What Happened to Zachary Levi?

An insider at The Hollywood Reporter, who I am suuuuure can be trusted 100%, recently informed the world that actor Zachary Levi was disappointed and “bitter” that he didn’t rise to Chris Evans or The Rock level of stardom after Shazam. Nobody can be sure if these were his true feelings, but to many, the science has been settled, and this is how he feels. So the dude became a Robert F Kennedy Jr. fan, which resulted in a Trump endorsement and running away from… or rather, escaping, LA. He now spends his time on a ranch in Texas, where, apparently, he is going to focus on making faith-based films. So, did they cancel Zachary Levi, or did they set him free?

As an actor, his silliness is always believable, especially when he pretty much plays himself, a lovable man-child who can do action scenes, like in the hilarious show Chuck. Zach is Chuck, and his life mirrors that of this regular guy nerd thrust into a wild and crazy world of action, thrills, controversy and all-around comical situations. And how does this man deal with such a super responsibility? Well, he tried hard to fit in but found that he just wanted to be himself. But who is the real Zachary Levi? The headlines and social media posts screamed statements akin to “Shazam Goes MAGA!” and conservative beliefs can be a big no-no in this industry, but maybe Harold and The Purple Crayon hurt him more than Donald and his red hat. Or is he still making great movies and TV?

To truly understand what happened to Zachary Levi, we must begin at the beginning. Like many in his profession, he fell in love with the craft early on. Acting was his dream, and succeeding was his mission, but it wasn’t easy for young Zachary. His mother struggled with severe mental health issues, along with his own battles with depression and anxiety, but he was eventually able to overcome that darkness through his faith. His first notable gig was on the series Less Than Perfect, which led to a decent supporting role for the young actor in Big Momma’s House 2 and a Kenan Thomson road trip flick called Weiners.

Levi would have his big break when he absolutely excelled as the lead in five seasons of the hit show Chuck starting in 2007 – which he had to turn down Broadway’s Young Frankenstein to do. Executives wanted Chris Pratt but knew Zachary Levi was a better fit after he nailed his audition. This show, Chuck, is a funny take on an everyday nerd getting sucked into a world of espionage and action. It still gives you comfortable, familiar situation comedy vibes mixed with a spy thriller, creative action camera work and fun, flashy editing that make it a fantastic little show. It embraced geek culture before it was cool. It was so beloved that after the network cancelled Chuck, the show was brought back for another season after a massive fan protest campaign. Even though the whole cast was excellent, Levi held it all together with his trademark charm and skills at spitting out fast, awkward, yet still cool dialogue. Yep, Zachary Levi was pretty much the coolest nerd on the block. He got to ham it up but never went overboard.

While working on Chuck, he found time to take over the Alvin and The Chipmunks franchise with their Squeakquel and in 2010, he provided a fan favourite vocal performance in Disney’s Tangled ( a song he sang in that movie won a Grammy). His voice acting as Flynn Rider lead to many other voice acting roles like replacing Mel Gibson in the new Chicken Run, that Night At The Museum cartoon, Robot Chicken, Family Guy, Star Wars: Detours, Joseph in The Star, Hot Dog Man in Lego Jurassic World, Fallout: New Vegas, Halo: Reach, Apollo 10 1/2, not to mention Shazam in LEGO DC Super-Villains and of course returning to play Flynn again in the Tangled TV show and the Kingdom Heart III video game. Yep, the dude has a great voice and can sing, too, taking to the Broadway stage and receiving a Tony nomination for She Loves Me in 2016.

But Shazam was not this man’s first superhero rodeo. Marvel Studio wanted Zachary to play Fandral in Thor, but that didn’t work out due to scheduling conflicts with Chuck. Then, the actor they went with had scheduling conflicts of his own, so Levi was able to step in and replace him in the sequel. Like many things, Levi has not been shy about sharing his disappointment in this squash buckler’s lack of screen time in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. He would do some more superhero stuff with Heroes: Reborn and a fun performance in Psych: The Movie. This was all while taking on the period piece mini-series Alias Grace, in addition to starring in a low-budget zombie movie , Office Uprising. But he would impress his critics by charming us all as the love interest for one season in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Then he did something truly marvellous by playing “Captain Marvel”… who legally goes by the name Shazam now…in that movie Shazam! in 2019. That’s right, Zachary Levi was chosen to join the DCEU…when that was kinda a thing. It might be hard to remember, but at the time, Shazam took a refreshing and playful turn away from the darkness that was established by the Snyderverse. Many of us had a blast watching this, even though it was DC just trying to do the Marvel thing. Levi shines as the superhero. We never got to see Shazam fight Black Adam on screen, but we got to see them feud in real life over cameos. The Rock wouldn’t allow Justice Society characters to cameo in Shazam, which upset Levi. The Rock also didn’t want Shazam in the Black Adam movie, replacing Shazam with Superman in the end credits. Shazam was supposed to remain in James Gunn DCU, but after Shazam 2: Fury of the Gods tanked at the box office, that seems to be improbable, especially after Levi publicly shared frustration with Shazam 2 haters/critics and how the studio handled the marketing.

In between Shazam’s, he popped up in the drama The Mauritanian and took on the lead for a true-life football flick, American Underdog. After standing in front of a green screen in Spy Kids Armageddon, he once again played a man-child cuz, for some reason, they cast him as the little boy in that Harold and the Purple Crayon movie that totally bombed at the box office. So with a handful of forgettable flops, this once promising semi-A-lister turned to politics, and moved to Texas. He was off to make (for lack of a better term) non-woke independent projects by launching his own production studio to “champion original stories over Hollywood reboots”.

Then came that Trump endorsement. With most Hollywood celebrities leaning left, it was not surprising that many were shocked to hear the words “Make America Great Again” come out of Shazam’s mouth. He followed that up by saying, “Make America Healthy Again,” and that he jumped on the Trump train by way of former democrats Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. Levi has noted that he was raised with a “healthy level of distrust in the government.” Here is the thing about Levi: he goes into the liberal lion’s den and knows how to hold his own when discussing controversial political topics. And, of course, when talking about these things, one is bound to upset, confuse and anger many with information or misinformation (whichever you prefer to call it). This can result in former cast members saying things like “f*ck yourself forever” when suggesting or questioning if a friend’s cancer could have been a side effect of Covid-19 vaccinations.

Like him or not, Zachary Levi is willing to risk his career to stand up for what he believes in and will continue to speak out and share his opinions on big pharma, big politics, big Hollywood and big people who work in Hollywood. A lot of people would like to join in on the “f*ck yourself forever” train, but others respect him for simply questioning the status quo. Still, others don’t care either way and just want to watch good movies. He does have a heartwarming picture around the corner called The Unbreakable Boy and seven other projects in the works. Anything is possible, and I am damn curious to discover what the future holds for Mr. Levi.

We live in an interesting time in terms of politics, technology and the entertainment industry, with new political leaders taking office, new platforms and new ways of storytelling popping up every day, it is gonna be fascinating to see where people like Levi end up. Will there be a rise in independent cinema that he can be a part of? Will we continue to build new studios? Will movies become more or less woke? Will our nation heal from the recent political divide? And will public figures like Zachary Levi help heal or worsen it? Only time will tell, and it has been a wild ride watching this “man-child” grow up and get a little grey.