We Talk To Ryan Reynolds About Nat Geo Show Underdogs! – Exclusive

We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to speak with Ryan Reynolds about the new Nat Geo series, Underdogs, that is now live! After we make some introductions we get into some questions about the show. We got started by asking about if Ryan was on the set or if he was just doing the voicework in the studio and we find out that “Oh no no no, I don’t go outside.” Ryan is super funny as he lets us know that
he wished that he could have and hopes that next season he can. He was still working on Deadpool & Wolverine at the time. He talks about how he would just love to be out there during the filming to learn from the photographers.

BSCKids: What would be the one place that you would have wanted to go from this season if you could have?

Ryan Reynolds: Tanzania for sure. I’ve done a few places in Africa before and there is really nothing like it. There is something different about the sky there. It is so awe-inspiring and just connected.

Since you were in that voice over booth for a lot of your time, were you able to ad-lib a lot while you were recording or were you more stuck to a script that you had?

I tend to do both. It became important to me later in my career, but I was very into the idea that you have to return the investment that is made in you. I have a responsibility to make sure that they have what they really need. I also have a responsibility to plus it and have some fun with it, and hopefully give them something else that they weren’t expecting. Yeah I spend a lot of time, kind of making sure I am zipping around and thinking asymmetrically about something. People tend to think I improv a lot, but I actually write a lot. I will write alt lines not just for my characters but for other characters, it is a nice way to work.

At this point I let Ryan know we are looking forward to hearing Ryan on the Underdogs project and he does let us know that they did rein him in somewhat as they told him, you cannot do that! We can only imagine what the outtakes reel would sound like!

So what was one of your favorite animals that you were able to learn a bit more about?

My kids are obsessed with Axolotls so it was fun to learn a little more about that. I think the honey badger. There are some very obscure animals in this, so it is so hard to choose one. The honey badger surprised me that is was so unkillable. It is part of the weasel family as is Wolverine. I feel like Marvel needs to give us a honey badger character. Wolverine vs. honey badger, come on.

Do you think getting to learn about these animals has affected your view of Wolverine and some other characters that you were able to be part of projects for?

Well I don’t think anything could worsen Deadpool’s view of Wolverine, but I think it gives you a really really strong appreciation for Mother Nature obviously, but for the underdogs out there. There really is a butterfly effect, it’s all part of a precariously balanced and yet somehow perfect system that is working in concert with each other. We all love an underdog story, nobody wants to watch the Superbowl or something and know one team is just going to annihilate the other. You are always praying, you’re hoping for the underdog to pull it off. The one thing this show does better than anyone is bring so context to some of these obscure, often disgusting, sometimes brilliant creatures in the animal kingdom.

With those Underdogs, were there any facts about them that you learned that were pretty funny to you, or just disgusting?

It’s hard to say, a lot of them had shockingly disgusting attributes. I enjoyed the nursery spider, not so much disgusting, but it was really alarming. It seeks a mate and the male mate comes and it will be killed afterwards. In order to thwart this from happening the male brings a gift, except just like life, the gift if poorly thought out, lazy like a rock wrapped in web, and then the male spider is subsequentially killed anyway. It reflects a bit of real life where men, we can miss the mark, but we can also have a tenth degree blackbelt in missing the mark sometimes romantically.

Do you think there was anything along that line that are good fuel for nightmares, something that was terrifying?

Ryan makes a very funny joke here and reference of what his nightmare animal was, but this is a kids website so…

The thing about the show is it pushes the boundaries with some of this stuff, but it does so in a way that I think is still somehow like family friendly because it is biology, it’s physiology, it’s all of these things. I also really loved the barnacle geese, terrible parents. They just shove the little ones out of the nest, they fall either to their death or to their life. It’s a conversation starter when you have four kids that’s for sure.

We then talk to Ryan about his kids and the show and he tells us while they have not seen every episode, they are obsessed and they just can’t wait to see them all. He also talks about how they just watch everything National Geographic as a family. He tells us they will probably like “Superzeroes” and some of the later episodes where they cover the manatees (“Total Grossout”). He also tells us that his kids really like underwater creatures.

Then we move on to the question we had in our head from the time we knew about this interview…

What do you think Deadpool’s favorite animal would be?

Ryan takes a minute to think about this one

The Axolotl just because it regenerates is my guess. Deadpool likes to see himself mirrored back in the natural world. Or a hyena.

We ask why a hyena and he replies the hyena always has the giggles (and he does a little dance with it), but he also reminds us that they are always up to no good.

Thanks to Ryan for taking the time with us and make sure to watch Underdogs!

Hold on to your binoculars, folks, as Nat Geo gets up close and personal with the outcasts of the animal kingdom in UNDERDOGS, narrated by Ryan Reynolds. From their hidden talents to their unconventional hygiene choices to their unsavory courtship rituals, UNDERDOGS celebrates the unique behaviors of the animals who don’t usually get to be the stars of the show. From Reynolds’ Emmy® Award-winning Maximum Effort and Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning Wildstar Films (a Fremantle company), National Geographic’s UNDERDOGS premieres June 15 at 9/8c, simulcast on ABC, and will be available to stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Each episode of the five-part series showcases a different aspect of the underdogs’ bizarre mating strategies, surprising superpowers, deception, dubious parenting skills and gross-out behaviors. UNDERDOGS features a range of never-before-filmed scenes, including the first time a film crew has ever entered a special cave in New Zealand—a huge cavern that glows brighter than a bachelor pad under a black light thanks to the glowing butts of millions of mucus-coated grubs. All over the world, overlooked superstars like this are out there 24/7, giving it maximum effort and keeping the natural world in working order for all those showboating polar bears, sharks and gorillas.