Leonardo Nam Explores the Method to His Madness as Maddox in “Descendants: Wicked Wonderland”

As Maddox Hatter in Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, Leonardo Nam demonstrates that there is a method to his madness in his character’s portrayal. “I needed to justify my character, Maddox, becoming mad and choosing his madness over his son and over anything else,” Nam shared in an exclusive interview with EnVi via Zoom.

Descendants: Wicked Wonderland takes place immediately after its predecessor, Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024). After main characters Chloe (Malia Baker) and Red (Kylie Cantrall) finish traveling through time, they return to an alternate reality of Auradon — with one notable change being a shift in Maddox Hatter’s personality.

Maddox was previously a beloved character who served as the Queen of Hearts’ royal inventor-in-chief and was a former science teacher at Wonderland High. He was Red’s mentor figure and confidant in The Rise of Red, often guiding her through her own set of obstacles. After witnessing his younger self accidentally stumble across his invention, the pocket watch (which was used by Red and Chloe to time travel in the first film), Maddox becomes — for lack of a better word — mad. Driven by an obsession to find the pocket watch, he seeks revenge on the Queen of Hearts for banishing him to the Isle of the Lost.

Forging A Path in Maddox’s Altered Identity

Nam was up for the challenge of managing such a drastic personality switch. “For me as an actor, I love anything that’s going to stretch and [that] gives you something new to play and do,” he said. “I love being able to dive into that because in the first film, I knew that my character [was] really the mentor with a heart goal…so I knew going into the second film that I wanted audiences to continue to root for Maddox, but I needed to also fulfill the story.”

This shift not only led to Maddox becoming the story’s central adversary, but also to his own son Max (Brendon Tremblay) becoming a VK (Villain Kid) and reluctantly having to band with Chloe and Red to defeat his father’s vengeful ways. Nam is a father himself, and for this role, he looked deeply at his own experiences to see how he wanted his role to be depicted. “Now that I’m a dad, my lens of any character or anything I do really kind of is going to be built through that reality that I have,” Nam shared.

While Maddox and Max rarely interact in Wicked World, Nam expressed a desire to strengthen their bond by building on his real-life dynamic with Tremblay. “One thing I knew I wanted to do very early onwards [was] to build an organic relationship with Brendon, who plays Max, because I thought that’s going to be key. Even though we don’t necessarily have scenes together, we have that flashback scene, which was actually added a little bit later in production. I definitely use a lot of the ways in which I either want to parent or how I know I don’t want to parent (…) when I was rehearsing a lot.”

Throughout the movie, viewers see Maddox sink farther into madness. However, Nam points to Maddox’s behavior as a manifestation of the hurt he feels within.  “He was so down that rabbit hole [of] madness…so I played with the different colors and shades of Maddox when he’s hurt, or jealous, and rageful, and tried to look at what that initial hurt was.”

Nam’s main goal for fans and casual viewers of the franchise is that they grasp the importance of growth and the possibility of second chances. “I really hope audiences [leave] with the feeling [that] they’re still rooting for me, they’re still rooting for Maddox, and that they can still believe that the good-hearted guy is in there, and that he too, even in this other universe, is going to get a second chance.”

Nam Draws on Acting Even When Singing

The movies in the Descendants franchise, in addition to retelling famous fairytale narratives, are also musicals. In Wicked Wonderland, fans are able to see Nam explore Maddox’s persona through music. Nam leads the cast in his own musical performance with the track “Mad.” The song emphasizes Maddox’s descent into lunacy and, in some ways, his enjoyment of it. Nam described his journey of pursuing this unfamiliar territory. “I used a lot of dance and movement to anchor me so that no matter what’s happening, I know physically [what] Maddox is like in this world…I used a lot of dance and I listened to a lot of Green Day and Ozzy Osborne to get me in that place.”

Nam admits it was nerve-racking to record verses beside some of Hollywood’s legendary vocalists. “Let me tell you, I was scared because they’re recording giants. Rita, Brandy, Franklin, Kylie and this whole world, and everybody else had come from a very strong musical background and I, frankly, didn’t.”

Nam’s initial hesitation did not deter him. Instead, he embraced his nervousness during the recording process. “I had never sung a song professionally [before]. I got kicked out of choir when I was in high school, so I was very traumatized by that and I knew that it scared me. That usually for me is something that I get excited by as an actor, because it’s something I haven’t tried before and it also shows me that I still care.”

How Characters Teach Worldview and Understanding

Nam’s role in The Rise of Red and Wicked Wonderland contrasts from his past appearances as an actor, as he has primarily worked on more mature subjects and themes ranging from Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift to Westworld. However, he demonstrates that acting styles are worth exploring.

“I am always so happy to continue to expand into new genres and new styles of storytelling,” Nam reflected. “I think that’s one of the beauties of what we, as humans, have access to…I also really liked the idea that you’ve got to work within the parameters of the genre and the style of the movie, and that it is a four-quadrant portrait film. A grandparent can watch it with a grandkid, and they will both [be] satisfied [with] it.”

As an actor, Nam shared that understanding the different walks of life of the characters he portrays requires perspective, as everyone’s paths are different. “Frankly, I come from the point of view that the bigger the life, the more rich your life is, the [better] actor [or] performer you are.”

He further clarified that everyone has a big life to fill, but it depends on how each person views their own experiences. “So for me, growing up in these multi-layered cultures, it also provided me [with] the observation that the world is big,” Nam shared. “As an actor, I always approach every character like that, that they have big lines, because that’s so rich. Everyone has a big life. Some people choose to dampen it and that could be the choice of the character…but that doesn’t mean the inside of their life isn’t rich and big.”

Nam comes from a multicultural background, having been born in Argentina before moving to Australia and then eventually the United States to study acting. His diverse upbringing allows him to bare his heart as an actor and create a vivid lens through which he portrays his characters. “One of the big things that growing up in Argentina, Australia, and the U.S. has taught me [is that] it’s a blessing that I have not always looked like the majority of people in a room in those countries at certain times. I’ve learned [to] fill in the cracks, the in-between, and not to say that we have to do that, but I have learned that there are ways to do that.”

Good on Ya Productions and Creating Opportunities for the Future

Apart from performing, Nam recently founded Good on Ya Productions in 2026 with the  goal of bringing commercial storytelling to life and emphasizing projects in TV and film globally across the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Korea. For Nam, this production project acted as a testament to himself.

“This came out of  betting on myself, and what that means is, when I look at the DNA of how I live and how I grew up and what I do, I am Argentinian and Australian, and have Korean heritage, and now I also have Japanese heritage, I just found out, and now I’m American. I’ve got kids here. [The] genesis of the production company is to amplify those stories that [are] multicultural, almost like a third culture,” Nam expressed. “I’m looking for roles and projects that kind of look at life through that global perspective.”

While thinking about exploring his next creative adventure with Good on Ya productions and enjoying the hard work it took to get to this point, Nam reflected on his decades of acting expertise. “For me, forming this production company was a way for me to kind of pat myself on the back and say ‘Good on ya, good on ya, Leo. You know, all the hard work that you’ve done in [these] 25 years adds to this. You have a seat at the table because you’ve made this table, this table was yours.’ So that’s kind of the mindset shift that I’m going to do.”

Looking to add more Disney shows and movies to your watchlist? Read EnVi’s most recent piece on Season 2 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” here!