Times are tough for Joe Hardy (Alexander Elliot). Always the first one to jump into a mystery, he’s facing an even bigger challenge in The Hardy Boys Season 3 since his brother Frank (Rohan Campbell) isn’t…quite himself anymore. How the gang will get through that supernatural quandary is just one of the many questions facing the Bridgeport crew heading into the third and final season.

In this on-set interview from December 2022 with Collider’s Arezou Amin, Elliot talks about Joe taking charge in Season 3 and the challenges of making the final season. He also dove into his obsession with ’80s culture and music and what he hopes fans take away from the show.

COLLIDER: All right, so let’s start off with the big one. What can you tease about Joe’s journey for the new season?

ALEXANDER ELLIOT: Oh wow. Oh wow, okay, this season we see a lot more of Joe not being a kid anymore, you know? It’s a little more serious, he’s taking lead, he’s taking charge of the group a lot, and you know, there’s a few more action-intensive stuff, some fight stuff, that he gets to be a part of. So yeah, a little more grown-up.

Alright, so with all this action and intensity and stuff, what part of that has been the most challenging?

ELLIOT: It was challenging in a good way, but learning the fights was crazy because I’ve never done that before. And so I’m not going to spoil who the fight is with, but I felt like a superhero.

Nice.

ELLIOT: Choreographed fights and stuff; it was pretty fun.

So Joe has always been kind of the first one to decide that there’s a mystery here, and we need to solve it. He’s a take-charge guy. There’s quite a mystery with his brother not being quite his brother. So what can you sort of tell us about him coming to that realization?

ELLIOT: Well, like I said before, since Frank isn’t really helping the gang so much, you know, as he’s not himself. Joe has to kind of take the mantle of leader. So as they work out this kind of weird time of, “Frank’s not Frank,” Joe has to pick up the gang and make sure everybody gets to where they need to be.

Image via Hulu

So we’re gonna move away from spoiler territory, just more broadly with the show now. So what, for you, over the last three seasons has been the most fun?

ELLIOT: Oh man, that’s really tough. That’s really tough. Um, most fun I’ve had is just any scene where it’s the whole gang, any scene where the whole Hardy gang is there. If you see us, you can see everybody behind the camera getting really mad because we’re wasting takes laughing so much. That’s all we ended up doing, we’re all laughing and having a great time and I don’t think anything we’ve done has been more fun than that.

Who’s the worst offender for getting everybody laughing?

ELLIOT: Oh, okay, in terms of getting people laughing? I’m gonna say Cristian [Perri], just because it’s a chain reaction of he makes me laugh really easily, and then when I laugh, it makes Riley [O’Donnell] laugh really easily. And then at that point, everybody’s laughing. So yeah, I’m gonna say Cristian.

In prepping for the show, you know, set in the ‘80s, you’ve gotta get yourself in the mindset of an ‘80s teenager. What was your favorite takeaway from that research? Pop culture, wardrobe, music?

ELLIOT: Oh, well, I pretty much grew up on ‘80s culture and pop culture, stuff like that. I think I watched Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, like, 200 million times when I was little. Anytime I was on a road trip, we had Back to the Future playing, every single time. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve watched that movie. That, and music, as well. [I have] a whole massive playlist of ‘80s music on my phone because I’m just, I’m a big fan.

Image via Hulu

So on that note, maybe you need a second to think about this, so we can circle back to it, but if you had to pick a theme song for Joe… we can circle back to it.

ELLIOT: I’m gonna need to think about that.

While you think about that, you mentioned fight scenes and stuff, but is there anything you maybe haven’t had the chance to do yet that you hope you’ll get to before the show wraps?

ELLIOT: It’s tough. It’s tough because we’ve done so much on this show. Like we’ve done everything, we’ve done stunts, we’ve done every type of scene, we’ve done comedy, drama. We’ve even done some horror-type things in Season 2 with the demon, and the cave, and that whole sequence. So it’s tough to say that there’s something I haven’t done on this show. I don’t know if I have an answer for that one.

All right. Well, hey, being satisfied with everything you’ve done is a good answer. So, if you could take anything home from set what would you take with you?

ELLIOT: Calculator watch. Any day I am taking this one once the season’s over. I don’t know, this is so integral to Joe’s character. Like every single scene, since day one, I’ve had this on. So I’m definitely going to steal this.

You’re very attached to it.

ELLIOT: Yeah.

Image via Hulu

What do you hope fans take away from Season 3?

ELLIOT: Well, we do know Season 3 is the last season, and I’m hoping that everybody can take away that we wrapped it up in a satisfying way. I’m happy with how we wrapped it up. And so I’m hoping that when everybody watches it, they’ll see, and they’ll be happy with the whole three-season arc. I don’t know, hopefully it all turns out well.

Are there parts of yourself that you think are really reflected in Joe, or vice versa? Like where you feel that you’re very similar?

ELLIOT: It didn’t used to be like this, but I’ve always aspired to be more like Joe in terms of his more adventurous side, of that attitude of “Let’s do this because it seems fun and ask questions about it later.” And so I think I’ve been learning to be more like that in life, and that always leads to more fun adventures.

So any thoughts on the music? It doesn’t have to be an ‘80s song.

ELLIOT: Could I look through my ‘80s playlist?

Yeah, go for it.

ELLIOT: I have some ideas. But oh, it’s really tough. It’s really tough. I’m thinking something like rock. I’m gonna give a few options. “Jump,” Van Halen. That’s pretty good. I feel like “We Got the Beat” is also pretty good. You know? I feel like that fits. I’ll give one more.

I like how upbeat these are.

ELLIOT: Yeah. I feel like that’s just Joe. I’m gonna say, oh, “My Sharona.” That’s a good one, I can imagine that song playing while Joe’s doing some adventure.

The Hardy Boys Season 3 begins streaming on July 26.