While most of the young cast of Deadly Class did not live through the 1980s, Kings Dominion headmaster Benedict Wong is not the only lead actor who has some experience in the decade of Reagan.
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Liam James, who plays the skate punk Billy, appeared in more than fifty episodes of USA Network’s Psych, another Comic Con favorite, in which he was one of the young actors to play Shawn Spencer in flashbacks during framing device sequences that set the stage for episodes in which an adult Spencer (James Roday) played a fake psychic detective. That means that for years, James would appear in ’80s and early ’90s flashback scenes — although the year was less important to the plot than it is on Deadly Class.
“It’s interesting because you don’t fully get to see [the ’80s] in Psych — it’s not something they really explore, it’s very tiny,” James told ComicBook.com. “But Shawn Spencer in a way could have grown up to be Billy. Henry is a cop, Billy’s dad is a cop, and if Henry was just a little bit more concerned with succumbing to all of the brutal shit in this world…they talk in this show about how Shawn has a rebellious streak during his teenage life. I’d never thought about it that way.”
As a side note, James was interviewed alongside Luke Tennie, who plays Willie on the series, who chimed in to say that he was a “Psych-O,” too, and that he had seen every episode of James’s old show…but had never thought about the similarities between James’s characters.
Deadly Class follows a disillusioned teen recruited into a storied high school for assassins. Maintaining his moral code while surviving a ruthless curriculum, vicious social cliques, and his own adolescent uncertainties may prove fatal. Set against the backdrop of late 80s counter culture, Deadly Class is a coming of age journey unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
“Deadly Class is one of the more twisted coming-of-age stories we’ve ever read,” Joe Russo said in a recent interview. “It does an amazing job of exploring teenage years and the sense of alienation that you feel.”
Co-creator Rick Remender also said in a past interview that “Fans of the comic book are going to be delighted. Deadly Class is authentic, honest, and brutal. The threats are real.”
The Deadly Class television series stars Benedict Wong, Benjamin Wadsworth, Lana Condor, Maria Gabriela de Faria, Luke Tennie, Liam James, and Michel Duval.
Deadly Class premieres on January 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SYFY.
