You can’t have a classic Indiana Jones movie without a good supporting cast, including good baddies! For Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Harrison Ford’s whip-smart hero finds himself going toe-to-toe with Mads Mikkelsen’s Jürgen Voller and his “lapdog” Klaber, played by Boyd Holbrook, in hot pursuit of a legendary artifact. Meanwhile, Shaunette Renée Wilson’s Agent Mason is hot on their trail! During the press junket, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff was curious to find out more about what makes this trio of characters tick.

The Dial of Destiny is directed by James Mangold and executive produced by Steven Spielberg and finds a ready-to-retire Indiana Jones being swept back into another adventure when his estranged goddaughter, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), swipes a rare device from his home. As luck would have it, Voller, a former Nazi, now employed as a physicist in the US, is also after this peculiar device, rumored to cause tears in the fabric of time.

Check out Perri’s interview in the video above or in the transcript down below to find out what important details informed Wilson’s Agent Mason, why Klaber joined up with the villainous Voller, and what makes a man like Voller anxious. The trio also discusses joining a huge franchise, what makes a great scene partner, and more!

Image via Disney+

PERRI NEMIROFF: Boyd and Mads, I’ll throw this first question to you because one of my favorite things about Indiana Jones movies is seeing familiar elements and ideas come back, so when you’re playing an Indy villain, is there anything you’ve seen in a past Indy bad guy that you wanted to hold tight to, but then I also want the opposite, something that made your characters uniquely your own?

BOYD HOLBROOK: Oh gosh, they’re not too kooky. They’re not too, you know, “twist-the-mustache.”

MADS MIKKELSEN: There’s a framework in Indiana Jones, but the parameters are fairly wide and you can stretch that. You’ve seen that before. But there’s also a reality sense that you have to be honest to. It’s very hard to put a finger on, but you know what it is when you see it. It’s like, this belongs or this doesn’t belong, right? But you can’t put a finger on it.

Whenever I turn on one of these movies and it has those qualities, it feels like coming home. There’s an inherent warmth in it, and I love it.

Shaunette, if I could have a prequel to this movie, I would want Agent Mason’s story. Is there any backstory detail you came up with on your own that maybe we don’t see or hear about in the movie, but we can feel informing your performance and the choices she makes?

SHAUNETTE RENÉE WILSON: Yeah, I think the fact that she’s this young black woman, that she was able to kind of blend in a little bit with the younger community in New York, especially as she has this edge. Maybe she was recruited to do a little bit of COINTELPRO or something, but then got assigned to this situation and maybe is initially already frustrated with that and the lack of respect that she’s been able to glean from these guys knowing that there’s a lot of tension with the ideology and racism and all these things. So that was just a little bit of something that I put in there for myself.

Image via Empire

I know you were on the set of Black Panther, but was there anything about jumping into a big franchise film in a more significant role like this that made you stand there and go, “My god, I can’t believe this is what it takes to bring a character like this to screen in a big franchise movie like this?”

WILSON: Oh yeah, I mean, the journey was incredible just from the fittings and the fine-tuning of this jacket as opposed to that jacket, and the length of hair this way or the fro being a little bit longer. And then getting to my first day on set, and it was out in Glasgow and exterior, just a big sweeping — I mean, the fact that they were able to turn Glasgow into New York, 1969 was just wonderful. I feel like there are so many incredibly talented people involved in this process, and all I have to do is just kind of walk here, say this line, ignore this guy [points to Holbrook], flip open a little pad [laughs], and you know what I mean? It’s just like, “Oh, this is insane!” But, you know, it’s just that so much work has gone into these intimate moments and the relationship with these characters, so yeah, it was surreal for sure.

I’ll throw that question to both of you now as well because Shaunette just brought up tiny details and the importance of them. Is there any small detail, whether it’s something in the production design, costume design, a personal choice you made that might not be front and center in a frame, but you knew was really important to filling out this world?

HOLBROOK: Jim [Mangold] said he didn’t want to offend me, but, “I have a role for you. Read it and then we’ll talk.” And then I read it, and I was like, “Man, I’m the bad guy. That sucks. I wanna be the good guy,” but you have to make these characters work. On the screen, my character is a lapdog to Mads’ character and that may seem very simple, but to me, trying to wrap my head around why would a guy be affiliated with this party, and then just going in deeper and finding out, well, he’s not really accepted anywhere, and this is really the only club or tribe that will accept him. So, [he’s] going not so much with the ideology, but just more of the acceptance, and that’s my loyalty to Mads’ character, and I think that’s what kept me in him.

Didn’t expect to get a heartbreaking backstory for him.

HOLBROOK: Yeah, a lot of therapy after this. [Laughs]

Image via Lucasfilm

How about for you, Mads?

MIKKELSEN: Oh, I don’t know. There’s a lot of things that you do and it might not end up, but it might just be in the back of your head when you do it. I think I was trying to make this character nervous to a degree when he was not the boss of the room, and the second he was the boss of the room, he wasn’t nervous at all. So I would just go back and forth with that and see how that played out. Like, a man who wasn’t completely secure all the time. I’m not sure it comes across, but that’s what I did!

For all three of you now, I was watching the press conference you did at Cannes and something that Harrison brought up caught my ear. He was emphasizing that all the actors on this set gave more to each other than he had ever really seen before, so can you each pinpoint a time when another cast member gave to you when you needed it most?

WILSON: It was my birthday on set and Phoebe [Waller-Bridge] got me a cake and a little card. You know, she plays with a deck of cards in the film and gave me a little card, I think it’s the queen of hearts in an illustration of my character, and it was wonderful. You know, when you have to work on your birthday, it can be a kind of love/hate relationship where you’re like, “I’m in all day and I’m at work. I would rather be …” whatever, but I think everyone, crew as well, just decorating — it was just really lovely, and again, Phoebe with the cake and everything, so I really felt like I was being celebrated, and that was touching.

That’s such a nice thing to have. I love that! How about for you two?

[Editors Note: The rest of this article contains spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny]MIKKELSEN: Can we spoiler alert? There’s a scene where she kind of doesn’t make it out of there alive. [Laughs] Sorry about that. So you shoot that again and again and again, right? And then camera eventually turns around and it’s my turn. And this is what it’s all about, that you’re still doing the same thing, you’re still acting out, you’re still throwing that disbelief towards me every time. And this is what we want from each other. It’s not always the case, but I think we did it 20 times and you kept going there, tearing up in your eyes, even though you were off-screen. This is what it’s all about.

Image via Disney+

Can you top that, Boyd?

HOLBROOK: I don’t know if I could top that. Just the memory of Harrison welcoming, truly feeling like you’re welcome here. We love what you do, you’re as important as we are. I think that just makes a really good place to make good work, and Harrison has always shown that he’s not the star who’s in his trailer all the time. He’s, I don’t know, he’s just like your dad hanging out. He’s just there.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters on June 30th. Find out what Harrison Ford looks for in a great scene partner in Perri’s interview below.