Crypticon Minnesota 2017 Interview with THE WALKING DEAD’s Jayson Warner Smith & Cooper Andrews

The Halloween celebration recently continued beyond October 31st at the 12th annual Crypticon Minnesota, which once again brought together a wide range of horror genre actors, artists, and fans for a weekend to remember and conversations to treasure. While enjoying the amazing booth experiences at the event, I had the great pleasure of catching up with The Walking Dead's Jayson Warner Smith (Gavin) and Cooper Andrews (Jerry), to talk about their respective roles in the series' eighth season and the intense events of the seventh season. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk, guys. Jayson, your character Gavin really intrigues me because he seems almost reluctant to be a Savior based on how he reacted when he found out that Benjamin died, and also when Rick came to the Sanctuary, he almost seemed like he wanted to take a time out and be like, "Let's talk about this." From your point of view, do you have a backstory for Gavin?

Jayson Warner Smith: Yeah, not a whole one that I can tell you about, but what I can tell you is that he was like a contractor and ran a crew, so he had people working for him and he just wants to get the job done. He's a no excuse guy, like, "Just don't give me any excuses, get the results so we can go home and drink beer and relax or watch the game." That's the way I see him and that's the way he is. And that's why he got this job. We work for this guy [Negan]. He's the boss. Let's get it done. Don't make me kill anybody, please. I will, but don't make me.

And Cooper, you recently did one of your first on-screen walker kills with Jerry's axe. What type of prop did you use for the kill?

Cooper Andrews: We used the foam one and then we used a thicker rubber one, but nothing that would hurt while hitting people. I was just happy because there was a lot of, "Oh, does he know how to use it?" And it's like, "I don't know, maybe." I was relieved to finally get that out of my system.

That's awesome. And it seems like Jerry is that voice for the audience. He brings new humor to the show that we really haven't had in a while. Does it feel like you're a conduit for the audience?

Cooper Andrews: In a way. The way I play Jerry, I was a fan of the show. I still am and Jerry is just a fan of the people. He just really likes people. He likes meeting new people. When we first meet our heroes and then Jerry gets to greet them, yeah, I would definitely feel as if a fan was meeting the actual cast of The Walking Dead. That's a little bit what it felt like when I shot that.

And Jayson, were you a fan of the show or the comic books before you came onto the series?

Jayson Warner Smith: I watch the show and I started watching it because they shot it in my hometown. It's funny, because they were shooting that show and Revolution at the same time. Both of them are post-apocalyptic shows, except everybody in Revolution looked like they just came from the spa and The Walking Dead looked a little more realistic even though it was very real zombies. But I got hooked. So yeah, I was a fan. I was watching it. I still fast forward through the gory bits, though. I'm not a fan of all that stuff.

Cooper, what's it been like to work with Khary Payton and form that relationship with King Ezekiel?

Cooper Andrews: I feel like Jayson would tell you this as well, that Khary brings nonstop energy. He's enthused about everything, and you can't help but find it contagious. He's really collaborative to work with, and especially with the Jerry and Ezekiel relationship, there's a lot of, "How do we do this? How do we make this work without being too cheesy?" Or, "How do we make it fit for this world?"

We became fast, fast friends, all of us—Jayson and Josh [McDermitt] and The Saviors and the Kingdomers—it's just funny because while we're shooting it's like, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." And then it's like, "And cut, oh my God, Jayson, you killed it, that was amazing." Let's just do it again, I'm really gonna want to hate you this time. We have a lot of fun when all of us are working together.

Jayson Warner Smith: One thing that I'm worried about is that Jerry is so loyal to the King. And you don't want to see him get hurt, and some day it might happen. I'm not saying it's coming. I'm not saying anything, but what is that going to do to King Ezekiel or Jerry? How are they going to feel? But I think about it, and it hurts me when I see that relationship between you two, because it's like, "Oh, this is going to hurt so bad some day."

Cooper Andrews: Even last season when we were shooting those episodes, we didn't know at the time that it was going to be Richard, Karl Makinen, and Logan Miller [who died]. We didn't know and then when it finally happened, it was like, "Ugh." It just felt like a huge punch in the stomach, because we had such a great time. I felt like, "Dude we're doing our own show."