Case Walker hasn’t met Justin Bieber yet, but he hopes to one day. Unlike the scores of other people who would also like to meet Justin Bieber, Walker has a very good reason—he’s basically been playing a fictionalized version of on HBO’s The Other Two since he was 14-years-old. (Walker’s plan, should he ever meet the Biebs, is to hit him with a “What up bro?” “I’d probably ask him about his tattoos,” he adds.) Starring as Chase Dubek, aka ChaseDreams, Walker plays a regular kid who breaks out with a teeny-bopper hit called “Marry U at Recess,” leaving his two much-older, struggling artist siblings (Heléne Yorke and Drew Tarver) to reckon with their own failed dreams.
The show has followed Chase, and the now-20-year-old Walker by proxy, through the perils of adolescence, chronicling the indignities of voice cracks and body odor — all, of course, under the brutal magnifying lens of fame. The show’s third season, which premieres May 4th, breaks new ground, beginning just days before Chase’s 18th birthday. For the youngest Dubek, this season tackles the struggles of outgrowing his fanbase, the sexualization of former childhood stars, and the newfound freedom of adulthood. How will Chase cope? By entering his Bieber-esque dirtbag era, of course. “Basically, you get [Machine Gun Kelly], Pete Davidson and Justin Bieber all in one,” he reveals over a Zoom call. “Chase does some crazy stuff later in the season. It's gonna shock some people for sure.”
Below, Walker tells W about growing up on The Other Two, what season 3 holds for ChaseDreams, and hints at a possible EP.
How was it to return to The Other Two after some time away?
Every time returning to the show is better, because we've known each other for so long. It's always incredible coming back. Besides the actual acting work and the time on set, it's really a great, fun environment.
I feel like you guys have seen each other through a lot at this point.
Especially me, because they've seen me go from baby to now 20-years-old. So they know me very well.
What has it been like working on a show that skewers child stardom while being a child star yourself?
In the first two seasons, I was doing a lot of growing and thinking about the world and how people think of you. Going through that while also playing ChaseDreams was very interesting. There was a pretty big parallel, besides the craziness of The Other Two family in that world. This season, [Chase and I] separated a little bit more. He's a lot older — three years in the future — and he's super grounded. Seeing the contrast between how it used to be when I was filming the first two seasons and now, I feel like there’s more separation between Chase and Case.
How did it feel to live the nitty gritty of your adolescence through this character?
It's really weird. When you're a kid, you really are thinking about the world and how people think of you. First and second season [I wondered], “Are people gonna think the character is the same as me?” Especially the singing part. I remember just being so worried [because] I was purposely singing badly, but I know how to sing in real life. Those are 15-year-old, 16-year-old thoughts you totally have.
It's been cool to see Chase’s evolution and his concerns about aging out of his demographic, while also entering his dirtbag era.
This season was so fun. He enters this “I’m 18” era. He owns it, too, it's not like a silly, “I want to be an adult.” There's a lot of, “Chase is 18 so we can sexualize him now” in this season—the second episode is about a photoshoot debuting Chase’s armpit. It's sometimes an unfortunate thing in the industry, so we played on that a lot. Chase and his manager Streeter [Ken Marino] have some dynamics around him turning 18 too. Everyone is capitalizing on Chase being 18 in a lot of different ways, whether it's the press or record exec Shuli [Wanda Sykes]. But he's like, “I want to just do my own thing, man. Eighteen means something different than it means to all of you. This is my independence.”
I also thought it was poignant how he was worried about Streeter not caring about him anymore and feeling past his relevancy.
In the last episode of the second season, we get a taste of Chase’s real emotions. And I think this season, he grabs onto that and realizes, “I know, this is a fun and crazy business for you, but I'm a real person.” That's how I tapped in.
You've grown up working with these comedy legends like Ken Marino, Molly Shannon, and Wanda Sykes. What have you learned from being under their wing?
It's the best. I've learned a lot from an acting perspective, and also just how to be a good person on set and to communicate well. I’ve almost got a bunch of big brothers and sisters.
What kind of advice have they given you?
Molly has a specific way of memorizing lines. It's really cool. And Ken this season was really sweet. In that scene where Chase and Streeter have that moment in the [TikTok family’s] house, Ken has a whole monologue. I was watching the monologue over and over and I started reading his lines too. He whispered in my ear, “Hey, your lips are moving while I'm reading my line. You're predicting.” So I won't do that anymore. It’s really sweet when I'm learning and making my mistakes as a young actor.
We talked a little bit about how you were afraid that people would think you're actually a bad singer in real life because of Chase. Do you have any music plans?
When I'm in Vancouver, sometimes I'll bring my guitar out and I'll write music. So that's on the back burner, but it's always there. I'd like to release an EP in the future, but it's more just something that complements my acting career and some of the roles I get to play. I work on another project called Monster High and that's a musical. I wrote a song for that audition, and that's how I booked that, so it's always a little piece of my career, which is awesome.
This article was originally published on
