Noah LaLonde stars as Cole Walter in My Life with the Walter Boys. The show, which is based on the novel by Ali Novak, has already been renewed for a second season with all episodes of season 1 available to watch on Netflix.
Following the loss of her family in a tragic accident, 15-year-old Manhattanite Jackie Howard has to learn to adapt to a new life in rural Colorado with her guardian — and eight very rowdy boys.
“The process of becoming Cole Walter was the first of its kind for me, so I think there’s a lot that you start to get like, Noah starts to get into Cole and I try to keep it pretty separate. So when I think about moving forward, I know I have little control, our wonderful writers will have their way with whatever will happen and I will appreciate it because, well, they’ve done us so well so far. I hope that for, as I would hope for any human being, that they continue to learn and hopefully, take as much out of their experiences to craft them into the best person that they can be, and I think Cole… there’s a lot, you know, I was really happy that he started to learn some things as season 1 got going,” LaLonde explained, reflecting on his character’s journey so far and what he wants for season 2. “It’s complicated stuff, young love, family conflict. So, I hope that he realizes how special that family around him is.”
As for which moment he considers to be the big moment for Cole and Jackie, he shared, “There’s so many amazing moments and oddly enough, when I think about moments that really define their relationship, I think about — these may not be what you’d expect, but bringing up the teapot, the scene at the end of the Thanksgiving episode, episode five, when that wonderful song comes on and Jackie and Alex have their moment and like, the whirlwind of emotions that is… I watched it back and that was one of the scenes where I actually was like, ‘Man, I feel for this Cole guy a little bit,’ because he’s about to do the thing that there are so many parts of him telling him not to do it, there’s so many parts of him very excited to do it, [and] there are so many things going on in this young man’s brain. And to see that, just as all of that is peaking, to walk out and see your brother, and the choice to just kind of walk back behind the door, it’s heartbreaking because I think we’ve all known that moment.”
I spoke with the actor about his hopes for what’s next, the different sibling dynamics, which moments define the relationship between Cole and Jackie, the joy of discussing the series, his experience reading the book, the finale table read, what he wants audiences to take away from his character, and more.
Watch my interview below:
