Dylan Minnette, the star of “13 Reasons Why,” has the same favorite in the cast that everyone does.
Tony, played by Christian Navarro, quickly emerged as the series’ fan favorite after the first season premiered on Netflix in March. He’s the keeper of all of Hannah Baker’s secrets (along with her cassette tapes) and acts as a detached but lovable life guru to Clay, played by Minnette. Unlike Clay, who’s meek, awkward and unsure, Tony accepts certain realities about life and anger, which he teaches to his friend.
In a visit to TheWrap, Minnette said that if he could play any other character on the show, it would have to be Tony.
“Tony’s my favorite character,” he said. “I think he’s awesome, has so much beneath what we see, and we learn so much about him this season and there’s still so much to be learned.”
Although he wouldn’t want to take that away from Navarro.
“He’s such an interesting and complex character and Christian plays him beautifully, so I wouldn’t want to take that away from him,” Minnette added.
Another reason why Minnette couldn’t play Tony? The character dashed his childhood dreams.
“Growing up, I always said that in my 20s, I’m gonna gut and restore a ’66 red Mustang. But now that I’m on a show that has one, I just can’t do that anymore,” he said. “Everyone would go, ‘Oh wow, he’s driving a red Mustang, just like his show.’ So the show actually ruined my idea of a dream car.”
Minnette and Navarro are just two snippets of a large cast of young actors on the “13 Reasons Why” roster. Minnette described it as working with the “coolest young people ever.”
“On the series all the characters are teens,” he explained. “I was the first one cast, I think, and I was like, ‘Who else is going to get this?’… If you’re around 20 teenagers all the time you start to wonder if it’s going to be that fun.”
But luckily, it was a set that was supportive and engaging, despite the incredibly dark and divisive source material.
“I’m not lying when I say that the people who worked on this are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my entire life,” he continued. “Everyone just cared so much about this and really wanted to make the best product possible… and I really appreciated it.”
Watch the full interview above.