Eleanor Matsuura, Laila Robins, Michael James Shaw & Okea Eme-Akwari – The Walking Dead

By starrymag | October 9, 2022

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) Eleanor, going back to the punch on Carol. I was wondering if you feel that sense the relationship with Magna ended but it’s still kind of led you to find your way back to your brother and kind of your your old way of life in the Commonwealth. Do you think it was the right decision at the end of the day or if you regret Yumiko’s punch?

Eleanor: I love the punch on Carol (Melissa McBride). Yeah, that was an intense day to shoot. Nobody wants to punch Melissa McBride in the face. You know, is Melissa and also just what a beloved character.I knew it was gonna get a lot of people would have a lot to say about that. And so as far as it being like a catalyst for all these other events…Yeah, I think you’re right. Like it’s kind of maybe something that big had to happen in order to send Yumiko to like propel her off on the journey that she goes on with Zeke and Eugene and Princess and ultimately leaving to the Commonwealth. All, I suppose is supposed to happen for a reason and I think it needed something that huge. Like a moment of total like collapse and like frustration, hitting out physically at Carol. It had to be it had to be something that big otherwise I probably would never have left Magna. I probably would never have left my chosen family. So in a way… we’d have to believe that it was…The good thing about that as we kind of opened this door into this whole other world. Although, was it a good thing that we ended up at The Commonwealth? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Q) My question is for all of you now that we have this great vehicle with Tales of The Walking Dead that allows stories to take place at any point in The Walking Dead universe…Some of you have been with the show longer than others. But each of your characters has so many unique aspects and we don’t really have a chance to get to know them as much as time allows. So, if you had an opportunity to do an episode of Tales of The Walking Dead and explore some aspect of your character’s history, would you be interested? And if you’d like to pitch an idea about something you’d like to see personally with your character do you have a sense of what you you’d be interested to see?

Michael: I’ve always wondered how Mercer and Max made it to the Commonwealth and what hell they went through to earn that peace of mind living in the Commonwealth. I think it’d be exciting to see at the point of first infection like what happens with some of these characters, how they get to where they are. I’m sure it’s a fucking war to get to get to the Commonwealth.

Laila: I would love to see my life with my father and some of the things I went through to earn his respect or to earn family legacy. Of course, you have to make me 30 years younger, and I guess there’s always CGI. [laughs] But that would be fun to see that. Yes, where she came from and what what makes her tick and why she is the way she is. I’d love to see that backstory.

Okea: I think kind of the same. I’d love to see a bit more of Elijah’s home life where he got his training, the origins of his mask and how he got so skilled with his weapons Well, I think that might be a interesting thing to explore.

Eleanor: Origin stories always the best thing. You have the most fun with them. Angela [Kang] always said I could…She wanted Yumiko to be from where I’m from, from the UK. So, I’d love to see that story. I’d love to see how they came all the way from Europe. And how they got ended up in what Virginia I guess – how they ended up over there. I think there’s so much story to be told there especially now that we found her brother in the Commonwealth. It is hinted at, and I’m not sure how much it’s really been explored to its fullest in this season. But certainly in the backstory that we wanted to share with Tomi was that he has a lot of addiction problems and he has a sort of murky past as well. Plus my relationship with Magna who I met when she was actually in jail, and I was her lawyer. And again, like she’s always come from a different place. So how did we all get there? I think there’s so much interesting story to be told. It’d be very cool to explore.

Q) Laila, they say sometimes a parent has to sacrifice a career for a child or in this case, do you feel that in order to stay a politician that maybe a sacrifice sometimes has to be made or that a child is always more important to Pamela Milton in the end?

Laila: We were talking with the little the last panel, you know, the life work balance. I don’t think Pamela has navigated that very well. And she has been mostly about the work partly because of the burden of carrying the family legacy from her father, and wanting her son to sort of take that on, but I think she’s probably emphasized that aspect of the relationship a bit too much. Instead of just unconditional love, which is what every child needs. It’s like the royal family these days. There is the family. There’s the warmth, there’s the connection, but there’s also something else hovering over which creates a lot of pressure. And I think in Pamela’s case, she probably leans a little too far into that aspect of it, which has consequences with her son’s behavior. And then it’s a vicious circle., which is very hard to get out of.

Q) And the line for a mom that a child goes too far.

Laila: I believe she thinks her son is going too far but if you’re the mother of that child and on some level you hold some responsibility for who they are. And I think she probably fights with that within herself about why did he turn out this way? Was it me? Was I not a good mother? Is he just born that way? All the questions that I assume a parent asks about how their child sort of develops and turns out, like how much am I responsible for and how much is just the way he is? So there’s a certain amount of guilt there I think and confusion about where the blame really belongs. She does feel some responsibility for his personality.

Michael: He get it from his mama.

[laughs]

Laila: He’s just like me right?

Q) So one of the things that we’ve learned over the seasons with The Walking Dead is that everything is a matter of perspective. And for characters like Elijah and Yumiko, they arrived to the Commonwealth and see this place it looks like an oasis. But they have a natural suspicion of everything because I think that’s healthy and and plus their experience kind of dictates that they need to be careful in any situation and almost immediately they start seeing cracks and I think Elijah’s case there are cracks all over the place. And then for Mercer and for Pamela, it almost seems like they’re so in it, that they don’t see the cracks until there are chasms basically. I’m wondering if the Commonwealth was ever the paradise that it seems or has it always had these things or did it just kind of start off? Was it just a coincidence that we’re just starting to see those cracks kind of erupting into something even bigger?

Michael: No, it’s like, if you hold a mirror up to our society, our world. When America first formed, there are some parts that were great and there are a lot of parts that needed to be thrown out. But you take what you can and take the progress that you’ve been given and move forward. And I think Mercer and Pamela kind of not being abreast to what’s happening, it’s a downfall of character, but I think they’re doing the best they can with what they know. Yeah, and as society grows we have to weed out more more BS and continue to better our world. And I think everyone has a different perspective of what would betterThe Commonwealth. So, we’re all trying to like, evolve.

Laila: I do think that Pamela has good intentions. But as I said earlier, that I see her as a kind of a misguided altruist and in some ways there’s nothing more dangerous than that. Tthat’s a very dangerous person who just believes something and they just are horribly misguided and they don’t even see it. I think we can find a lot of parallels in our world right now. Because they really believe it and that’s what’s so scary.

Eleanor: I think there’s probably something to be said about trying to rebuild the old world as well, which I feel like The Commonwealth has this desire to sort of build the walls around it and proclaim and to preserve what was. And actually maybe what was wasn’t working. And I think we’ve seen that so many times, this show really chimes with what’s going on in our world at the moment, but how many times are we all said as a society like, “With the pandemic, we can’t go back to the old ways. There’s got to be a new way now.” But actually, people are more frightened of breaking down, breaking things down and figuring out a new way because they don’t know what that new way looks like. The old way relies on our familiarity. So, it relies on us not being scared, right? It’s comforting. So, it keeps people in line. And I think ultimately, that’s where The Commonwealth probably is appealing to people because of that familiarity. And also, that’s its blind spot. It’s not attempting to grow and change and change. We could probably learn a little bit. We could learn a lesson or two that in the real world, to be honest.

Zeke: I have to agree with that.I think in this world just aspiring towards a level of stability is something that people at large are looking for. And I think The Commonwealth is a great example of…Especially even their clothes. I remember when we first came across Pamela or like when Elijah first came across Pamela and Maggie and Pamela’s chess game kind of begins. We were extremely muddy fighting walkers and then they come in with these pristine kind of vintage looking clothing and I remember me as an actor, I was just thinking, “I would do anything to not have mud in my armpits right now.”

[laughs]

Okea: Seeing Laila in…I think you have like an ascot, this really nice sweater and all these things like that. It’s easy to see that as delectable comes to mind, where it’s just something that you want for yourself without really exploring all the different aspects of what it took to get there. I really think back especially to the to the Whisperers storyline, because that is an example of people that are more or less going with the flow of the world instead of trying to bring back something old and find the stability in the chaos almost

Eleanor: That’s an example of it not working maybe. Maybe they did try something different but hmm…not that.

Laila: My clothing, it’s like what sweatshop created that piece of clothing. It’s like Joni Mitchell says and one of her songs, “Who you’re gonna get to do all the dirty work with all the slaves are free.”

Eleanor: Right?

Laila: Which is a brilliant lyric. Thank you Joni Mitchell, but it’s kind of like somebody’s paying the price for this nice thing.

Mike: Yeah, there’s always a cost.

Laila: Yeah, and that’s the shift I think our whole world is really….

Michael: We’re about to pay that debt. Yeah.

Eleanor: Amen.

Q) Mike, how is Mercer going to respond when he finds out that Max has risked her life and her job and both of their stabilities by stealing documents from Pamela’s office?

Michael: Yeah, I feel like Mercer and Max’s relationship – the brother and sister dynamic – has been that since jump. She’s the mischievous one always like pushing the envelope and Mercer’s kind of cleaned up premise and trying to protect her. Even in the aftermath of Max is doing, I think that part isn’t uncommon, but it’s pretty common to him saving her ass. But I think this point it’s just crossed the line. And, yeah, like we were talking earlier about relationships like the true like test of relationship can withstand these these circumstances that the Walking Dead bringing upon them? What does it really mean to be a brother and sister in a world where every move you make could could be the end of you, you know? It’s really testing that brotherly love in this moment for her to sacrifice what we’ve built.

Q) She’s been Pamela’s right hand the entire thing so I don’t think that she’ll be forgiving Max anytime soon when she discovers this level of betrayal.

Laila: hey’re betraying the right the left. What’s a girl to do?

[laughs]

Laila; Oh, they really are, you know? She’s getting to be very alone. She’s becoming a very alone person.

Mike: Et tu, Brute?

Q) Mike, in one few episodes there is a line where, Milton tells you, “You’re supposed to be protecting me,” and you say back, “”Im supposed to be protecting the Commonwealth with all due respect.” And I was wondering for a soldier who’s so attached to an idea, this idea of The Commonwealth when the actual structure from the top is starting to collapse on top of you, why do you still feel the need basically to protect the community rather than kind of abandon those ideals when you already see that you’re in an unfair structure from the top on down from every aspect of life really been revealed?

Michael: That’s a good question. And I feel like Mercer, at his core, he’s feels a devout like duty to protect and serve the people. There are thousands of people that live in this community, and those lives are in his hands and I think the poplulation of The Commonwealth is more important than our leader at that moment. It’s more important to act in their safety. We have other soldiers who can stand guard around our governor, but the people need help at this moment, and that’s more important. And I think that’s a big moment for him in terms of putting together some puzzle pieces.

Q) Laila, this is such an intense and deep and rigid character for you to play. What are you personally taking away from your time portraying her?

Laila: I think in another group I had mentioned sort of the life balance, the choices one is made in sacrifice to their work versus their their family life or personal life. There is always a trade off and as you get older, sometimes you look back on things and wonder, “Well, why did I make that choice or why did I focus so much on that?” When really I could have had a little more of this other thing. For example, I don’t have children. So I’ve mostly been working. So now at this point, you’re seeing Eleanor with her beautiful children it’s like, “Oh, I forgot to have kids,” and I think there’s a bit of that in Pamela. She does have children, but I think her focus has been on the work. And it’s interesting to walk into a show, that’s for sure, that’s been going on for 10 years and suddenly you’re you know, you’re the big bad lady. But you know, everybody on the set is just so wonderful and welcoming and always made me feel a part of it. It’s interesting to play the antagonists sometimes in a situation like that. But when we were there was COVID time so we weren’t as social as maybe we would have been normally. So there was a certain amount of isolation involved in that time that we were shooting – the nine month. But that had nothing to do with the cast. It just had to do with COVID and not being able to get together. It was just a sense of kind of isolation. But that’s not bad either. You look at yourself a lot when you when you’re isolating and that’s not a bad thing either.

Q) Eleanor, there’s that scene early in Season 11, where you’re kind of juxtaposed on opposite sides of this ball. And you see Eleanor in this kind of elegant outfit, and you’re being served by your former girlfriend and you really see the division of classes there. And I was wondering how that scene really made you feel because before that you’re both kind of warriors out in the field and all of a sudden, it’s all this like real life hierarchy being injected in?

Eleanor: Awkard! I really felt it because we didn’t pull any punches when it came to highlighting where people are at in the class system – a class system that we haven’t seen on the show – that we haven’t seen on The Walking Dead because the whole point is when the apocalypse happened everyone was sort of created somewhat equal. I mean, it was more about survival like hand to mouth. It was like we haven’t seen this kind of class system in action for such a long time and then see it done artfully with me there with my cocktail dress and being served wine by my ex girlfriend just feels…I mean of all the awkward ex meetings, that’s got to be up there. Yeah it was it was a very strange time as well because like for me and Nadia, personally, we’ve spent so much time on the show together. Pretty much every scene like…Yeah, I think pretty much every scene we’ve been in together. And so to then be apart for quite suddenly for the end of last season and put back together this season. This was the first time we’d met for a while. And as Laila was saying, because of COVID as well it’s not like I’m seeing Nadia as the actor in between these takes either. I think was the first time we’ve literally seen each other for a long time. So, it was kind of infused with all of that to like, “Wow, look how much has happened since we last saw each other. Look at the different places we’re standing at since we last saw each other with characters and actors. It was really, really weird.

Q) I’ve always had a lot of sympathy for Elijah because it seems like from the very first moment that he came on the show it’s always been a battle after battle after battle. Fight, fight, fight. Death and destruction everywhere. And it felt really good to finally see something positive happening for a change. I was just wondering if you could reflect a little bit about how nice it is to not be in a battle.

Okea: Oh, man. [laughs] It constantly felt like I was just waiting for the next shoe to drop. I think when it came to the beginning of filming up up until whatever point it was, but I think it’s nice to get to explore what it’s like when you’re not in survival mode. When you when you’re able to exhale and take into things and people around you. I feel like you can find a lot of opportunities that are missed when you’re literally fighting for your life at all times. And I think back to when Pamela and Mercer came across the group in the woods again, seeing that side of the world that they lived in, it can look enticing and it’s raises a lot of questions after you’ve been living in a certain mode for so long it makes you start thinking about what else can be different I think.

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*