| Willie | Gallery |
William[1] "Willie" is a recurring character on Julie and the Phantoms. He is a ghost that Alex meets and befriends.
He is portrayed by Booboo Stewart.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Nothing is known about Willie's life before he died, only how he died. He died after getting hit by a vehicle while skateboarding in traffic sometime in the 1970s or 1980s.[2]
Sometime after he died, Willie met Caleb Covington and joined his Hollywood Ghost Club. To entice him to join, Caleb gave Willie the ability to do the thing he enjoyed most, skateboarding.
Willie has stated that Caleb owns his soul, as well as everyone else's soul at the club.
Season One[]
Willie is first seen skating through the streets of Hollywood Boulevard, whooping and jokingly yelling at the oblivious lifers he's skating either around or through. Mistaking Alex for another lifer, Willie accidentally crashes into him, causing both of them to fall hard on the ground.
Any feelings of annoyance between them immediately pass when Alex realizes he is another ghost and Willie realizes that Alex is new to being dead. After a moment of introduction, the pair find quick attraction and interest in each other.
Willie spends the afternoon answering Alex's questions about being a ghost and asking questions about Alex himself. He teaches him ghost lingo such as "lifers," along with some modern-day slang ("woke"),
He tells Alex about the concept of "unfinished business" keeping ghosts to the living world, but also tells him about the benefits to being dead, such as doing anything you want ("like skateboarding Justin Bieber's empty swimming pool"). (Flying Solo)
In I Got the Music, Willie brings Alex to a museum where he teaches Alex how to move objects and learns about Alex having "always been a little anxious" Then to help Alex with his anxiety, Willie encourages Alex to scream in a museum with him.
Willie appears outside of the Molina's music studio. The boys catch sight of him and Alex goes to confront him only to be told by Willie that they never should have met. Expressing his regret, Willie skateboards away, leaving Alex feeling hurt.
Willie appears again after the garage party and finally tells the trio that the shocks that they're feeling is due to a stamp from Caleb. Walking through Hollywood, Willie reveals that Caleb wants the boys under his control because they're the only ghosts that can be visible to lifers without his help. He reveals that Caleb owns his soul and "everybody's soul at the club." With the stamp, he explains, Caleb makes them choose between spending eternity in his house band and ceasing to exist.
Willie's only solution is if the boys complete their 'unfinished business' that would allow them to cross over and escape the trap of Caleb's stamp. At Alex's doubt toward Willie, Willie confesses that he cares deeply about him and feels regret at ever bringing him (and his friends) to Caleb in the first place. (Edge of Great)
Willie teleports behind the boys right when they're hit with a jolt from Caleb's stamp. At their reassurance that they're okay, Willie confirms that he successfully diverted the opening band (Downslide) and that they're now 200 miles outside of Vegas. Willie personally thinks that the promoter of the Orpheum is handling the mess-up professionally, citing Hollywood expertise. Upstairs, promoter of the Orpheum freaks out at the lack of opening band—yelling at the impossibility of a bus driving itself to a middle of a desert.
Alex talks privately with Willie, with Luke and Reggie moving farther away to allow them privacy. Alex worries about what Willie is risking in helping them, and thanks him. Willie sincerely replies that he'd do anything for him. Alex abruptly hugs Willie, Willie at first instinctively holding him before squeezing back, tightly. At Alex's prompting, Willie skates boards away before Caleb catches him with the phantoms ("I'll see you around, hot dog.") (Stand Tall)
Personality[]
Willie is vibrant and friendly. He’s energetic, and jumps at the chance to help out a person in need, especially if it involves and form of rule-breaking. Willie doesn't wait for a reason to the rules, however; skating in Justin Bieber's empty pool and breaking into a closed museum to skate with Alex are a few examples of this. Along with his regard for spontaneity, he's seen to be courteous and aware of other's feelings. He offers a listening ear to Alex in distress, and offers methods of emotional regulation.
When trouble arises and Willie finds out he has unwittingly put Alex, Reggie, and Luke at risk, he's quick to amend this, Only prioritizing himself for a short time before going as far to put his whole afterlife at risk.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Teleportation: Ghosts can appear and disappear, travelling great distances instantly.
- Intangibility: Ghosts have no mass, because of that they have the ability to pass through physical matter.
- Invisibility: After death ghosts are no longer visible to humans
- Summoning: The power to summon forth an object.
- Tangibility: With enough concentration, a ghost can touch and interact with objects.
- Electronic Manipulation: The ability to manipulate electronics and machinery.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Friends[]
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Enemies[] |
Appearances[]
Season 1
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| #1 | " |
#4 | "I Got the Music" |
#7 | "Edge of Great" |
| #2 | " |
#5 | "The Other Side of Hollywood" |
#8 | "Unsaid Emily" |
| #3 | "Flying Solo" | #6 | "Finally Free" |
#9 | "Stand Tall" |
Trivia[]
- Willie's helmet has a huge crack in the side of it, implying it's the same one he wore when he got hit by a car.
- Willie skates through lifers in the sidewalk rather than with the traffic because he "learned his lesson" since his death.
- Willie's remark that Caleb "owns everybody's soul at that club" instead of something such as "every ghosts' soul" adds credence to the idea that Caleb has some hold over the lifers that buy into the club. It would be the same "something" that swears the lifers to secrecy about the club.
- In I Got the Music, it was revealed that Willie is short for "William" by Caleb Covington who calls Willie by his real name at the end of the episode.
- According to the costume designer Soyon An, Willie is supposed to be from the 1970s or 1980s.[2]