And no, it’s not from maintaining that majestic mullet
Warning: Season 7 spoilers ahead
Fighting through the apocalypse can work up an appetite, and for American actor Josh McDermitt, that hunger is easily sated by siew mai.
“What are these?” Remarked the “Walking Dead” star as he chowed down the yellow meat dumplings. “Popping these like delicious chicken-filled candy.”
He’s warm, chatty and cavalier – especially considering the heavy mid-season cliffhanger that Season 7 left us with. After surrendering himself, McDermitt’s Eugene Porter has been whisked off by the tyrannical villain Negan to someplace we’re guessing isn’t Wonderland.
We grill the man with the mullet on his life on set – and why it gave the big softie nightmares.
Photo: Gene Page / AMC
How did your fans react when Eugene revealed the truth?
The fans are great, although when we found out that Eugene didn’t have the cure to the apocalypse, some people were like, “I hate Eugene! I’ll kill you!” They got very mad! But I saw that as more of an outburst than someone actually wanting to kill me.
What about yourself – was there a character that shocked you?
I got really shocked when Shane killed Otis so that he could escape. I was blown away because while there was something kind of sinister about Shane, you could make an argument for the opposite too.
But when he did that, I was like, “What!” I couldn’t believe it. And I think there are more shocking moments coming up in the next half of Season 7. Things that people aren’t gonna expect.
How’s the relationship like between the actors and the writers, since anyone could get knocked out without warning?
They say they’ll tell us, but I’m always afraid that they’d forget to tell me I’m gonna die or something. [Laughs] I only really know what’s going on with Eugene, and even that is pretty vague.
So I take that information, and I might talk to Christian Serratos or Norman Reedus about what [the writers] told them, and see what we can do to line up.
Most recently, Eugene surrendered himself and was abducted by Negan. How will this change your character?
It was a very heroic thing that he did, but I don’t think him being with Negan is a good thing. It’s very bad, and we saw how that turned out with Daryl. Can he pull through this? I think that he’s going to continue to struggle with questions like, “Who am I in this world? Am I a survivor or just a coward?”
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