Agatha All Along star ‘honoured’ to play Joe Locke’s boyfriend and make Marvel more gay
Miles Gutierrez-Riley plays the boyfriend of Joe Locke’s Billy Maximoff in Marvel’s Agatha All Along. (Getty)
LGBTQ+ actor Miles Gutierrez-Riley has described his Agatha All Along co-star and on-screen lover Joe Locke as the new “It boy”.
In an interview on Wednesday (16 October), The Wilds star Gutierrez-Riley had nothing but praise for Locke, describing him as young and wise.
“People love Heartstopper. It was amazing to work alongside him,” said Gutierrez-Riley, who plays Eddie, the teenage boyfriend of William Kaplan, also known as Teen. “He really has a great head on his shoulders. I learned so much working with him.”
Locke had a “great personality” and “made me laugh all the time”, he revealed.
Speaking to Out magazine during a red carpet event for his upcoming horror sequel, Smile 2, Gutierrez-Riley went on to say his own inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) newest – and queerest – era “means the world” to him.
“The MCU is massive and it touches so many people because it’s personal and [the] representation is authentic and coming from creators [who] actually care about the stories they’re telling – and can relate to them,” he said.
“I haven’t taken it for granted from the second I got the call. I’m really honoured to be part of it in this way.”
While Agatha All Along has been a step in the right direction for queer representation in the MCU and comic-book adaptations in general, Locke believed it had had some catching up do.
Speaking to Digital Spy in September, he said: “I think Marvel has been behind the times in bringing in queer characters, which is more because the characters and their stories don’t really delve into their personal lives as much.”
However, Agatha All Along was a “great” step towards improving the series as a whole, Locke insisted.
“What I love about Teen is [that] his queerness is a big part of him and is celebrated, but not the only facet of him. He’s got lots of sides [to] his personality, which is great,” he said.
Smile 2 is in cinemas now.
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