Ahead of his anticipated appearance at New York Comic Con this week and the premiere of The Walking Dead Season 6's first episode at Madison Square Garden, I caught up with Andrew Lincoln to talk about the start of the new season. Not only do we discuss the season premiere's impressive zombie count, but he also talks about the return of Morgan, new threats, and his favorite horror movies.
I recently had a chance to catch the Season 6 premiere. Each season, the cast and crew amaze me with what they're able to accomplish, and seeing the insane amount of walkers for the Season 6 opener was a great start.
Andrew Lincoln: It's kind of been a monumental season so far and that episode is the beginning of what I think is definitely the bravest, boldest and biggest season yet. Every episode that we have shot this seasons feels like a season finale, and it is an astonishing credit to the crew.
Your compliments are really great at this time of the year because everybody is so beat down by such a booming schedule and then we get to give birth to the show again, and it's an amazing time, because we get to feed off the energy that you get back. And just to finish off the season—it's been one of the most extraordinary seasons that I have witnessed. So yeah, it's great.
I know fans are really excited about the return of Morgan. Since the first episode they have been waiting to see how his story would play out, and now he seems to be a big player in this season. Can you talk about working with Lennie and spending more time with him this year?
Andrew Lincoln: Yeah, it's wonderful. We have such an extraordinary relationship. He was there for the first ever episode and every 18 months he seems to pop up for an episode, kill it, and then leave again.
There is something incredibly powerful about having two men with such history, and he is a great counterpoint to Rick. This is a man who is incredibly independent, strong, determined and confident, and seems to be at complete odds with Rick's ideology.
Having more space to work with Lennie is such a joy, he's a phenomenal actor. What he has done with this role is magnificent, and you'll see this season that blanks will get filled in and a lot of the dots will be joined as to what has happened to this guy, where he's from, and how he's reached this enlightenment.
Every season, you mention that you prepare with a book or two. Last time you caught up on The Walking Dead comic book series. What did you read to get into the mind of Rick for Season 6?
Andrew Lincoln: I've been reading this very interesting book about these band of survivors who fought in the Second World War against the Nazis. It was so helpful in the way that I wanted to physically fight—there is an old fighting style called Pankration, which is a Greek fighting style and one of the oldest. In the book, it talks about the Nazis needing a stronghold and stopping up all the way to the Russian front. They thought they were going to get through Cyprus in three hours and I think they lost more troops in the seven-day battle to Cyprus than in the collected conflict in France and Poland. It was the most incredible guerrilla fighting force.
The book goes into talking about how they diet. It also gets very physiological, describing how they were able to stay up for extended periods of time, cover great distances at night in the mountains, and endure such hardship. It's a brilliant book and very helpful this season.
Every season has a different theme, usually a different location, and a different enemy. What can you say about this season's underlying theme? What differentiates this season from the past seasons?
Andrew Lincoln: Outside of Alexandria, we face three or four huge threats—completely different threats. You have a very good indication about one of them, but this season is also a very hopeful season. It's more hopeful than I think we have ever been. It almost feels like everybody's eyes have been so insular, and then we suddenly start lifting our gaze up to the horizon. The show opens up in a way that we have never explored before which is very, very exciting.
The Season 6 premiere has more walkers than we've previously seen in a single episode and also introduces us to new cast members. Can you talk about filming this episode and the new cast?
Andrew Lincoln: Yeah, it was thrilling. They did a very intriguing thing with Rick, and that's why he was so much a part of it in pretty much every scene. It was an endurance test because it was a huge episode with a lot of zombies. I spent most of my time running around through the woods, seven days solid, sweating. And Norman just gets the coolest shot of the episode and that only took him minutes. That's pretty much the story of me and Norman's relationship.
What I love about this show is that the cast keeps reinventing itself. It's still the most painful aspect of what is the greatest job of my career to date, that we lose such great friends and good characters, but the added bonus is that the show just keeps changing. As with locations, and you'll see some new locations this season as well.
With this being October and the Halloween season, what horror movies do you love? What did you watch growing up?
Andrew Lincoln: The Evil Dead trilogy is the kind of stuff I love, but I also really love The Omen. I saw The Omen way too young probably and it terrified me. I remember my brother looking at me and scaring me that night and I couldn't sleep. Another one that I love is An American Werewolf in London, that's a brilliant movie. The Shining I think is a great horror, incredibly suspenseful and brilliantly preformed. But I suppose my favorite one is Don't Look Now. That's always been on the top because it's more a study in grief than anything else, which is kind of perfect. It's a beautiful love story, but it's also a study in grief, and it's terrifying.
Thanks, as always, for catching up with me. Before we go, can you give our readers a final tease of what's to come?
Andrew Lincoln: Well, just stay tuned. Watch out for episode three... and four... and five... and nine is ridiculous. But get ready for this season, because we open the gates and then we don't let up...
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