Elisha Williams Talks About Making ‘The Wonder Years’ Character His Own

The Wonder Years is back on ABC and with a whole lot of new and familiar faces.

Inspired by the 1988 series of the same name, it stars Elisha “EJ” Williams as Dean Williams, and follows his life as he grows up in Montgomery, Alabama, in the late 1960s.

HipHollywood caught up with Williams about making the character his own and what audiences can expect.

“To be honest the thing that I wanted to bring new to this project is me,” said Elisha. “How flexible of an actor I am.”

“Something about Dean is he’s a kid that has a a lot of emotions but doesn’t know how to deal with them,” he added. “There’s a lot of things that he has to do deal with, and deal with what’s going on at home.”

And speaking of home, Williams shared what it was like working with his on screen family.

“The Wonder Years” stars Don Cheadle, narrating the series as adult Dean Williams, Dulé Hill as his father Bill Williams, Saycon Sengbloh as his mother Lillian Williams, and Laura Kariuki as his sister Kim Williams. Other cast include Julian Lerner as Brad Hitman, Amari O’Neil as Cory Long and Milan Ray as Keisa Clemmons.

“It was great being able to meet them and feel like I was already at a family reunion,” he shared.

One person whose also excited about the new series is Fred Savage, who played the lead in the original “Wonder Years” and broke the news to Williams that he landed the role via Zoom.

Overall Williams, who most recently lent his voice to the Disney Jr. animated series “Puppy Dog Pals,” says landing the role “was definitely a process of hardwork” but “fun at the end of the day.”