“When you watch an episode, you can see that it oozes love”: Harvey Guillén on Shape Island season two
Shape Island unveils a brand new second season of the children’s stop-motion series, based on the bestselling books by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen called Shapes. Framing the imaginative stories around the characters of Square, Triangle and Circle, the adventures they have together show the importance of tolerance, friendship and fun between the three friends.
The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to Harvey Guillén, who voices the character Square, about navigating each other’s differences, what he found so unique and appealing about the series, and why he wanted to be a part of the animated show.
Can you tell us about the series Shape Island as it heads into season two? What can viewers expect?
I think that the series is so beautifully done by the creators. I was a fan of their books beforehand, so to have this become a stop-motion series is so great. The art that goes into it, I was just thinking that every still frame on this show can be stopped on the screen and screenshot and framed. It’s just so beautifully lit, so beautifully done – it’s just beautiful. Literally every time I see even just a picture of a still, it just blows my mind how we can make something like this, not just for children, but just storytelling in general, for everybody.
I’m so proud to be a part of this show, where the message is so simple and so pure, about everyday challenges I think we can all relate to. How to communicate with our loved ones, our friends. How to stand up for yourself. How to have an opinion. How to not be talked over. How to become your own best version of what you are, and who you are, and who you’re meant to be, and whatever shape that is. That’s kind of the message that I love about this project.
How did you first get involved?
I was asked if I would consider the role, and I just thought this would be so great to do. I wanted to be part of this project. It wasn’t even an ask. As soon as I knew what they were doing, and that there might even be a small interest that I play one of the characters, I jumped at the idea, just because growing up I was such a fan of stop-motion.
Growing up, the holidays were around watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stop motion, and Buddy the Elf and all those things you grew up watching – you always thought, how do they make this? As a child, you never know how these characters move, because they look so lifelike, their hair…Now, as an adult, I know how things are made. The magic is still there, because I’m even more curious, and my hat goes off to the designers and all the artists who make this project, because it takes a while. Every still frame, every second, they have to move one hand, and one eyelid, and it just takes so long. You really have to love what you’re doing. That’s the thing with this project, everyone involved really loves this, and you can see that on screen. When you watch an episode, you can see that it oozes love. Every still is just so beautifully done.
Can you talk about your character, Square? How did you get into that headspace, and do you feel like you relate to him at all? What are his qualities?
I love Square. I feel that we’ve all had a friend like Square who has structure every day, and they need structure. But also, when structure is interrupted (because we also have friends who don’t think the same way), that’s totally fine. We have friends who are more “loosey-goosey”, and that’s fine. It’s how to communicate what’s important to you and how to respect what’s important to them.
There are qualities about him that I wish I had more of. Square has more patience than I do. I learned from my character and from watching him, and how he reacts, but then there are sometimes I’m like, “Square, you need to speak up, you can’t just let people walk over you!”
Sometimes there are scenes in the script that I would remember just feeling like, he’s ignoring the problem, or he’s avoiding it, and people do that who avoid confrontation, and I think it’s human nature, people don’t like conflict, and sometimes people avoid it, but then sometimes that small issue becomes a huge hurdle, doesn’t it? Because you didn’t nip it in the bud earlier. So I think that’s a great lesson that a lot of us can learn from Square. I know I have. I think that I learned he has more patience than I have, so I’ve taken that, and every day I’m like, what would Square do in this situation?
It’s hard because we’re all human, and we all have flaws, but we’re also learning. We’re not the same Square that we were yesterday, and we’re not the same Square that we’re gonna be tomorrow. That’s the truth.
The characters are very personality-driven instead of just all being about these mass adventures and situations or themes. Does that offer a unique feel to the series?
I think it does. It’s because the smallest issue, like Square not being able to find his favourite mug, sounds like a simple problem, but there are more layers there. We have to ask the question, why does something as simple as not finding your mug have such a trigger? Why does that escalate so easily? And I think sometimes we don’t ask ourselves what’s deeper, and maybe that’s just scratching the surface. Maybe there’s something there, maybe you should ask yourself why things need to be so perfect?.
You’ve voiced roles in Puss in Boots and the Garfield movie. What do you like about that way of storytelling as an actor?
I love that with voiceover, you can become so many different characters, and with the work of the animators, the production team and the creatives, you can create a story completely with a character where live action may not have been a possibility. Square has layers and layers of even more emotion that we might see on a live-action character on screen.
Sometimes I go home more exhausted from voiceover, because you don’t have your limbs, your eyes, your facial expressions, your body movements to help you with your acting, most of, if not all of your acting is all voice so you have to control the level of your voice, if you have to convey anger, frustration, love, it’s all through your vocal cords and you have to convey that through voice, and you can’t rely on anything else as a trick or gimmick, like you could on screen. In front of the camera, you sometimes can rely on a movement, a wink, or whatnot. You can’t do that with voiceover. You have to be able to convey empathy, sadness and tragedy with the level of your voice.
How did you film this? Was it alone in a booth or with other actors present?
We’ve been working on this for a couple of years, and it’s never to stop motion. You don’t really see it in front of you, because we don’t do it that way. It’s the voice recording that comes first, especially because stop motion takes such a long time. For the most part, I think voiceover is done way before even the stop motion starts because they do it to the sound and with the clip that they decided to use. He might have said a word with a different inflexion and a diphthong in there, and then that changes the way the movement of the character is laid out.
It’s so interesting to see it all come together because you’re in a room with a microphone and the engineer behind the glass, and it’s just you, by yourself, with this character, and sometimes, for my character, being that he spends some time alone in the season, it was kind of perfect, because it was very isolated and on your own but also very empowering, because he’s a different person when he’s on his own, and everything’s going according to plan. He’s more confident, and his voice changes a little bit when he’s on his own. He’s peppy because he’s in control. But then again, we’re scratching at the surface of, like, what happens when things aren’t in order?
What was it like finally watching yourself back as Square and hearing your voice combined with the stop motion visuals?
I think one of my highlights was seeing the first season, the Christmas episode, with my niece, and she just loved it. This is the kind of entertainment that she just loves to watch. It was just a beautiful thing to see that I’m part of now what’s become a holiday tradition and a family tradition for us; watching this episode, and that I’ve become what I grew up watching every season. I remember watching the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stop motion every Christmas, and now I’ve become a Christmas episode with my character that I love, and now Square has become a part of my niece’s childhood.
Ezelle Alblas
Shape Island season two is released on Apple TV+ on 29th August 2025.
Watch the trailer for Shape Island season two here:
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