Interview with YouTube Reactor Liam Duke!

Liam Duke is a reactor on YouTube with over 11K subscribers and has his earliest video dating back four years to 2017. Liam was kind enough to take some time and to answer some questions I had for him:

Why did you decide to start reacting and reviewing for YouTube?

I discovered reaction videos during my first year at university and found it was a great way of spending my free time between lectures or passing time in the evenings. I’d always had a passion for TV and film, I was studying acting, and thought I’d give it a go myself when deciding to start Stranger Things after all the hype. I set up my iPad and went from there! It was also a tough time for me mentally around then and I found recording, editing, and interacting with commenters as an excellent distraction. That really helped propel my passion for doing it.

What are some movies/TV Shows that you could watch every month and never get tired of? Is there a specific reason?

I could watch Doctor Who, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Shadowhunters, and Buffyverse shows on a loop. The characters and stories of all of those shows are so rich and multiple viewings always provide chances to spot things you missed or make connections that hadn’t clicked with you before that it’s always worth revisiting your favourites. They were the shows I’ve had some of my favourite experiences with, in terms of reacting and interacting with their fandoms, so that always gets me excited to watch them whenever I have a spare moment or want something in the background while I focus on other stuff. As for movies, I could and have watched The Dark Knight on repeat; it’s probably still my favourite movie of all time. I adore it.

I found you through your Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reactions so I would love to know, what are some of your favorite comic book movies and/or TV shows?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is far and away my favourite comic book show, and it’s great to have seen more and more people discover how wonderful it is for themselves through my channel. I’ve had a fair few messages from people saying my passion for the show got them interested in checking it out and they ended up loving it. It’s such an incredible cast of characters with amazing acting and it truly does get better and better. It’s sad that some people seem to refuse to give it a chance. I think Arrow is an early comic book show that really got me into the genre as a whole so that show still has a place in my heart, and I must say most recently I adored WandaVision. I didn’t know what to expect from it so it blew my expectations away and then some. It was very experimental and different from the norm, something that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. often achieved, and it told a story set in the MCU in a completely different way to what had come before. As for movies, I’ve already mentioned The Dark Knight is one of my favourites.

What television show and/or movie series do you wish would make a comeback?

I would love to see Shadowhunters come back. It had really found its footing and was doing awesome stuff and it’s such a shame that some behind-the-scenes deals couldn’t be sorted out so they just canceled it. That cast deserved so much better and we were just getting to the part of the story that I as a book fan was really excited to see their take on. As for a movie franchise, this might be an odd pick but I’ve always had a deep love of the live-action Scooby-Doo films with Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, etc. and always thought getting a third film with that cast to round off that iteration of those characters would have been great. They’re very much a product of the time, of course, but the childhood love I have for them always leaves me nostalgic and wishing we had more. I know they’ve done more live-action ones since without those guys but I think I was just outside the target age range so they passed me by and I never developed a passion for them.

What actors/writers/directors/showrunners do you find yourself always excited to see on the big or small screen? Are there any that you wish you would see be involved in more projects than they are?

Iain De Caestecker, Fitz on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is my favourite actor of all time; he’s incredible at what he does and while he’s got a few things coming up I’m always gobsmacked that he isn’t a bigger deal. I’ll eat up anything he’s in even if it may not necessarily be my thing. It’s a similar deal with actors like Matt Smith, Tom Holland, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Jenna Coleman. Steven Moffat is a writer and showrunner I’m a big fan of – I loved his era of Doctor Who – so I do tend to check out whatever he’s up to from time to time. In terms of directors, I’m a huge fan of Matthew Vaughn, I love Stardust, the Kingsman movies and I think X-Men: First Class is genuinely great, as well as Rachel Talalay and Nick Hurran who have both helmed some of my favourite looking, if not favourite in general, Doctor Who episodes. I also like that writers, directors, and showrunners get nearly as much spotlight as actors nowadays. I think it gets people properly interested in what goes on offscreen just as much as who or what we see onscreen.

What is upcoming that you plan on reacting to and/or reviewing on your channel that you are especially excited about?

One of the big requests I’ve gotten for years was to react to Xena: Warrior Princess and I should be getting into that next year which I’m very excited about! I’ve also had a personal interest in covering Shadow & Bone on the channel so I’m hoping to get to that very soon too. I’m also looking to expand the type of shows I react to on the channel so I’m going to be looking for some comedies to add to the line-up.

Please go and check out Liam’s YouTube channel Liam Duke – YouTube and check him out on Twitter @DukeOfSwindon