Paola Lázaro, Josh McDermitt, Margot Bingham and Nadia Hilker – The Walking Dead

By starrymag | October 1, 2022

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

Q) What’s one key thing you want viewers to remember about your respective characters; if nothing else, they should know something specifically for the final run?

 

Everyone [in unison]: That’s a great question. [Everybody] yeah it is!

 

Paola: Great sh*t! Uh, yeah, delete that. [laughs]

 

[Margot and Nadia start talking over each other]

 

Margot [interrupts]: For Max, I would say community. The importance of community and doing what’s right for others and standing up for what’s right. Sorry, Nadia.

 

Nadia: I love that! No, no, no, that’s pretty much me too. Yeah, I am grumpy and I have fire but I care about my… [unintelligible] No, that’s German…caring and helping! Even though she is grumpy she wants to help and be a good person.

 

Josh: I didn’t know there was a German word for caring.

 

Nada: No, no. I wanted to say a German saying and just translated it into English, but that would not make any sense.

 

Paola: Wait! Say it in German.

 

Nadia: No, I’m not.

 

Everyone: Come on!

 

Nadia: Put all of your cups in your cupboard. Like, it doesn’t make any sense?

 

Josh: Yeah, it does. It makes sense.

 

Paola: Yeah, they do go in the cupboard. [laughing]

 

Nadia: Yeah. [laughs] But it’s not translating, guys.

 

Josh: One thing I would love for people to at least just go back to the first time we saw Eugene and see the kind of evolution of this man; where he’s been, where he’s come from and where he is now as he helps with exposing the Miltons and in doing the good that that needs to be done with some really incredible people who are sacrificing a lot. I just think, someone had brought it up earlier, just about going to where he was when we first met him, and it’s like, it is a complete sort of 180 far in the other direction as you could see, and I think that is a cool thing to look back on as we watch this man in the next eight episodes.

 

Paola: For Princess, you know looking back on where she came from–where she had no community, I think she’s going through the conflict still being part of a community and being in love and watching this community break down and seeing the flaws in it. So, I think she’s caught between those two things at the moment.

 

Q) I have a question for everyone about The Commonwealth. What do you think draws people to become a part of that? Is it because there’s no structure in the world of “The Walking Dead” and they’re kind of drawn to structure?

 

Paola: Yeah, I  think what draws people to the community is having all their basic needs being met and the resources that they have with healthcare…oh, God, I’m not trying to be political here, Lord. [laughs] But with just healthcare and food and resources and housing, I think that’s the first thing that draws them in, obviously, to it but also we are so used to a society that has laws and structures in place that I think when there is an apocalypse we are yearning to have some semblance of the life we had before. So, I think that’s a huge part of it too.

 

Josh: I’d have to agree with Paola here. I think people are looking for safety. Oviously, there is safety in numbers, and here’s this community that’s seemingly going to provide that, but a lot of these people – and you see it with a lot of these bigger communities. They got in early and then, therefore, they didn’t have to survive outside the walls or some people did but they don’t know how rough it actually is out there. It’s just like, I don’t know how I’m going to live without ice cream and this community has ice cream. So, it’s like a no-brainer and that’s a really dangerous place to be in– is to be in a community that is seemingly safe when really it’s not as safe as you think it is.

 

Nadia: Copy/paste to everything. Margot, do you want to go first?

 

Margot: No, I was going to say you go. You were waiting…

 

Nadia: Ah, I love you. You’re not so rude as Josh. [Margot laughs]. Yeah, copy/paste to what Josh and Paola said. Yeah, structure, you took it all away from me. Sructure, and then the only thing I can probably add is Josh is rude — number one. And number two – we are drawn to things that we know.

 

Josh: You know, I mean I’m just trying to put my cups in the cupboard [everyone laughs].

 

Nadia: Exactly! [Margot laughs] Thank you, Josh.

 

Margot: I would say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. That was kind of the Commonwealth mentality. They were just like what Josh just said, they’re living this fantasy, but the reality is that things are broken outside the walls and things are also broken inside the walls. So, I think it’s time for them to all take note of the reality indoor and outdoor and really take account of that, but it’s definitely easier to just kind of turn a blind eye and just continue to live the way that everybody was living from the beginning, but that doesn’t serve anybody below you to serves yourself.

 

Josh: Kelly, do you have a question for Nadia that I could answer?

[Everyone laughs]

 

Nadia: Please, go ahead…

 

Q) I have a question for everyone, actually. As we say goodbye to this show, a show fans have embraced for over a decade, what’s the one memory you will take with you when you think back about your time working on “The Walking Dead?” That, “Oh, yeah, that was my favorite” moment?

 

Paola: I’ll jump in here with that! I think a big thing that I learned from the show was the way we show up for each other in scenes. Like a lot of us, even when we’re off camera, we’re there to read the lines for the other actor. I don’t know if that’s understood by people who are not in this business, but that’s huge and I believe that Josh told me the person who set the precedent of how we are with each other was Andrew Lincoln – who set a level of respect, and I’ll let Josh jump into that, but I want to keep that in whatever project I continue on in.

 

Josh: Yeah, I think that’s kind of what you were saying, Paola. With Andy, there is a level of professionalism there that I think when you see it, when you work with it, when you are around it, you go, “Oh! This is how it’s done.” And to hear Paola saying she wants to bring that to every job she’s going to do now, I think she’s not alone. We all kinda said, “Oh no, we could make this a special place by just being professional and just showing up for each other by taking our work seriously but laughing and having a good time and just enjoying what we do.” I mean, there’s a lot of pressure in this business and we could let that kneecap us or we can just lean on each other and go, “We’re an ensemble; we’re going to do this together and we’re going to make this the best show we could possibly make.”

 

Nadia: Yeah, collaboration and whatever you are, it’s ok. Like. I’ve always felt weird about being…It’s very intimidating when you come onto a show like this with such a huge cast. And I know I’m weird, but I would say everyone on this show is. I think every human being on the planet is weird, but on this show, I never felt…um..like it wasn’t ok to be weird. It was ok to be me and, yeah, I’m just going to be even more weird from now on [everyone laughs] thanks to the cast and crew of the show.

 

Josh: I’m sorry, we were supposed to tell you you’re not supposed to be that weird.

 

[everyone laughs]

 

Nadia: Don’t do that, Josh!

 

Margot: I got to take a really cool bike away from the show, so that was cool.

 

Nadia: You got it? You already got the bike?

 

Paola:  I haven’t even seen mine; it’s at my parent’s house in Mexico.

 

Nadia: They haven’t sent it to me yet!

 

Margot: You can have mine if you want, Nadia! But going along with what everyone said, I got some really amazing friends and family out of it, too. That’s probably the most priceless out of all of it. I never thought that it was possible to have a massive production of this level still be fun and still respect the work and then still respect each other. So, I was luckily proven wrong and it’s been really great. That’s the biggest takeaway – family.

 

Q: You mentioned Andrew Lincoln, what do you think about him coming back to the franchise with Danai [Gurira] and the new show that was announced?

 

Josh: I’m excited. I love Rick and I love Michonne but I’m more in love with Andrew Lincoln and I just like watching him work. I like watching Danai Gurira work too, and seeing them bring their characters to life is always exciting. I was sad when they left. I understood that it was time for them to step away for a moment, but I had wished they didn’t because I enjoyed working with them and enjoyed watching them work. I learned a lot from them. So, I’m excited to see it and I’m excited that the fans might get some answers and some closure to Rick’s storyline and might actually bring up a lot more questions that maybe have and it’ll continue to go on, but for sure, to have Andrew Lincoln as Rick as part of the larger “Walking Dead” Universe story, it really fits, and to not have him there, there really is a void. There’s something missing, you know? So, it’s great to have him back.

 

Q) With all of these spin-offs popping up in the universe, would all of you– depending on what happens to your character, like to come back for a one-shot?

 

Margot: If I got to be with the same people that I adore and get to see some more zombies, then you know that’s awesome! Yeah, I would be really lucky.

 

Josh: I think there is just so much story to tell with every character on the show right now. I think you could literally do a very compelling spinoff with any character that’s still a part of the show and I just think that Robert Kirkman and all of our producers have created some really amazing characters and it’s exciting to see the spin-offs that are taking place and I hope that there are more spin-offs that come forward. How’s that for a non-answer? [everyone laughs and talks over each other]

 

Nadia: Yes!

 

Paola: The answer is, yes, totally.

 

Q) Question for Paola, this show can be a revolving door of characters and often soon-to-be-dead characters because of how frequent people die in this universe, and that can sometimes make it hard for fans to instantly connect with new characters, but that’s not what happened with Princess. From the moment we saw her in that pink furry jacket with her puppet zombies, fans instantly fell in love with her – and I know I did too. So, what is it about that character that fans connect with?

 

Paola:  Thank you, Kelly, thank you. That’s very sweet, I appreciate that a lot. [Robert] Kirkman created a character out of this world, and you know when I got the audition I was just so excited to be a part of it. She is definitely a character, and I think it’s the way he created it, she was just unlike anyone else in it. I think there’s some characters that are out of that world – you know Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in the beginning and, obviously, is Ezekiel (Khary Payton), have these big personalities, but I think this was a big personality that was different from them and it was a female and it was a minority– ok, I want to stop saying that word but she was a strong female comedic character and I don’t know. I just I put a lot of heart into it [pause] and the melding of virtue and what I brought to the character that I had seen on the page, I think we married that well and I worked really hard for it, and hopefully maybe that work was seen through that, hopefully. That was part of what made her relatable to people.

 

Q) I think one of the reasons why people related to her so much was seeing her struggle with her mental health. It was not something we’d seen before and obviously during the apocalypse those things are going to be a reality for a lot of people. So, it was nice of the show to touch on that.

 

Paola: Yeah, they’re a reality for me right now! [laughs] Initiating conversations about that makes it less taboo; it makes us able to finally hear about the resources that could help us with those things. I’m proud and thankful to have played a character who does speak about that and thank you so much for saying that, Kelly.

 

Margot: Can I say something real quick? I just have to say this because Princess is definitely one of my top characters. It’s 1000% what Paola brought to the character.

 

Nadia: Yes, thank you Margot! Yes!

 

Margot: …It could have been anybody. It was an incredible character on the book on the page, but I think that the part you reacted to, Kelly, when you saw her and the way everybody accepted and welcomed her was because of everything Paola brought to the character.

 

Paola: Oh. stop guys! Sh*t, y’all made me cry now!

 

Margot: Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, go ahead with the next question.

 

Q) Why do you think your characters have survived so long in the apocalypse when so many other characters didn’t?

 

Nadia: I am between luck and just badass.

 

Paola: Yes!

 

Margot: Copy/paste. [laughing] I think it’s just luck. Any one of us could have gone at any time. We could’ve all been tossed to the wolves, but I think we’ve seen the cautionary tale and never taken anything for granted.

 

Josh: I think Eugene survived so long because he never resigned. He’s always felt like there was more he could do to ensure his survival and slowly over time he’s become less selfish and more selfless and has included other people in that thinking. He’s a bit of a cockroach, you know? You try and step on them and then you know he keeps living and finding a new way to keep living and that’s really what you need for long-term survival in this world. You can either use that skill for various purposes or you could use it for good and not evil and I like the fact that he’s using it for good now because that means more and more people will be able to stay alive.

*CONFERENCE CALL*