Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has been acting for just under a decade now, and in that short span of time, he’s portrayed a lot of superheroes and supervillains. He’s starred in Aquaman, the Watchman series, and now, he’s starring in the new Marvel show Wonder Man. Abdul-Mateen II sat down with our friend and correspondent jarrett hill to talk about the new series, his dreams of one day owning a farm, and much more!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorne is a production of Maximum Fun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:22.6	It's Bolzai. I'm Jesse Thorne.
0:26.1	Our next guest this week is Yaya Abdulmatine II.
0:27.5	He's an actor.
0:30.5	He didn't book his first part until he was almost 30.
0:34.3	Before that, he worked in San Francisco as a city planner.
0:39.3	And for somebody who's been acting for less than 10 years, he has been a lot of superheroes and supervillains. He was in Aquaman as Manta, an evil pirate. In 2019, he was
0:46.9	Dr. Manhattan in the Watchmen series. Definitely a show to check out. If you haven't, that
0:52.8	role earned him an Emmy. Now he has the title role
0:56.2	in the new Marvel series Wonder Man. Sort of. When the show begins, Abdul Mateen is Simon Williams. He is
1:04.2	an aspiring actor with a chance to book the biggest part of his life, the lead role in a big-budget
1:09.5	prestige Hollywood production called Wonder Man.
1:12.9	The twist is that Williams himself has superpowers, something that he has to hide at all costs.
1:21.0	It's a fun show, right? Good premise. Interviewing Yaya is our friend and correspondent Jarrett Hill.
1:27.3	Let's get into it.
1:32.7	Yaya Abdulmatine II.
1:34.8	Welcome to Bullseye.
1:36.6	Thank you for having.
1:37.9	Absolutely.
1:38.9	How do you prepare yourself for press runs?
1:42.2	I feel like all of my friends who are actors have different ways of
1:45.9	engaging with doing media and press and things one after another after another. How do you
	...

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