Wonder Man star Yahya Abdul Mateen II says filming the nude scenes for the hit HBO series ‘The Watchmen’ was quite “liberating.”
The New Orleans native earned a 2020 Emmy award for outstanding supporting actor for his portrayal of the DC comics character Cal Abar/Doctor Manhattan, a god-like being who, after getting caught in a radioactive particle test, appears blue in the nude.
“When you’re naked and painted blue, you don’t have the energy to care about other things. I studied the character beforehand, I did a few pushups, and then I took off the robe,” Abdul-Mateen said in a new interview with W Magazine.
“Being naked and having the audacity to be Doctor Manhattan, who runs the galaxy, was very freeing,” he continued.
The actor said that his ability to be so comfortable in his role as Doctor Manhattan “surprised” him, as he’s usually “very reserved.”
“I don’t mind awkward silences,” he added.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, the film follows the real-life trial that gripped the nation in 1968 after demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention erupted into a violent clash with police and the National Guard. As a result, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, and Bobby Seale were among those charged with conspiracy to incite a riot and the resulting trial couldn’t be crazier.
The star also revealed that he was inspired to get into acting following the death of his father.
“I didn’t want to have any regrets,” said the New Orleans native. “I didn’t want to tell anyone, but I started taking acting class at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco on Wednesday nights. I knew it was rebellious to pursue acting, but I also knew I had to try, that life is short.”
In Wonder Man Yahya Abdul-Mateen II perfectly captures the anxiety of excellence.
All eight episodes of Wonder Man dropped on Disney+ Monday, (1/27/26) and in the Marvel series, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Simon, a struggling actor who just wants to be seen for his craft, not the anger-induced superpowers he’s desperately trying to hide and has no idea what to do with. You may think you’re getting an origin story for one of Marvel’s most underrated superheroes, but as its eight episodes unfold, Wonder Man quietly transforms into one of the most honest portrayals of anxiety I’ve seen in a superhero show, maybe in any show.
“Anxiety is kind of new to me too. I understand what it’s like,” Abdul Mateen II says, sitting across from me during the film’s junket in Los Angeles. “As an actor, a part of our job is to be able to identify the anxieties and to be able to use our tools to decrease it and then to work through it, to ‘tolerate our discomfort.’”
And it is uncomfortable at times to watch Simon war with his own mind, struggling through who he knows he can be and who he is. Abdul-Mateen II brings so much depth and sensitivity to Simon’s anxiety. This isn’t the one-note brooding, mysterious kind of troubled hero we’re used to seeing. Simon’s anxiety is mundane, messy, and for Abdul-Mateen II, it was personal.
It was really gratifying, and sometimes scary at the same time, to show that vulnerability, to show that anxiety, to show what it looks like to just not be sure of myself at all but still have to proceed.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
Simon’s overthinking, his paralysis in the face of opportunity, his fear that one misstep will cost him everything hit so close to home. Created by Destin Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”) and Andrew Guest (who has written for “Community” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), Wonder Man is a slow burn meditation on Hollywood, ambition, and who gets to be a hero. And after all these years of oversaturation accusations and critiques that superhero projects have nothing more to offer, this is the MCU at its best and most original.
The Gamutt Blog 