Apple TV+'s Me Cast and Creator talk facing your fears and their ideal superpowers

Have you ever wanted the power to be... Someone else? You can ask Ben Vasani, your average middle schooler with a very particular superhuman ability and the lead character in Apple TV+'s latest series Me which premieres on Friday, July 12.

Me is centered around 12-year old Ben Vasani, who has to embark on through navigating a new middle school, a new family, and a new superpower. In this coming-of-age series, Ben realizes there's power in being yourself.

Creator Barry L. Levy speaks about what this show means to families saying, "What I can say is that communication and discussion is probably the centerpiece for everything, being able to talk about things and have a safe space to do so. Not every family is that idealized family, and there are a lot of variations and options."

The cast includes Lucian-River Chauhan as Ben Vasani, Abigail Pniowsky as Ben's step sister Max Davis, Dilshad Vadsaria as Elizabeth Vasani, Amanda Reid as Carter Kennedy, Jessy Yates as Morgan, Kyle Howard as Phil Davis, and Sharif Atkins as Darren Kennedy.

We got to sit down for conversations with Levy, Chauhan and Pniowsky prior to the series premiere. Want to learn more about the show and find out what superhero powers thes three would like to have? Read on to find out!

The Parent Watch: Starting with you River, what made this show so exciting that you had to say yes to the role?

Lucian-River Chauhan: That's a great question. I, personally, when I first read the script, I was super enthralled in it at first. I truly just enjoyed how well Barry L. Levy, our writer, developed the characters and getting a chance to see the family dynamic and the relationship between Ben and Max was pretty incredible to me. I really enjoyed that. That's what attracted me to the series. I really enjoyed the life lessons that are taught in the show; Key points about empathy and facing your fears and conquering the world together.

Abigail Pniowsky: Reading the script felt a little surreal to me. The whole process was super amazing. It was something bigger than I've ever done before. I was so interested in my character. I thought that she was really cool. And like Riv said, I was really interested in the dynamic between Max and Ben and the entire family. I thought it was really and I was really excited to be a part of that.

When it came to being on set, what was a particular moment that stood out to you once you guys started shooting?

River: Filming on set in total was pretty incredible, especially with such an amazing cast and crew. I didn't have anything in particular. We play lots of games and have arm wrestling competitions. I made it a thing to have a handshake with everyone, almost everyone on set so every time I'd see them, I just do the handshake, and that would be that. We would also play lots of games of UNO on set whenever we were bored. That was lots of fun. I got a chance to get everybody involved with that, including the crew. Sometimes it got competitive, though.

Abby, I know that you've done a ton of horror in the past, so I wanted to know, was it nice to take a break from that and do something a little bit more family friendly and superhero?

Abby: A much as I love shooting horror films and series, it was really cool to work with other kids my age. I haven't really done a lot of stuff where I've had a lot of other teens on set with me, so that was really fun. I made a lot of friends. A lot of us are like, all of us are still in touch. It was really cool feeling that vibe on set.

River, when it comes to the life lessons that you've learned throughout working on this series, what's a specific one that stands out to you that you think parents and even caregivers can tell their own kids?

River: To me, I think this is something that is really great for the audience to take away, but also something that I learned is that it's okay to not have everything figured out. You can see people around you and maybe they seem to have their life together. It's okay because you have almost all of your life to figure it out. When you do, you will know. If you ever get lost, you can always rely on others to put you back on the right path and and figure it out together.

I'm sure you feel the same way, Abby, but is there any other ones that you would love to call out?

Abby: I really like what Riv said. Also, don't try to fix everything on your own. You can't learn everything on your own. Being around other people is such an important part of your youth, and that family dynamic and friendship is really important as you're learning.

When it comes to this show, there's a superhero element to it. What's a superpower that you wish you had growing up?

River: For me, you know what? It's strange because I may or may not have gotten this power in the show. I've always wanted to shape shift, which is really interesting because because that is the superpower that I get as Ben. The main reason for me was that I got a chance to feel different roles and understand what may be something that I didn't know about. I get to learn that from shapeshifting into different people.

Abby: This is such a great question. I'm so indecisive, so I could pick one hundred, but I feel like telekinesis could be really cool because, it could be super helpful, obviously, in day to day lives, but I think that that would be so interesting.

I agree with you! I think that would be the best superpower to have. Was there a specific episode that you loved filming from shooting on set?

Abby: My favorite episode to film was probably the last episode. I can't say too much, but the last episode, the grand finale, there's just a lot of really cool elements in the episode that speak to the audience, but also everything comes together in the end, and you connect all the dots. It's really cool.

This show is described as a superhero origin story unlike any other. What really inspired you to create this series?

Barry L. Levy: To me, everything comes back to character. My wife and I, we have three kids. We have identical twin daughters, and then we have a son who's a little over two years younger, but he has always been tall, and when they were younger, we're not. He looked like a triplet. For him, at a very early age, he couldn't quite keep up, but he kept being mistaken for being their peer. It was really a question that we had a lot of conversations within the family of, who do you want to be? Well, you have to be yourself You can't be. You may want to be with them, but you can't be them. For us, that really became almost a bedtime story of who can Ben be? Well, what if you could be anyone? Thus, became the origin story of telling the story of our son, Ben, in Ben Vasani and telling his journey to become one. It was always really personal and authentic and real, trying to tell the story of what does it mean to find your power and to find out who you are.

You're the series creator, executive producer, showrunner, writer, as it seems like a superpower in and of itself to be in those roles, what was that process like of having a say in everything that's happening?

So autonomy is an illusion. [laughs] You learn when you're writing movies right away that film is such a collaborative medium. So from a leadership point of view, I'm only as strong as the elements that I can put together and serve them. Once we had the first three scripts, we had a writer's room. How do I empower these writers to make what I've done even better? I'll take responsibility, but I really also want to be pushed. That ethos carried into bringing in Michael Dowse, who's a rather large, cinematic feature film director in terms of his resume. I wanted him to push everyone and the cast. We went through this exhaustive six-month process, and I wanted River and Abby to come and make these characters their own challenge the material because that's how we'll get better. It's my job to serve you and protect you as you do it, but it's also my job to know what it is that is our guiding light, but also allow everyone else to bring their spark to that light.

Since this is the premiere season, a lot of preparation went into this. When you were writing the episodes, was there one that stood out to you? Was there one where you thought 'This is going to really impact people', or is are all of them your favorites?

All my kids are my favorites. For me, there are really special moments that are so meaningful. There's the fifth episode, which is Max's birthday dinner. There is the seventh episode where we're seeing Max face her own demons head-on. Then, there are the climactic sequence in episode ten. There's a bunch of these moments. Really, what was inspiring and exciting from the very first episode is the relationship between Max and Ben. It may be inspiring for me because it's clearly the relationship that my daughters have with my son. It also may be inspiring just because those two performers are so incredible, and they brought it to life in ways that we added more scenes once we saw what they could do because we knew that they were that great.

It's a telltale sign that all the elements came together. I love hearing that. Since you are a parent, and we are The Parent Watch, we're all about making sure kids are watching quality media. Do you have any advice for parents or caregivers on how to support their kids and have them be the superheroes that they want to be?

Wow. I wish that I could speak on high, but what I can say is that communication and discussion is probably the centerpiece for everything, being able to talk about things and have a safe space to do so. Not every family is that idealized family, and there are a lot of variations and options. For us, even in this project, when you see Max's mother, her relationship with her family and the differences in how those dynamics work. There's a lot of great discussion options here that we wanted to help facilitate for families watching together.

Did you ever want to have a specific superpower? I know for me, I wanted to fly, so I'd love to hear from you what your ideal superpower would be?

That's a great question. I will tell you that my son has only asked me this once a month for his entire life, so you would think by now I have a better answer. I definitely wanted to fly. I also, though, thought Batman was pretty cool in that he didn't have any powers and that on some level, his power was his courage or his resilience. I appreciated that, too. I thought knowledge was the other one, being able to know at all to know what was coming. I had too many different answers, and none of them satisfy him. So at some point, I hope I'll get it right.

I feel like there's never a right answer. Flying, shapeshifting, those are always cool ones.

Stream all 10 episodes of Me which premieres on Friday, July 12th.