‘VisionQuest’s Ruaridh Mollica Answers Every Burning Question After That Pivotal Episode 4 Gala

This interview contains spoilers for VisionQuest Episodes 3 and 4.

Summary

• In an interview with Collider, Ruaridh Mollica addresses the parallels between Wanda and Tommy and speculates on what his dynamic with Agatha would look like.
• The actor also breaks down the biggest moments from Episodes 3 and 4.
• Mollica shares his favorite VisionQuest memes.

Ruaridh Mollica is one of the most exciting young actors today, with his work spanning several mediums. In 2024, he starred in the queer drama Sebastian, about a writer who starts doing sex work to research his novel. He received wide acclaim for his performance, including a British Independent Film Award nomination. Last year, he made his West End debut alongside Joe Locke and Sophie Melville in Clarkston and was nominated for Best Professional Debut at the What’sOnStage Awards. His television credits include A Thousand Blows, Witness Number 3, and Red Rose.

Mollica’s latest TV role, however, is undoubtedly his biggest, as he takes on the role of Thomas Shepherd/Tommy Maximoff in the MCU’s latest series, VisionQuest — the final installment in the critically acclaimed WandaVision trilogy. With flashes of memories of his old life and a set of powers he can’t yet control, Tommy struggles to parse out who he is and why these mysterious things keep happening to him. It doesn’t help that his father, Vision (Paul Bettany), is dealing with an identity crisis of his own, and his relationship with Lisa (Lauren Morais) continues to get more complex and confusing.

Collider got the chance to speak to Mollica about his work in the series. During the conversation, he addresses those comparisons to Elizabeth Olsen’s performance as Wanda, speculates on what Tommy and Agatha’s (Kathryn Hahn) dynamic would look like, breaks down all of the major moments in Episodes 3 and 4, shares his favorite VisionQuest memes, and more.

‘VisionQuest’s Ruaridh Mollica Addresses Those Wanda and Tommy Parallels

“Maybe it was something subconscious.”

COLLIDER: First of all, happy belated birthday! What a way to celebrate with the release of this.

RUARIDH MOLLICA: I know, what the hell! Crazy. Absolutely crazy.

I’m loving all of the parallels this show is introducing, especially between Tommy and Wanda. Did you try to study or take from Elizabeth’s performance to show that unspoken connection? I’ve seen people put their nose scrunches side-by-side.

MOLLICA: I have seen that. I’ve been keeping up with everything. Some people are like, “You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t read it all. You shouldn’t look at it all.” And I’m like, “We’ve made this show because the fandom around the show is amazing. I want to see what people think about it.” The nose scrunch was totally just a coincidence, but it was amazing. I think, in terms of Elizabeth Olsen’s performances, I don’t know, maybe it was something subconscious. I’ve watched her in the Avengers films my whole life, and I watched WandaVision and was obsessed with that before I even entered the MCU. There could definitely be a subconscious nod to what she does. Or maybe our personalities are similar, and maybe that is a throughline.

Ruaridh Mollica Breaks Down ‘VisionQuest’ Episode 3’s Pivotal Hotel Scene

“It had that nice, sitcomy nod to it that WandaVision had.”

I love Episode 3. The scenes in the hotel are some of my favorites in the whole show. I especially love when Vision is trying to figure out what to say to Tommy, and Tommy keeps walking out. I’m curious what it’s like to play these slightly different versions of the same scenes like that, because it’s always fun to watch as a viewer.

MOLLICA: That was actually quite a bizarre one to do. It was kind of strange on your brain because you’re filming for so long in this one hotel room as well, and then you’re like, “Wait, which scene is this? Is this one of the options, or is this the one that actually happened?” It was a lot of me storming out, and the director was kind of like, “Just say whatever you would say if you were storming out of the room.” And then we added even more later on in ADR, which was quite fun, because it meant you could just sit and come up with things afterwards. It was fun to be able to see those scenes play out, because I didn’t, obviously, see what it would have looked like in Vision’s head as he was playing out all of them. It was fun. It had that nice, sitcomy nod to it that WandaVision had.

In that scene, we get the reveal that Tommy read about Wanda and Vision in a book. How do you think he happened upon that book? Do you think he’s always been a big reader?

MOLLICA: I think he has. I actually don’t think anyone has asked me this — it’s so nice. Yeah, it was something that I feel like, when Thomas Shepherd was growing up in the troubled life that he had in orphanages and running away, books are something that are really safe and comforting. I feel that about all of my books — there’s an escapism to that. I feel like Thomas would use books to escape, especially if he’d read those books before. Growing up in a universe where you’re seeing the Avengers on the news, there is probably that curiosity about the heroes and stuff that would exist, and I feel like it does exist and is why we have superhero shows and why we all connect to them. I think it’s a really beautiful thought that Tommy would have done the same.

Ruaridh Mollica on Tommy’s Powers and His Relationship With Agatha

“They could get up to some serious mischief.”

We get these flashes of memory that Tommy has with Wanda and Vision. I’m curious, what do you think he remembers about Agatha from that time?

MOLLICA: [Laughs] I think he probably remembers Agatha more as the neighbor, but I’m sure there’s got to be Agatha trauma in there. Or whatever he might be told later on down the line behind the scenes. I’m sure he knows some things about Agatha.

What do you think a scene in the present day would look like between them? Because they both have this con artist connection.

MOLLICA: I bet they’d actually really get on. I think there’d be a bit of a standoff, but ultimately, they’d end up having a hoot. They could get up to some serious mischief.

I so agree. I want to see that so badly.

MOLLICA: No, me too!

I can’t get over how awesome Tommy’s powers look. The vending machine punch is so cool, and the pool is so neat, too. What was it like to shoot those moments? How much of that was practical?

MOLLICA: It was so cool. So much of it ended up being practical. When we were shooting that vending machine scene, we had the real glass, and then we had glass but with a hole cut in it. You’d put your hand in, and you’d react to your hand going in. There’s a really funny meme I saw where someone was like, “Tommy’s powers are just this [shakes hand rapidly].” It was a lot of that. It was a lot of shaking your hands in different ways. And then they used practical lighting effects — they’d change the frame rate of the camera and the frame rates of the lights and shoot things at different frame rates so they could overlay them in post, which was really cool.

Orchestrating all of those moments was really fun — trying to figure out how the power feels as it’s coming at you for the first time. I really liked that thing when someone’s trying to figure out their powers where they don’t really have control over them at the start. The swimming pool moment was amazing. When I first got the role, I didn’t really realize that speed included phasing and the molecular structure of things. That is so fucking cool.

‘VisionQuest’s Ruaridh Mollica Talks Vision’s “Betrayal” During the Episode 4 Gala

“It breaks that link of trust again that was only just starting to form.”

I also really love the gala scenes. I was laughing so hard when Tommy and Vision were arguing in Italian. What was it like getting to film that?

MOLLICA: Oh, that was amazing. That was something that I think was put in because I’m half Italian. It was the nicest little nod to something that I think anyone has ever done for me. Watch, I’m saying this, and it might not have even been for me, but I would be surprised. It was really, really nice, and it was really fun. Paul always tells the story now because he was meant to be dubbed over in a very deep Italian voice, and then that didn’t end up happening. But originally, he was meant to be dubbed over, so he watched it for the first time and was like, “Oh! Right.”

The gala gives us more Tommy and Lisa, which is one of my favorite dynamics. Lisa is warning him to be careful with Vision, and Tommy gets defensive and accuses her of trying to ruin things for him. Why do you think that’s his initial reaction to her looking out for him like that?

MOLLICA: Yeah, I think it’s tricky. Even if someone you love is just trying to look after you and make sure you don’t get hurt… I totally understand why she was saying it, and I think that’s probably why Tommy reacted like that — because he knows that she’s right. He needs to be careful. But all Tommy and Thomas Shepherd have wanted is a father or parents, and finally, it’s here, and he’s got a purpose, and he’s being seen. For someone to challenge that in that moment when he’s just getting to know his father or Vision, that’s confronting, and you don’t want to accept that as truth, so you’re going to reject it.

So much happens at that gala. We finally see Tommy putting the pieces together that Ultron is the person Vision has been talking to, which is such a shock. What do you think he’s thinking and feeling in that moment?

MOLLICA: For Tommy, Ultron is evil. He’s the devil. We saw on the news in the hotel room that it’s the anniversary of Sokovia. Ultron is a mass murderer and a horrible person. It also means that Lisa’s right in what she says. He’s got this massive secret, and not only has he been keeping a secret from you, but he’s been housing one of the most evil villains in history. So I think he feels betrayed. If he’d been very honest and told him about Ultron from early on, I think he would have been scared and pissed off, but because it was a lie and a secret, that makes it worse because it breaks that link of trust again that was only just starting to form.

We also get Ultron accusing Vision of being too emotionally compromised because he’s afraid to lose Tommy. How do you think Tommy would feel about this?

MOLLICA: I think Tommy would learn a lot if he was let into Vision’s thoughts more. That’s the beauty of the arc of their relationship — it’s them coming to terms with and accepting what’s going on inside their heads as truth. I think there’s an admiration for Ultron’s intelligence despite him being a megalomaniac. Sometimes, it would help for Tommy to hear what Ultron thinks inside Vision’s head because I think he would like to hear a lot of the things Vision thinks about him.

There’s that distinction when Vision and Tommy are talking, and Vision says “me” instead of “the old me,” which Tommy immediately takes notice of. What do you think it means to him to hear that distinction? What do you think changes for Tommy to hear him take ownership of his own memories?

MOLLICA: To see your father take ownership of his own memories allows you to start being able to take ownership of yours as well, because now I’ve got the example. Now, I’ve got my idol figure doing the thing that I thought was hardest in front of me and leading by example.

Tommy is always jumping into action, both at the gala and before that. Why do you think he is the kind of person who is always running towards danger despite what everyone is telling him?

MOLLICA: I think that’s the thing about speedsters. Even in the comics, they’re cheeky. They like the adrenaline. I think Tommy enjoys it, but he’s also got a really strong moral code. It’s easily broken, and he doesn’t trust very easily, but despite being a bit of a con man and a grifter — in Episode 2, he’s like, “Anyone would sell me out for a cheap Rolex and 50 quid” or whatever, so he does it first — there is a moral code in there, despite it being a little bit muddied sometimes. I don’t think he wants to see someone innocent get hurt.

Ruaridh Mollica Shares His Favorite ‘VisionQuest’ Memes

“I didn’t expect people to fall in love with me in glasses so much.”

I love the scene in the car in Episode 3 when Tommy can’t see who Vision is talking to. I thought that was comedic gold. Which of the AIs do you think he would get along best with if he were to be able to see and interact with them?

MOLLICA: Oh, Edith, for sure. Tommy and Edith would get along so well because Edith loves to do high-adrenaline, fast things, and Tommy does, too. They would have a lot of fun together, I think.

The show has been out for a couple of days now. What has the reaction been like? Has there been a most memorable response or message that you’ve seen?

MOLLICA: It’s been so unbelievable. You never know. As much as I always hoped — since it’s the final series in the trilogy — that people would love it, and people have been waiting for it, you never expect it to really do as well as you wanted it to do. But it really has. It’s been so warming, and I keep pinching myself because there are so many more episodes for people to see. I can’t wait.

I didn’t expect people to fall in love with me in glasses so much. That’s what’s been so funny. All my friends have been sending me all these slow-mo videos of me putting on my spectacles in Episode 1.

Is there a favorite meme that you’ve seen?

MOLLICA: There are some great ones. There is an absolutely hilarious one that says, “If Wanda was wanting to find her sons so much, why didn’t she just look on Grindr?”

I saw that one! That one was killing me.

MOLLICA: That was hilarious. And then the guy who was doing the speed superpowers was really funny.

Oh my god, so good. I can’t wait to see all of the memes keep coming. Hopefully some Halloween costumes, too.

MOLLICA: Yeah, I would love to see that. I love seeing all the drawings and all the costumes. It’s so cool.

VisionQuest Episodes 1-4 are streaming on Disney+.