For Kingdom Hearts 2 devotees, the appeal of brandishing Sora’s keyblade across the Grid in Tron isn’t just nostalgia. As 28-year-old actor Max Burkholder puts it, it’s closer to survival.
On Polygon’s latest episode of Shelf Quest, the star of Peacock’s Ted recalls a childhood defined as much by save files as much as call sheets. Working steadily from a young age, Burkholder learned early that the stress of being a child actor on a set of veteran actors and filmmakers doesn’t fade on its own — you have to build a space to process it. For him, that space looked like repeated playthroughs of Square Enix’s Disney crossover RPG.
“If I am super stressed about something and need a way to turn my brain off and just process, I go for that.”
That distinction — between escapism and decompression — defines Burkholder’s relationship to games (and, frankly, our own). Where some actors still perform “relatability” when talking about gaming, Burkholder speaks gamer fluently while wandering the aisles of videogamesnewyork. It’s clear his experiences behind a controller are deeply felt.
He always has, and still does, gravitate toward RPGs as he navigates the ups and downs of a career in Hollywood. “It offers, like, mind-numbing, repetitive bullshit and really huge emotional catharsis,” he says. That catharsis isn’t theoretical, either; Burkholder admits he wept after defeating Malenia in Elden Ring. Hey, we’ve been there.
As he says in the episode, that lived-in perspective extends to his thoughts on the current wave of video game adaptations. Burkholder doesn’t dismiss them outright, but he’s clear-eyed about the limitations. Translating games into film or TV, he argues, is inherently “lossy” — a shift from an interactive medium defined by player agency to a passive one that can’t replicate that experience. Something essential gets stripped away in the process, no matter how polished the result.
Still, his love for the form itself is unwavering. He’s played nearly every Final Fantasy, champions under-the-radar favorites, and doesn’t hesitate to stir the pot:
“Claire Obscur blows Final Fantasy 16 out of the fucking water,” Burkholder notes. “And I don’t feel bad about saying that because Ben Starr is in both.”
Check out Max Burkholder on this week’s Shelf Quest, then find him on Ted season 2, currently streaming on Peacock. You can find more Shelf Quest at Polygon’s YouTube page.