Nickelodeon’s Wylde Pak is about a mixed heritage family and the craziness the family gets up to during their first summer vacation together. Daughter Lily Pak (Nikki Castillo) is accustomed to staying close to home and stability, while her half-brother Jack Wylde (Benjamin Plessala) is all about going on grand adventures with his mom, never staying in one place for too long. When Jack is suddenly sent to live with his dad, Will Wylde (Ben Pronsky), his wife Min Pak (Jee Young Han), Min’s mom Halmoni (Jean Yoon), and Lily for the summer, chaos ensues. It’s a heartwarming yet humorous series portraying a blended Korean American family and their nuances in an easy-to-digest format.
Ahead of the show’s release, Asia Blooming spoke with Executive Producers Paul Watling, Kyle Marshall, and Seonna Hong, and voice actors Nikki Castillo, Benjamin Plessala, Ben Pronsky, Jee Young Han, and Jean Yoon to dive into how the show came to be.
Wylde Pak was six years in the making, with the creation of its first concept back in 2019. “The story just came pretty much from our lives, with Kyle and I,” Watling began. “We’re the co-creators of the show, kind of just jamming on story ideas, and as visual storytellers, we both come from a philosophy that real life makes for some of the best storytelling.” Marshall continued, “It kind of all started when Paul and I became new fathers. Paul became a stepfather, and then my wife and I just had our first son, so we were just kind of laughing about how we had no idea what we were doing, and how we were waiting on the real adults to show up in our lives. We just thought there could be something there that we could play with, like a new take on family dynamics.”
To tell this story centered around a mixed Korean American family, it was important to the creators to have diverse talent in front of and behind the scenes. “The studio really supported the diverse cast,” Watling began. “I think Nickelodeon in general is all about inclusivity, which is amazing. It’s become our philosophy, where we want everyone to be seen on screen, and it’s become a big part of my life for my stepdaughter, my nieces, and my nephews, to want to see them represented on screen. And as far as the process went, we also made sure the crew represented a lot of what you saw on the screen.”
For Hong, it was meaningful to see culture represented in both its mundane and celebratory moments. “I wasn’t a part of the day to day, but I got to see so much of the beautiful artwork that was coming through and so many of the subtle story points that were in episodes. Things just like the kids kicking off their shoes when they went into the house, you know, where it’s not necessarily part of the story, but things that just happen on a day-to-day basis. It really runs the gamut with those nods to AAPI families and cultures, and then there are more directed ones that are talking about specific Korean holidays and foods and stuff like that, so it’s really cool.”
An important part of bringing the show to life was, of course, casting the voice actors. For Plessala, it was his character Jack that first drew him to the story. “Jack is adventurous, and he loves to explore, but all of a sudden, he’s put into a situation he’s never been in before, where he’s stable and staying in one place. He’s always just gone here, there, and everywhere, but now he’s just here. I thought that was so interesting.” Likewise, Pronsky was intrigued by his character Will. “Will has this sort of need and longing to make sure that his kids know that they’re loved, protected, and taken care of. He’s really somebody that gives 1,000% in everything he does, so I found him to be quite relatable.”
For Castillo, Han, and Yoon, the main draw to the show was the representation it showcased. “What first caught my eye when I got the audition was the fact that it was not only a blended family, but also an Asian American family,” Castillo shared. “Growing up, I didn’t see many Asian American families in cartoons or TV, so it was really exciting to be able to portray that. It was also kind of nostalgic, because Lily really reminds me of me when I was younger.” Similarly, Han saw her past in the show and characters as well. “I never had this kind of storytelling when I was younger. It’s really just a story that resonates with little Jee, the Jee of the present, and even future Jee, because Lily, Min, and Halmoni are women that are very present in my life.” For Yoon, Halmoni’s character was also a major selling point. “It was such a great opportunity to create a blended Korean American family, but Halmoni’s character is also just such a joy. She’s so mischievous, yet so grounded.”
Part of what makes a voice actor’s job difficult is needing to portray their emotions and their characters without ever being physically seen, but sometimes, that can also be an advantage. “Voice acting is acting, and being able to portray a variety of different characters is such a blessing,” Pronsky began. “But, to do a show like this, where it really resonates with your truth and who you actually are, it isn’t about putting on a voice anymore. It’s about honoring what’s on the page, and knowing what these characters are actually going through. Part of the joy is being able to play and portray different characters with different intentions.” Pronsky’s on-screen daughter played by Castillo also chimed in with her thoughts. “Throughout the show, a lot of the theme is Jack and Lily getting themselves into trouble, and then having to work together to get themselves out of trouble. I feel like there were some instances where the trouble seemed impossible to get out of, and whenever we had those situations, it was kind of like being punched in the gut. One minute I was lightheartedly screaming, yelling, and having fun, and the next I’m putting out all these serious lines. The show is truly so versatile.”
On representation and playing a member of the starring family of the show, Castillo shared, “Whenever I would go out for roles [at the beginning of my career], it would always be for the role of best friend, next door neighbor, the crush, or something like that. It was never for the leading role, and I would never be the main story. It’s just great to see that we are the Wylde Paks. We are the show.” Han added, “It’s really beautiful what’s happening in our industry. Growing up, shows always felt like we were on the outside looking at a family through a window. Benjamin and Ben aren’t Asian, but the most wonderful thing about this show is that you see more than just the Asianness. It’s about the heart of family. You won’t feel like a foreigner watching an Asian show, it just feels like a good reflection of what families are like today. That universal storytelling is really interesting because, to me, telling Asian stories is great, but I also want to be seen as a human, not just as my race.”
With her many years of experience in the Western entertainment industry, Yoon wrapped things up sentimentally. “When I grew up, the only Asian representation on Western television was M*A*S*H. Working on a show like Wylde Pak, and even previously for me on Kim’s Convenience, it’s really [rewarding]. It’s been part of my life mission, and I feel really lucky to be here. I’m so grateful we can tell stories where it’s just a given. It’s a given that we’re Korean, but it’s also a given that we’re American. It’s just there, and we don’t have to explain it, nor do we have to apologize for it.”
Putting years of hard work and dedication into this project, what everyone wants the show to do is quite simple: make audiences feel joy and feel seen. “We’re really grateful to Nickelodeon for giving us this opportunity to dive into some personal and deep content that isn’t fully explored in a lot of kids television,” Watling shared. “The idea of inner family relationships, step siblings, half siblings, and blended families. That was part of my childhood, but I didn’t see a ton of that on screen myself. I also had a lot of conversations with Seonna about how she didn’t necessarily see herself on the screen either, so we hope that some of these kids and families watching this can bring about conversations where people see themselves and their experiences through Wylde Pak.” Chiming in, Hong also reiterated that the show isn’t just for mixed families or just for Korean American families. “It’s such a beautiful way in which these dynamics are represented, but the story is also so universal. It’s really about family, about adapting, and about people figuring out how to get along in ways you didn’t know. It’s about figuring things out as you go, which is how we sort of became adults.”
Wylde Pak‘s first episode was released on YouTube on May 1, 2025, and the series is set to officially premiere on Nickelodeon on June 6, 2025.
