Sam and Billy are similar
Galligan, who starred as Billy in the original Gremlins films, signed on to Secrets of the Mogwai as a new character—not least because he wanted to help introduce Gizmo to a new generation. He thinks Sam and Billy are kindred spirits. “They’re very similar in terms of the fact that they’re both sheltered. Billy is really more sheltered by the fact that he is from an incredibly small town of about 2,000 people and one traffic light,” he said. “Whereas Sam is more sheltered simply by having overprotective parents that don’t encourage him to have adventures, because his grandfather was such a rogue and apparently was irresponsible with his adventuring. So they want him not to, you know, go down the wayward path, so to speak. [Billy and Sam] are similar in that they get thrown into a huge adventure and they form a tight bond with Gizmo, and they have to use wits and courage that they didn’t know they had in order to overcome all sorts of obstacles.”
