in season one?

ASHBY GENTRY: Doing this show feels, in a way like grad school, for me. I went to acting school, so I have a basic understanding of ways of approaching this. But I’ve said before, there’s no class [about] how to be on a TV show, and most of my teachers have never been on one, so Season 1 was just a learning curve of how to go to set every day, how to prepare, how to hang out, how to go out on the weekend and not have it ruin everything. Little things that.

 In Season 2, with regards to my process, so to speak, I wanted to prioritize taking care of myself a little bit more, because so much of Season 2 and what happens hinges on this physical transformation, so I had to be really careful about sleeping. [Laughs]. And eating and watching my skin. I’m so conditioned to not pay attention to those things because typically, working as an actor, one wants to be unself-conscious, and usually you want to put your vanity aside, so it was really difficult to work on this season where the vanity was a part of the story so much. That was a really big learning curve. I’m grateful to have gotten to do that because I feel like it has set me up for success in future roles where I do have a physical transformation or something like that. I’m ready for the American Psycho thing. I’m set up by Walter Boys Season 2.

DEADLINE: Did you have input on Alex’s glow up? How do you feel like that added to his overall arc this season?

GENTRY: I didn’t have input, though I was in charge of it, which is great. That’s what I get paid for. It’s so funny to have so many people earnestly ask me about a glow-up. It’s a real talking point. I met with our showrunner a few weeks before shooting, and she said, “You’re going to have a glow up.” And I said, “What?” We discussed different things that were gonna happen, and a lot of it was just treating Alex like a real object of desire. That was not how he was written in Season 1. If you read the scripts, there is a very clear difference between how [Alex and Cole are] both described. I believe the words used for Cole getting out of the pool were literally “Water drips off his perfect, nearly naked body.” I feel so much empathy for Noah [LaLonde] for having to handle that pressure. That was not at all how I was described in the show, and so I didn’t view him as this serious, conventional object of desire, more as like an object of admiration.

DEADLINE: That first scene where you step off the bus and Noah/Cole is there to pick you up. How do you feel like that scene situates their bond for season two and that tension that’s still there between them?

GENTRY: First of all, that bus was scary, too. There were some close calls on that bus, but it was cool. It was really old school, but it was a weird road we were shooting on. Everybody was safe.

I think Alex is suspicious of [Cole], as he always has been. It’s sort of like the scene where Cole and Jack are by the fire [in Season 1], and Alex comes in and looks at them. He doesn’t necessarily see anything happen, but he’s super suspect. I don’t know if that will go away, and they’ve been through a lot together. It’s funny to watch Noah in that scene because he’s so chill, and that’s just so Cole to be, to be Mr. Hollywood. And Alex doesn’t give a sh*t about maintaining the appearance as much.

DEADLINE: For those bronc riding scenes, did you train to do that? I know you have stunt doubles. I saw that in the credits. How much of that did you get to do?

GENTRY: I spent the hiatus [between seasons] researching all that stuff, which is honestly so cool when it’s done well, it looks beautiful. We had talked in Season 1 about making Alex a bronc rider because a lot of the drivers on our show and a lot of the crew in Calgary are rodeo people. And I would ask them, “Hey, if you got your heart broken, what rodeo sport would you do?” And they [said], “Saddle bronc riding.” So I told [showrunner] Melanie [Halsall] “Hey, what if we made him a bronc rider? What do you think about that?” She was like, “Oh, that’s a good idea.” So I researched a lot of it over summer, how to do it and stuff, but when it comes to actually doing it, I’m not allowed, technically, to do any of it while we’re shooting. What I did do is — this was [director] Jason [Priestley’s] idea. He put me on a bucking machine, and they turned it up to, like a four or five, and I would stay on there so he could get tight coverage on me, and you’re only supposed to be on there for eight seconds.

I remember the second time we shot it, I was on there for like two, three minutes, and I was just about ready to fall off when he called cut. I was like, “Holy sh*t.” There are muscles that they work out that I didn’t even know existed. I was so sore that I had to — I’m not even joking — I literally had to pick my leg up to step into my trailer after I got done. And then he didn’t even use it! Classic Jason. He did use the first time I ever was on the bucking machine. We work with a lot of professional saddle bronc riders, full-time saddle bronc riders that ride in the NFR and the Calgary stampede and everything. They’re in the background, and they’re doing the stunts and stuff. So it’s really like working with NFL-level athletes, and it’s really cool. I learned a lot from them, and it’s such a unique world that I otherwise would not have gotten to step into.

DEADLINE: Blake [Hartford], Alex’s bronc-riding coach, provides some competition for Jackie, but Alex can’t move on from her. How does that factor into your arc for Season 2 especially given what happens at the end. Is there still a chance for them to be together?

GENTRY: I hope so. I love Blake and Alex. I think they’re so cute. Natalie [Sharp], who plays Blake, is so great. She’s so fun to work with. I would like to see them together, just to get more of her. Blake provides Alex an opportunity to mature in more ways than one, and maybe even faster than he’s ready to mature. I grit my teeth watching him fumble [his shot with] Blake, because I love Blake, but he’s not over Jackie.

Hopefully, in a future season. He’s kinda got a lot of options. There’s this one background actress who he’s with throughout the show that we don’t even know who that is. Who’s that? [He’s] also got Maria played by Riele Downs, who’s also amazing. I’m very fortunate I work with a lot of great actresses.

DEADLINE: Even in the end, when you’re at the final competition, and Alex gets the the role Blake’s dad’s team, that, chemistry is still there. Your wink at her towards the end makes it seem like it’s not over.

GENTRY: No I don’t think so. I was nervous about that wink when I did it. I remember doing it being like, “Oh, people are gonna say on Tiktok that this gives the ick,” or whatever it was. I was like, “Oh, God.” I made several jokes about that while we were shooting.

DEADLINE: There’s also Kiley (Mya Lowe), too. Does Alex at all have any idea that she likes him?

GENTRY: I feel like he wouldn’t because he usually does something when he knows. Which is a testament to Alex. I was talking with someone, but they made the point that sometimes they felt like, Alex just kind of got to Jackie first, and that’s why she was with him, which may be true, may be not true, but he did get to her first. He does move quick, so I feel like if he did have any inkling of a feeling for Kiley, he would act on it. That’s my guess. Same with her, I think, because both of them have been confronted about it, and they both denied it. I don’t know if we’ll see that or not.

DEADLINE: He comes to her aid in a time she really needs him at the end of Season 2. Does he realize how his behavior has affected her and their friendship?

GENTRY: That scene was so fun to shoot because we were in this small apartment, and it felt like we were in a different show for a second, which is always fun. I would like to say he gets it, but if you watch it, the way he the way he acknowledges it is very like nonchalantly, which I don’t know if that was a choice on their part. There were definitely takes in there that were much more remorseful, where it was like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that.” But this the take they went with was one where he’s kind of like, “Oh, bummer. Sorry about that.” Alex is so funny because he’s such a contradiction. He’s supposed to be the smart, sensitve, sweet guy, and yet he’s such an idiot and such a boy sometimes. So maybe that, maybe that’s what took over in that moment.

DEADLINE: Alex and Jackie give it another shot at being together. What would you say was the turning point this season where he stops being mad and starts to think maybe they could work? She finds his horse Murphy, which seems to spark some things.

GENTRY: You totally reminded me of that. I forgot about that whole part of the show, which is a huge thing for Alex. That’s actually one of my favorite scenes in the whole show, is when, firstly, when she finds the horse in the forest, walks it back, and then he sees the horse through the window and then runs out to her. That feels like one of the moments of the show where it almost breaks tone, where it almost feels like a different show than the typical Walter Boys that you see. I think that moment is so genuine on all parts where it’s like Sarah [Rafferty], Nikki [Rodriguez] and myself are all really experiencing this joy that this family member, which is Murphy, has returned. I love the moment where Alex hugs Jackie and realizes what he’s doing.

DEADLINE: I was going to ask you specifically about the hug.

GENTRY: I think the turning point probably happens before, given that he fumbles Blake, and then they have that whole exchange before the barn catches on fire. That would indicate that he’s clearly realized he’s not over Jackie prior to that. I think what causes him to take action is her returning the horse because maybe his love language is acts of service or something. That really means a lot to him.

DEADLINE: Jackie brings Alex a sci-fi/fantasy book, and he says ‘I’m not into that anymore.’ Then he’s reading it later on and explaining it to a bunch of girls. The broader question is how does she maybe crack through the façade, if you will, that he puts up, and how does she bring the real him back?

GENTRY: There’s this French guy, Jacques Lacan, who talks about authenticity and fantasy and reality and the real me, the fake me, and all that stuff. His whole point is that even the fake me is the real me, like the parts of me that I present as facade are authentic to me. So it’s like I fake it in a way that’s real to me. And I think a lot of Alex’s façade is a true manifestation of his authentic confidence, and also an act that he puts up to deflect his real feelings for Jackie. Honestly, it’s like a merging of those two things.

DEADLINE: Alex and Nathan’s relationship sheds another light on Alex. They share a room, but this season when Nathan gets into his drama, Alex has some good advice for him. How does that reflects back onto him?

GENTRY: It’s important that we see that these people are all siblings. It’s huge. Most of them get the privilege of being an older and younger sibling in some way. A lot of the times with Cole, we see that little brother side of Alex come into fruition, whereas with Nathan, you witness him being an older brother and a caretaker, which I think he does really well, and you don’t see that as much with Jackie, which is unfortunate. There were some scenes in Season 1 that [saw] Alex behave more as a caretaker of Jackie, but some of them got cut, and you sort of just witnessed them being in love together. But I’d like to think that’s a true part of himself as well.

DEADLINE: In the last moments of the finale, Jackie and Cole have a moment, and then Alex hears what she says to Cole. Then there’s the whole George cliffhanger. What do you think that spells out for them in Season 3, and what’s going through his head in those final moments?

GENTRY: It’s so interesting. I mean, I know the answer to both of those. I think with regards to what’s going through his head, what’s funny is there was a portion of that scene that was longer, that was cut down, so you got to witness an initial reaction to that news, and that was taken out and left for a later date. I think what was going through his head was, “What the f*ck?” I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that. I don’t know how you slice it any other way. That’s probably what I would be thinking, and anybody else who lives on planet Earth would probably be thinking that.

What do I think it spells out for them? I mean, they clearly have a bigger problem, right? There’s an ambulance pulling up to their house. I think it spells out an issue of priority. It’s like, which thing are we going to deal with first? I could probably weigh in on what the more important thing is at the time, but who knows? I feel like audiences will agree that it feels like there’s a reckoning that needs to take place between these three. If they never talked about it, that’d be crazy. That would be an insane way to handle the show. Other than that, you’ll have to wait and see, but it’s really good.

DEADLINE: Production on Season 3 has begun. What can you tease about that and working on it?

GENTRY: Firstly, it feels so like home, and every time we come back, it feels like a week has gone by, and we’re just right back into it. The thought of having to walk away forever at some point is devastating. It’s interesting filming any season, because I tend to take on the feelings of the character maybe a little more than, I think sometimes. Like when I was doing Season 1 and 2 at the end, I remember feeling quite sad on top of everything ending and you wrap, and you don’t know if you’ll see each other again. It hurts for real. It’s real feelings that we’re using here. Real bodies, real people, real feelings.

All I can really say about Season 3 as of right now is that I really like it. I really like what they’re doing. I didn’t necessarily expect everything — and I never do — but I like it. We come back and we’re like, “Oh, wow, okay, glow up,” or whatever, but it’s so fun. I’m really pleased with everything, and I’m really excited to finish up. I mean, we’re not even close to being done. We have quite a bit more to do.