The Walking Dead – Part 2 – SDCC 2019

By starrymag | August 4, 2019

By: Heather Tollis

 

 

Q) How much of a shock was it to lose so many characters all in one episode and during a season finale?

Norman Reedus: I think it was a big deal, for sure. We are a tight knit family that when people die on the show it’s a big deal. It changes the dynamic in the room.

Eleanor Matsuura: When we came in, we’d obviously just lost a huge character. You could still feel the energy of that person there. Even when we had the big loss last season, let’s say episode 15, I can’t imagine what you guys were going through because it always feels like it resonates and that person’s energy remains and stays on. So, that’s kind of cool that person is always there as they’re entwined in the story somehow.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: The people who work at the hotel here we have a relationship with now after being here a few years put pictures of Andy [Lincoln] everywhere. You open up the toilet seat and there is a picture of Andy. You pull your covers down to go to sleep and there is a picture of Andy there.

[audience laughs]

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Norman and I both thought that Andy had something to do with it. But it was the hotel staff.

Q) What did you think seeing in the trailer Michonne holding Lucille?

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Negan doesn’t like to share Lucille with anyone. And Danai [Gurira] looked at me strangely with a little glint in her eye handling Lucille.

Q) Talk about the dynamic between Negan and Daryl.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: We were very excited to do a scene together. I’m trying to decide if there is reluctance in Negan becoming Negan. I think the last ten years or so that he’s either been in a jail cell or become part of the Alexandria community. Certainly, there have been some changes that the audience has seen, but Negan is always Negan. He is always going to have a sharp tone. He may not bash you across the head with Lucille, but he will certainly stab you with his words. Negan began to stretch his legs a little bit towards the end of last year. I think everything we’ve seen in the last season with Negan in jail I don’t think he ever held back his words. But I think that Negan has changed a little bit. People want to say “a redemption arc,” but I don’t think it’s as much as a redemption arc because Negan has always kind of been who he is. We’ll see. There is no real answer to that. I don’t think he’s excited for Negan to be Negan. I think he’s going to be battling a bunch of things within himself this season. As far as getting to do some things with Daryl, I think Negan always loved Daryl (Norman Reedus). I think there was something about him, even when I had him locked up, that he respected and liked. He really wanted to break him. When he couldn’t he liked and respected him more. Then, the kind of reversal of fortunes that we’ve had since then…Daryl is on the other side of it, but these men have a very parallel path. Daryl and Negan, there is kind of a parallel life that they’ve had. They are both kind of outsiders in this community. And it’s kind of fascinating. I’m kind of digging it a little bit. I hope we explore that more.

Q) I want to know the process for you being selected to portray Negan.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: That’s a [Scott] Gimple question! I think I got a call from Gimple saying, “You’re going to be in Season 6.” I was like, “Cool!” [laughs]

Scott Gimple: I don’t know. I wish I remembered.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: A lot of it was recreating Negan – the introduction to Negan on the TV show. A lot of the voice work I did was verbatim of him coming out of the Winnebago. And then I added like three words in the middle of a fight.

Q) As the right hand of the king, what’s it like to be without the kingdom?

Cooper Andrews: I think there was a kingdom without needing a kingdom. The kingdom is just everybody. If Jerry smiles at you, gives you some cobbler – Congratulations! You’re in the kingdom. That’s how the kingdom works. [audience laughter] What I love about Jerry is he’s a simple dude but he knows what he is hard. That’s why he is so happy and I think Jerry is trying to bring the kingdom where ever they go. So, I don’t think he’s lost. I just think he lost the place they were keeping together with duct tape.

Q) [inaudible]

Norman Reedus: This show is definitely beating me up, for sure. But you find your character’s differences with different people you meet. Relationships are an ebb and flow. As you grow, your character grows, too.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I think it’s important not to get bored. As an actor playing the same character…I haven’t done near what Norman has done, but this is the longest I’ve been a character…Ever!

Q) You were on “Supernatural.”

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: But I only did like twelve episodes.

Q) Over many years.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Okay, but that doesn’t count.

[audience laughs]

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I guess what I mean, I was going to give Scott a bunch of credit here. And I sort of just don’t.

[audience laughs]

Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I think what Scott and Angela have done is they reinvent your character kind of every year. So, the minute you think, “Okay, I played that seen enough times and there’s nothing else we can do with this role,” suddenly there’s a new twist to the character that you find. And I think in the last few years, I think that we’ve all gotten to do such different things that following season or halfway through the season and these shifts. So that’s awesome as an actor to not get bored and you don’t get bored on this show.

Cooper Andrews: I’ve pulled a few muscles on this show and I’ve gotten a lot better at fixing that situation. So, um, yeah, I got better at massage. I would go around last season I was just shooting people with a massage gun and they didn’t know what was happening and they start getting vibrated.

Eleanor Matsuura: The cast is so massive. We can go through a whole season and not work with other actors. I’ve never crossed paths with Negan at all. So, like when you do get to an episode or a moment or a scene with a new character that you haven’t worked with before at this whole new thing, the show opens up again and you’re like, “Oh, okay.” And now we’re moving over here. So, I think that really helps just how many of us there are keeps it interesting.

Q) Eleanor, talk about Yumiko’s relationship with Magna.

Eleanor Matsuura: It’s a relationship and it’s like any relationship, it changes and it evolves because we’re changing and evolving people. and I think it’s very true to that. But like we definitely Yumiko and Magna (Nadia Hilker) take a different path and explore what that is. Some intensity comes into it. Let’s say that.