'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' star Kathryn Newton reveals Paul Rudd's important advice

For Kathryn Newton, starring as Cassie in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (in theatres Feb. 17), Paul Rudd gave the new Marvel star a core piece of advice: Don't hold back.

“He made space for me. He let me try things, he told me not to hold back before we started filming,” Newton told Yahoo Canada. “I think it just really set me free to make mistakes, because he trusted me with the character. He believed in me.”

“It only takes one person to believe in you, it takes one person to change your life, and between him and our incredible director, Peyton Reed, they just encouraged me to not hold back, and this character deserved that. It deserves an actor who was going to have fun, who was going to bring it every day.”

In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the story starts by establishing a set of family secrets. Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) hasn't been honest about what happened when she was in the Quantum Realm for 30 years. Meanwhile, Scott Lang's (Rudd) daughter Cassie, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope (Evangeline Lilly) have been working on a secret project, which leads to the family going deep into the Quantum Realm, having to face Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).

“Look at this movie, look at the trailer. I'm not spoiling anything when I say it's all her fault,” Newton said. “You feel it in this movie, she feels the guilt.”

“I think it's really important as this introduction to this new version of Cassie, laying this new legacy of this character, that she learns the responsibility of being a hero.”

With such a star-studded cast, Newton admits that it was initially intimidating to act alongside these Hollywood giants, but highlighted that she felt particularly supported by everyone on the cast. Reflecting on how they went out of their way to make her feel comfortable even made the actor emotional.

“There's a reason these people are iconic actors and legends in this industry, titans of this industry,” Newton said. “I'm the newbie and they just wanted me to do a good job.”

“All of them, not just Paul. Michelle Pfeiffer was so kind to me. Evangeline Lilly … called me a couple months before filming and just wanted to know if I needed anything. … Things like that, people don't have to do. It's making me emotional thinking about it. That's why these movies are so great. Everybody loves them and they love working on them, and they loved me, or made me feel like they loved me, and I loved them. … No one can take that from me.”

Young Avengers rumours

With the introduction of this version of Cassie, it just strengthens speculation around plans for any Young Avengers projects in the future. The next generation story also comes with a well-documented friendship between Newton's character Cassie and Kate Bishop, who was played by Hailee Steinfeld in the Hawkeye series.

While Newton says she's not aware of any Young Avengers projects in the works, and doesn't have any particular expectations to move into that story, she also indicated she would enjoy to opportunity to work with Steinfeld in the future.

“I love Hailee Steinfeld. I love her in Hawkeye and I think she's incredible, and obviously, I think anytime I could work with Hailee Steinfeld, I think we'd make a great movie,” Newton said. “So that'd be awesome, but I have no expectations.”

“I have no idea. No one's saying anything about that to me. I'd love to do another movie with Paul Rudd, in any capacity. But as Kevin Feige said, … the possibilities are endless in Marvel. Nothing is impossible. So I think a lot of it is what the fans want.”

Ultimately, Newton believes in the power of fandom to really push for the return, or spinoff, of any particularly beloved character.

“I was on a show called Supernatural and I had a character named Claire Novak, and that fandom changed my life because they loved her,” Newton said. “I was only supposed to be in like one episode and then … they tried to do a pilot episode, it was like a spin off.”

“That was because the fans wanted it. … So the power of the fandom is real.”

As the MCU expands, it's natural that questions are posed around possible fatigue of the genre. For Newton, she's evidence that these movies, shows and characters do have the ability to make a long-lasting impact on fans.

“I think that there's a lot of magic in these movies," Newton said. "They definitely inspire me."

"I saw Iron Man when I was eight years old and I saw it with my dad in the movie theatre, and it blew my mind. I just wanted to be Iron Man, I wanted to be the biggest Marvel superhero of all time. I kept that dream in my back pocket my whole career. … I think that's what movies do. They make you dream. I see myself in these characters and I like to escape into the magical worlds that show them.”