Jake Thomas is best known for Lizzie McGuire, where he played the role of the titular character’s mischievous younger brother, Matt McGuire. He reprised the role in Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire movie as well. In the more than two decades after the beloved Disney Channel show ended, Thomas has continued to take on a variety of acting roles, along with working as a commercial photographer and director. He now continues to branch out with his role in the new third-person action-adventure video game MindsEye.
Thomas provided voice and performance capture for the eccentric tech CEO Marco Silva, who is a pivotal character in the game and has ambitious plans for altering the course of human evolution. Those plans involve the game’s protagonist, Jacob Diaz (Alex Hernandez), a former soldier who has an electronic device implanted in his brain known as the MindsEye. Players will take control of Jacob as he heads toward the city of Redrock for answers about the mysterious implant, his memory loss, and the flashbacks he is having.
ScreenRant spoke with Thomas about the unique experience of spending years doing voice and performance capture work for MindsEye, along with what else players can expect from the game. He also shared details about growing up on the set of Lizzie McGuire, the cast members he still keeps in touch with, and divulged tantalizing details about the scrapped Lizzie McGuire revival.
MindsEye Is "A Really Cinematic Experience" Featuring Jake Thomas' "Egocentric" & "Complicated" Character
He Had A Long & Rewarding Journey With The Game
Thomas worked on MindsEye for a while, admitting that «it was very difficult not to talk about this game that I worked on for over the four and half, almost five years that I’ve been on this project. It’s been so secretive, even to the point that I didn’t know what the actual title of the game was going to be until a couple of years after I starting working on it.»
While Thomas has done video game work in the past, MindsEye was unlike anything he had ever done before: «I’m wearing the motion capture suit with all the dots, but we have helmets that have an arm and cameras on it that track all our facial movements. This is like stepping into the skin of a digital character and every movement and nuance of my face is captured…and it’s put into my character model.»
Not only was it different, but Thomas finds that he prefers video game motion capture to other artistic mediums he has done in the past: «I kind of like it more than the traditional media! You’re on a small sound stage, and you don’t have to wear any kind of hair or makeup. There’s no bright lights, no camera repositioning you’re having to do. It’s all very reminiscent of doing a stage play with no audience.»
«Marco has his fingers in everything that happens» and has «ulterior motives in working with Jacob.»
When discussing Marco, Thomas describes him as «crazy» and «egocentric» and, while he «doesn’t technically run Redrock City…everything kind of revolves around Silva Corporation…the sky cars, the citybots that patrol the city are all of his own making.» As for Marco’s relationship with Jacob, Thomas remarks that it «is a complicated one» because «Marco has his fingers in everything that happens» and has «ulterior motives in working with Jacob.»
While there is no shortage of video game options available, Thomas highlights that MindsEye feels unique due to it being «a really cinematic experience» and because «we have a star-studded cast from Alex Hernandez of Amazon’s Peripheral, Anjali Bhimani from Ms. Marvel, Dominic Burgess from Palm Royale and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew…the whole cast is a really talented group of people I had the pleasure of working with. Through the cutscenes, the in-game dialogue, everything is going to be pretty riveting throughout.»
With both Marco and Thomas’ Lizzie McGuire character, Matt McGuire, both being ambitious and eccentric characters, Thomas thinks that if they were in a room together, «they’d either get along really well or they’d get along really poorly because they’re both very strong-willed. They got some big heads, and they might argue on who’s right and who’s wrong in their master plan.»
Jake Thomas Looks Back Fondly On His Time On Lizzie McGuire
The Cast & The Memories Remain Important To Him
When Thomas looks back on his time on Lizzie McGuire, he says, «The things that stand out to me most are my interactions with the cast and becoming an extension of my family. Bobby Carradine and Hallie Todd, who play my parents — I see them as an aunt and uncle. I still get texts from them from time to time, checking in on me…I feel so privileged to call those people such close friends of mine. Looking back, those are the kinds of memories, of forming those relationships with those people that are the most special to me.»
He also fondly remembers «two particular stunts within the series,» which take place in season 1, episode 12 «Between a Rock and a Bra Place» and season 1, episode 18, «Rated Aargh.» The first episode sees Matt filming a video in order to become Jet Li’s sidekick while the other has him and his parents building a Velcro wall for the school carnival.
«Matt films a kung fu video with a very special guest star, Bobby Carradine’s brother, David Carradine, of kung fu fame. That was a really special experience and I remember actually my dad showing me kung fu movies…much later in my life I have a whole new appreciation for that. That episode is really special to me, not only because it’s fun, but because of the history behind it. And the other one is where Matt has a velcro wall and jumps on a trampoline, and he sticks to the velcro wall. That was just fun.»
Matt Was "Somehow, Annoyingly, Doing Really Well" In The Lizzie McGuire Reboot
"He Made Sure To Rub Lizzie's Nose In It When He Could"
The Disney+ Lizzie McGuire reboot was canceled after filming only two episodes, which audiences never had the chance to see. However, Thomas was able to reveal that Matt «was going to be dealing with the same kind of issues that millennials deal with, but he was going to be doing really well. He was somehow, annoyingly, doing really well, and he made sure to rub Lizzie’s nose in it when he could.»
Despite Matt thriving in the Lizzie McGuire reboot and making sure that Lizzie was well aware of this, Thomas clarified that «at the same time, he still has a pure heart, deep down.» The siblings’ relationship also grew from the foundation of the original series, with Thomas teasing that Matt «and Lizzie kind of got to meet eye-to-eye as adults a little bit,» and he is disappointed that audiences didn’t get to see this.
Jake Thomas Still Keeps In Touch With Cast Members, Including On The Living Lizzie Podcast
He Has Hosted A Rewatch Podcast With Davida Williams
Even though there are no current plans to revive Lizzie McGuire, Thomas still keeps in touch with several cast members. In addition to talking with Carradine and Todd, he shared, «Hilary [Duff], I’ll see at the farmer’s market or the coffee shop every once in a while, which is kind of funny,» and Ethan Craft actor «Clayton Snyder, I keep up with him every once in a while.»
Snyder came on as a guest on the Living Lizzie — A Very McGuire Podcast that Thomas hosted with co-star Davida Williams, who played Claire Miller in the original series. When discussing whether the podcast would release new episodes in the future, Thomas had an optimistic response: «I might bring it back at some point. I know that we’ve got the 25th anniversary of the show coming up, which is a pretty big milestone. I might bring some episodes back for that pretty soon.»
MindsEye is now available for purchase on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.
All episodes of Lizzie McGuire and The Lizzie McGuire Movie are streaming on Disney+.
