The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

By starrymag | February 25, 2024

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

Q) To start, for all three of you, your characters – they may end up in a different place, but they all start out with quite a lot of tension between them and Rick. Can you tease that dynamic and just their relationship with him when we start off at the beginning of the season for all three of you?

Terry O’Quinn: For me, for General Beale, the head of the CRM, anyone who comes in has potential to be helpful or unhelpful. [Cell Phone notification goes off in the background] That’s probably Rick (Andrew Lincoln) calling me right now [laughs]. I have to keep an eye on him. I see that he has a lot of potential. I think he’s very smart. He could be a gift, or he could be a threat. That’s pretty much what it all comes to.

Lesley-Ann Brandt: I think for Thorne coming in, they start off on a rough foot. She recognizes while she’s made a decision and understands that this is her world now after he’s committed to the CRM, that Rick is struggling. I think because of her own personal struggles trying to get back to Cape Town, trying to get back to someone she loved, even though they butt heads, she befriends him and feels like, let me help this guy acclimatize to this world. They build a really great friendship. But I do think she recognizes something uniquely different about him compared to any of the other consignees that they’re with.

Craig Tate: I mean, yeah, I think I touched on that one yesterday actually, that between Okafor and Rick there is this – even including Thorne (Lesley-Ann Brandt) as well – orphan syndrome to where you don’t want to accept a new home. Obviously, everyone has a past that they’re trying to either run from or make reconciliation with. And in Rick’s case he’s trying to hold onto his obligation to his affections, and his loves, and his buildings. Obviously, Okafor has different things in mind, but not only Okafor himself, but the nature of the republic. There are just laws, formalities in place that Grimes can’t go against, and Okafor is trying his best to let him know essentially that “brother, you can’t go anywhere. You’re here, you’re done.”

Q) This is actually a very different “The Walking Dead” show that I’ve noticed – some incredible depths and transformative ideas. What does it mean to each of you to be a part of this almost revolutionary series?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: For me, having come from “Lucifer” with a big following, and knowing what a show can mean to a viewer, it is still, at times, realizing, “Oh, this is a much bigger universe, and fans are so incredibly smart.” I mean, I see them dissecting the trailers and they’re very good. I just think strangely at the time I had the meeting set up with Andrew Lincoln and I had COVID. I had just watched her (Danai Gurira) in Black Panther and then I think two days later I was meeting with her. It was really wonderful and incredibly special that both of them were such advocates of bringing my South African heritage into the show for the first time. It’s an accent that you don’t hear outside of South Africa. It’s very specific to Cape Town, very specific to my community. I do credit both Danai and Andy [Lincoln] for championing that, but it’s pretty special. I think what I’m really excited for is for the fans who’ve been waiting so long for these two, it’s finally here. It’s less than two weeks away.

Terry O’Quinn: In my case, I don’t know what to expect. I was not a member of “The Walking Dead” universe. It’s all new to me. It’s unknown territory. I mean, I’m familiar with being in something that was highly regarded and was by a lot of people. These people may be more passionate, they may have taken more personally at these, well, I want to say “Deadheads,” but I’m not sure that’s good. Yeah. But I think that’s what I’m going to use from now on. But it’s very exciting. It’s good. The production values are great. People are wonderful. I mean, it is just a new adventure. I’m very happy to be involved.

Craig Tate: Yeah, Terry, I got to get used to that one. [laughs] I would say just when I was twenty turning twenty-one-years old the first season had come out and it’s a full circle moment to never forget where you were when this first season had dropped. Then sometime late at night you find yourself part of that universe that you have become so heavily invested in. It’s been a champion of two things: One, that there is some weird irony, coincidental, nature of the universe in life itself. And two, if you work steady enough, methodically enough to turn your dreams into goals and they do materialize.

Q) Lesley, in episode 3 where we witness the vantage point from Lesley’s scope, somebody’s in her crosshairs. I was wondering about the ease of that as an actress.

Lesley-Ann Brandt: Oh, the ease of it to just get someone in line and… Well, for Thorne, I think coming from a Navy military-type background, I think she’s obviously seen, she’s been in action. For me, getting into the skin of this character is made very easy by the costume actually, particularly the costume. I found myself walking differently. Eulyn [Hufkie] did such a wonderful job. I felt like we all looked like it was designed by Rick Owens or something, this fancy designer. It just looked very cool and badass. But stepping into the skin of Thorne was easy for me as an actress I think because I knew what made her tick and the ease of being able to, I guess take someone out. I think it’s like a metaphor. We’ve had those moments in life where we’ve been at a crossroads and you either turn left or right, or you make a good decision or you don’t. That’s perhaps what makes it easier for me to, I don’t know, make the right decision at that moment or not.

Q) I was very impressed with the world building of this show. What impressed you when you first read the script and got to know your characters a little bit? What impressed you about them?

Terry O’Quinn: I’ll start. As I said, I didn’t really know the show. I talked with Scott [Gimple] extensively and so he told me basically about this man, this General Beale, and I think I’ve decided that he’s been at war pretty much his whole life for better or worse. So, I think this guy is pretty straight and narrow-minded in a way. As I said, he’s been a warrior his whole life and that’s what he knows. I think he’s one of those guys that runs towards the sound of fire. I think he wants things to turn out a certain way. He’s concerned, especially for his community and for the future of humankind, and he’s going to come up with his own way of dealing with that situation. But it was enlightening to talk with Scott in terms, I said, “I’m ten years behind, so tell me about it. I’ll give you twenty minutes.” We had a conversation and he told me what I needed to know, and I have watched the first three episodes of “The Ones Who Live.” I didn’t feel lost at all. It felt like I was just watching it, I feel fairly objectively that I could have been watching it in a theater. It’s cinematic. That was my experience.

Q) Lesley-Ann, when you started reading about your character what impressed you?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: Oh, what impressed me? Yes. Firstly, I love that they didn’t set it up as a love triangle, Rick and her together or not. That was a big thing for me, mainly because I didn’t want the heat from the fans.I also appreciated that they found a way to tell, to have a, in a similar Carol and Daryl way, like a platonic friendship in the beginning where maybe they butt heads, but there’s genuine care for each other. Even if their paths go there in different ways, I mean, she’s definitely looking out for him and committed to the idea that Okafor has presented to them about this new world and about what he feels needs to change within the CRM. I did love that. Obviously, the fact that I loved that she was South African and not a wallflower type character, that she wasn’t also just one note, there’s real vulnerability that comes with her strength, although that she chooses or doesn’t always show it. I think that’s maybe what makes her and Michonne similar. I feel like outside of this world, they probably would’ve been friends, strong women who care madly and deeply about the ones that they love.

Q) We spoke about Rick Grimes, the character, but what was it about Andy Lincoln that maybe impressed all of you?

Terry O’Quinn: Andy’s the one that I worked with almost exclusively. I worked with almost no one else. We had a couple scenes, Lesley-Ann was in a couple of those large scenes, but they were very brief. I didn’t get the pleasure of working with her as much as I would’ve liked yet. But Andy was, when I say pro, that’s pretty much the nicest thing I say about people in general. Somebody who shows up on time, prepared, respectful, helpful, knows how a scene is supposed to work, how it’s supposed to pay off, who carries the load, and he knows all that stuff and he’s a gentleman to match. It was a real pleasure to work with Andy.

Lesley-Ann Brandt.: Andy impressed me right at the beginning when I was up for two jobs actually, and I tried to make it work for both, and he then sent me an email through our agency and just wrote me just the most beautiful email about my tape and just meeting, and he was like, “Please do the show. We really, really felt like you got this character that can be a counterpart to Rick Grimes in the way that we need her to. We really do help tell the story.” And it was so gracious and one of those flattering things. My favorite award is the SAG Awards because it comes from your fellow artist, an actor who understands the process, and so that was very sweet. Yeah.

Q) Craig, what was your experience of working with Andy? I mean, Okafor and Rick Grimes have a lot of scenes together.

Craig Tate: Look, Andrew Lincoln is an incredible thespian and also an even more incredible human. I just never forget, there’s always this shock value that one has when you’re able to work with an individual of his caliber you’ve just grown to love so much over a decade on screen. Then, you have this idea of him built up and then you meet him in person that he’s just so perfectly human, but he’s also so perfectly this empath and this giver and also just this hard worker. But he wants to share, and he has this way of disarming you naturally because once again, the shock is just there, who you think he may be, and then you’re just completely thrown off with who he is. But the two, I guess, functioning ideas, they balance off each other. Who you think versus who you meet. And then one, his work ethic on and off camera, what he does off camera shines as much as what he does on camera and just his ability to connect, exchange, and also deliver. And he just curates on camera just this environment where it’s open to go as deep and as dark as possible and just be as weird and as open as possible for both individuals inside the scene to capture that magic, to capture that moment of transcendent. Right. My opinion, that’s who Andrew Lincoln is, he’s a unicorn respectfully so.

Lesley-Ann Brandt: I think he’s, the reason a show can run for twelve years is that it has to come from the top. I loved how much he cared as well when I got there. Speaking to what both of them said, it’s like how prepared he was, how much open, he was still listening to your ideas and because all he did was want to make it better, make it better, how do we make it better?

Craig Tate: Absolutely.

Terry O’Quinn: Don’t play any of this for him.

Lesley-Ann Brandt: I know. His head is going to get so big.

Terry O’Quinn: A test of a man’s character. How much of this can he take?

Q) Lesley-Ann and Terry, you guys know shows with large fan bases, but also shows that have elements of supernatural aspects to them. But for all three of you with a show like “The Ones Who Live” it is also so grounded in the human story. Does that help you all as actors approach these situations that the characters find themselves in, knowing that they are still grounded in a very human story overall?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: I think any show that has any supernatural or otherworldly element to it, the gift of those shows or films is that you get to tell human stories that aren’t as confronting if you were just to put it in a normal sitting, you get to touch on themes and ideas. I think even speaking to what Matthew Jeffers (Nat) said yesterday, having a character who has dwarfism, it’s not a big deal made about it he’s just a person who exists in the world as it should be, but I do think the ultimate goal in these kinds of shows is just telling the truth. While the situation might be something we’re not familiar with, I’m not typically stabbing people in the face who are dead and coming towards you trying to eat your face or something. The friendship is universal. Love is universal. Betrayal and loyalty, those are all universal themes. Survival is a universal theme. And this big idea of we are in the, you’re twelve years down the line and the walkers have become something in the background now, and now the focus is on the humans. Who is the biggest threat? It’s us. It’s ourselves. It’s Major Beale and his ideas. It’s Terry, blame it all on Terry.

Terry O’Quinn: Yeah, I think as far as we’re talking about accessibility of the character, I think the farther out situation is it might be a little bit more of a challenge. You have to use a little bit more imagination just to get to that place. But so much of that just depends upon the written word on what they put on the page for you to say. What comes out of your mouth and the situation they set up. I think that in my case, for my character, it’s pretty tunnel vision. I have a lot fewer elements I think to consider than some of these guys did. But good writing is much easier to do than bad.

Craig Tate: I’ll piggyback definitely off of Terry and Lesley on that. I mean, one, here we are as humans in this universe, in this Walking Dead universe created by a very human individual in Scott Gimple, right? Human stories made by humans. Definitely, you’re always going to have those things you relate to that keep you grounded, whether it is connection, whether it is searchable affection, whether it is running from qualms of the past or running towards this idea of how the future may be for you, right? This future self or future circumstance. I don’t think it’s too difficult like Terry just said, if the writing connects then us as a vessel, all we’re doing is adding one more texture to the painting, which is the script itself. If the writing’s good as it is in this case, then you get the magic, you get the portrait. I don’t think it was difficult at all. No. Seamless.

Terry O’Quinn: I’ve used that similar analogy to what Craig uses. We don’t get to draw the picture, but we get to add some toned colors-

Craig Tate: Absolutely.

Terry O’Quinn: …on the painting. That’s always a pleasure. That’s what it’s about.

Craig Tate: No, unless one day we’re playing Androids. Right. We’ll figure that one out until that day comes.

Q) We know that Andrew Lincoln is King. We know that he is gracious and paternal on set, and brings everyone together behind the scenes, but the big thing that fans always want to know about are the pranks with Andrew Lincoln. Did he bring that prank energy that he did in the previous series onto the spinoff? What chaos did he bring to the set and how did you guys get involved in that?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: Pranks? Not that I know of!  I think this shoot was so intense. We had six episodes. We had very limited time. The stakes were super high. I mean, we certainly had fun– him and I, because most of my work was with Andy, but I actually can’t recall him pranking anyone. I think he was also in actor and producer mode, so he was solving problems, putting out fires, making suggestions, helping Scott with script changes, and then trying to get some sleep somewhere in between and learn lines and then doing it all again the next day. Maybe that’s why, I don’t know.

Terry O’Quinn: Yeah-

Q) Well if you get a season two…

Lesley-Ann Brandt: [Laughs] Yes!

Terry O’Quinn: I can verify that.

Q) Y’all better watch out!

Terry O’Quinn: I was not aware of that history. And the time when he and I worked together that didn’t happen. I didn’t realize he had that reputation! I’m sorry, I missed it.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*