Exclusive Interview: Will Yun Lee Chats The Girl in the Woods, The Good Doctor S5, and the Power of Representation

For more than three decades, Will Yun Lee has captivated audiences with the dynamic characters he’s brought to life in projects including True Blood, Hawaii Five-0, Witchblade, Altered Carbon, and dozens more.

This fall, he stars as one of the leads of Crypt TV and Peacock’s must-see new series The Girl in the Woods.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Will about The Girl in the Woods, The Good Doctor Season 5, and the power of representation.

PC: Tell us about The Girl in the Woods and your character in the series.
Will: The Girl in the Woods is a fun ride with this unlikely group of monster slayers. That’s how I would encapsulate it in a quick sentence. It’s a fun show. I rarely get to do a fun show. It’s always either really dark or very wordy, but this is pure fun. There are a lot of things that are woven in organically like inclusion, diversity, and the LGBTQ community. It’s really cool to see this story told through types of characters who historically have been used as side characters or characters who live on the edge of the frame. They’re pushed right to the center. You’ve got monsters and a bunch of cool teenagers chasing after them.

I play a character named Arthur Deane. He’s the head warrior of this colony in a world where monsters are real. He has a relationship with the lead character, Carrie [Stefanie Scott], who goes on this journey. These are two characters that are broken on the inside. They’re trying to find each other and trying to make sense of the world.

PC: You’ve done it all throughout your career. What was it about this particular project, script, and character that stood out to you?
Will: It was the humor. I saw the short with Kal Penn, and I thought this had a lot of potential. Shorts have certain restrictions, whether it’s budget or geography, but when I saw this I was like, “This is fun. This has a lot of potential.” The scripts were funny. There are monsters and there’s a thriller aspect to the show. The banter between the three lead characters felt real. It didn’t feel like a 55-year-old man from Glendale had written the dialogue for teenagers. It felt really hip and present. That’s what drew me the most to the show.

Plus, Krysten Ritter. I jumped on a Zoom with her. We were talking about possibly doing the show together. She had so much energy and passion. Ten minutes into the Zoom call and I was in. There’s nothing like getting onto set and hearing a director yell, “Cut,” then say, “That’s effing dope” or “That’s sick.” You feel safe and protected. You’re like, “Let’s get to work.”

PC: Arthur and Carrie have this really interesting dynamic within the series where they’ve gone from allies to enemies. How did you and Stefanie approach the dynamic between your two characters?
Will: It’s interesting because we shot this sequentially, so we got to play it out almost in real time. The shoot happened really fast. Each episode was a five-day shoot. It played out on camera in a weird way.

The thing that anchors my relationship with Carrie is love. As hard of a character as he is and the persona he carries, he’s doing this from a place of love. In my head, it’s about protecting the one person that I love. Unfortunately, I get put on an interesting mission by my seniors that conflicts with that.

PC: Krysten Ritter serves as an executive producer and she also directed the first four episodes. What was it like collaborating with her to bring this story to life? Is it a different experience when you’re working with a director who also acts?
Will: It’s always a different experience when you work with a director who acts, purely because they understand that sometimes you can say less when giving notes to an actor because you’re speaking the same language. She probably approached giving notes to me as if she was in my position, being on camera. I loved that. I love how shorthand it becomes in terms of notes. That’s what I’ve usually found with directors who are also actors.

PC: Throughout your career, you’ve championed more diverse and inclusive storytelling, and projects like The Girl in the Woods push that movement forward. How did you discover your voice as an advocate? Have you felt that shift in the industry?
Will: It’s been a long road. I started in 1997. I would say 75% to 85% of my career, I got stuck in a bubble. I would say as an Asian American actor, for the longest time, you had five to six roles a year to audition for that were substantial enough to put money on the table so that you could eat, turn your lights on, and not have to get a second job. There are thousands of actors who are competing for those spots. Unfortunately, those spots inhabited two worlds: that of the gangster or the technician. We cut to a few years ago and the needle is slowly moving.

Shows like this show us exactly where we are right now, as long as the things that we’re fighting for are ingrained in the story as opposed to being about the story. I jokingly say that I’ve been in every CSI or Law & Order episode that involves Chinatown, but I truly have. I’ve been in every one of those because they were Asian-specific episodes like some crime happened in Chinatown. What I find with shows like Girl in the Woods or The Good Doctor is that we get to live in the world as people and we happen to be Asian. I feel like progress is slowly starting to happen.

PC: What advice would you give the next generation of storytellers that are coming up?
Will: The new voices that are coming up are so much more talented than I am, so I wouldn’t necessarily give them advice.

It would be for the generation that is thinking about entering the business as writers and as executives, especially as Asian Americans. People from my parents’ generation were either going to be doctors or lawyers. We were stuck in this category and we were too scared to say, “Dad, mom, I want to go to performing arts school. I want to be an actor. I want to be a singer. I want to be an artist.” That would be my only piece of advice: “Put your hands over your ears, close your eyes, and move forward.”

PC: Speaking of inclusive and diverse storytelling, there are so many timely themes within this series. Was there one in particular that hit home for you?
Will: It was the magic of keeping it invisible with regards to gender identity. Keeping it invisible in the sense that the story isn’t about that. The story is about chasing monsters and it’s about protecting the world. To be able to make you feel like this is the world that we live in, the story isn’t focused on all these political or social issues. It’s just ingrained in the story in a fun way. There are so many times where I think about when Misha [Osherovich] is putting on the pink Ray-Bans and there’s this fun music playing. It’s just the way everything was incorporated. That was the most special part of doing this show. I can’t emphasize it enough. Once it’s normalized, then we’ve actually moved forward.

PC: Is there a scene in particular that you’re really excited for your fans to see?
Will: There’s a fight scene. I haven’t done a fight scene since Altered Carbon was canceled a year ago, so this was my first fight scene in a while. I have a fight scene with one of the main characters, I’ll leave it at that.

PC: In addition to The Girl in the Woods, you are also starring in The Good Doctor. Season 5 is airing now. What can you tease about what’s ahead for your character?
Will: We never really know. We get the scripts maybe two weeks in advance. But my relationship with Fiona Gubelmann’s character grows. My relationship with Freddie Highmore’s character grows. I get to work on a few more cases. I’ve actually moved up in the world a little bit. I’m doing more of my own surgeries.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling?
Will: Honestly, it’s been through the new generation of Asian American filmmakers and writers that are coming out. When I saw Justin Chan’s movies, I was so inspired. I was like, “Wow, this is amazing.” This indie movement that I knew in the ’90s and ’00s is coming back in a very beautiful and poignant way.

I always wanted to tell stories that were slightly different, so I started a company called Seoul Street. We are focusing on finding these gems of Asian American writers that sometimes are having a hard time going through the normal routes. It’s an interesting time to be in because all I want to do is meet as many writers as I can for different things that we’re putting together.

We have a show now based in Hawaii. It’s a true crime story in Hawaii that will celebrate a lot of things that haven’t been celebrated about the Hawaiian culture, and we get to do it in a fun way.

There’s a story we’re doing with Kevin Hart’s company called Lions in the Garden. It’s about the true story of my family and one of the first all African American fight teams. We have a couple more. It’s an exciting period.

Regarding your question, I don’t know what would be the one thing. It would be the accumulation of watching all these guys who are from the next generation ahead of me surpassing all our wildest dreams in films like Crazy Rich Asians, Snake Eyes, Shang-Chi. It’s pretty cool to see.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success throughout your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Will: I was brave enough to not listen to my parents and left a very safe career. When we premiered Die Another Day, I was in England at the red carpet. I couldn’t believe the Queen was there. It was such a grand experience. Then you come back to the realities of our struggles.

It’s a long journey. I would say the moment is now because I’m actually in a place where I’m able to take care of my family. I’m able to turn on the lights. It’s everything that I dreamed of. I still go to set and I go crazy in the morning to get my coffee. I can’t believe, even at five a.m., that I get to do this. I don’t know if it’s one moment.

To keep up with Will, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch The Girl in the Woods on Peacock.

Photo Credit: Bjoern Kommerell