In the world of Nimona, Netflix’s new animated family film, knights are the heroes of the realm and celebrities in their own right, achieving their status via a televised knighting ceremony. For Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), the ceremony is marred by the fact that his boyfriend and fellow prospective knight, Ballister Blackheart (Riz Ahmed), has seemingly murdered the queen and gone on the run. Tasked with hunting him down, Ambrosius is torn between a sense of duty to the kingdom and doing what he knows to be right.

In this one-on-one interview with Collider, Yang talks about playing with the idea of questioning what is right, his favorite Ambrosius ad-lib, and getting to tell an inherently queer story. He also talks about the idea of rebelling from within and which parts of the story felt the most true.

COLLIDER: Diving right in, what is it about Nimona that drew you to the project?

EUGENE LEE YANG: I was mainly first drawn, having been a huge fan of [ND Stevenson’s] prior to my casting. So, knowing that this was an incredible story already on page, in graphic novel form, that was also inherently queer and created by a queer person, I mean, you already had me sold. And then, let alone being approached to voice act in it? I was over the moon.

What is it then about Ambrosius, specifically, that kind of hooked you as a character you wanted to play?

YANG: I feel like Ambrosius is such a great representation of this idea of being stuck between this sense of what you’re being told is right versus what you feel you know is right, and that is something that everyone can relate to at some point in their lives. With him, it’s really deeply tied to his identity as the hero of the realm, and that’s something that I’ve always related to, especially as an Asian American, as a queer person, this idea of performing the duties and the honors that I’ve been told in the systems I live in, and then bucking that in the end. That’s Ambrosius to a T, and that’s a lot of my life.

Image via Netflix

I know this is based on the graphic novel, but did you get the chance to kind of have input with the creative team to expand Ambrosius from where he was on the page to now what we see on screen?

YANG: I think that a lot of that was done by the writers, who did such an incredible job of translating this particular version of Goldenloin. For me, I think what was really cool was I ad-libbed quite a bit in the booth, and so there were small changes that were made here and there that fit, I guess, the situation more in certain scenes. And a lot of that was because they knew that he had to have a certain amount of charm to him to be believable as this hero, but also, at the same time, he’s going through a lot of bad stuff with his man. And so that aspect, I mean, you can’t really teach that. I was just pulling from experience. I was like, “Oh, god, this is like me fighting with my boyfriend.” So that’s where there was quite a bit of, like, “Ah, we can source some of that personal strife and use it as part of his character!”

Is there a standout ad-lib that you can remember that you just thought, “Yes. Love this?”

YANG: Yeah, there is a point in the film where he imagines that he actually has an outburst with the director, and most of that was written, but it changed quite a bit. And also, there are takes of me just screaming for three minutes about just absolutely the wackiest things. I think that was one of the first times in the booth that I really felt like, “Oh, this character is gonna be such a great example of a stressed-out person who’s trying to do his job.” [Laughs] But really, it should also try to honor his one true love.

What would you say are specific challenges that came with adapting this story for the screen?

YANG: I think that the challenge is that it’s always hard to update or translate something from book form. And ND being a part of the process, I know he likes the film. He loves the film. It’s a different version of the story, but I think a lot of that was, you know, I believe truly that the one thing that makes this film really work is making sure that Nimona is her spirit; everything about her needs to be translated the most directly to screen because that’s what made the graphic novel so successful and really impactful, and I think it’s been achieved. It does such a great job. Nimona is such a cool, lovable, complex, weird chaotic character, and they really, really nailed that.

On my personal level, I just really love on screen that the Ambrosius and Ballister relationship is established unabashedly up top in the film, and that they’re really tender with each other the entire time. Even when they’re fighting, they’re very tender, and I think that was a really cool choice that was made.

Image via Netflix

I like how explicit that was made, like right off the top, because the graphic novel does take a minute to get there, but five seconds into seeing them, I’m like, “I hope these two…” and then immediately! It was just so beautiful to see.

YANG: Yeah, they were like, “Oh, boyfriends!” [Laughs]

It was like, “Yes!”

YANG: Yes, boyfriends!

I don’t have to delude myself for two hours, they are boyfriends!

YANG: Absolutely. There’s no will they/won’t they. It’s like, they did, they had, they will! [Laughs]

They still are.

YANG: They still are!

So, we can say spoiler-free, but is there a specific moment you are most excited for audiences to see?

YANG: Yeah, I think the climax of the film is really, really impactful and important, and the line that’s delivered, “I see you,” at a particular part is just such a graceful, simple message that is lost on so many people out there right now. This idea that if you just can recognize that someone is different or struggling or just wants to have the validation of someone saying, “I care about what you’re going through. I care about who you are,” that is the bottom line. That’s what Nimona needed, that’s what a lot of viewers, I think, might need, and that’s the standout message, for me, that you walk away from the film with.

Image via Netflix

That’s the message you hope that audiences take away at the end, the importance of being seen?

YANG: Yeah, the importance of being seen. I also love the message– I hope they take away the feeling of finding little ways to rebel in the institutions that are trapping you. There are some healthy productive ways you can do that.

I love that.

YANG: Turn into your version of a whale! [Laughs]

Nimona is now streaming on Netflix.