Interview: Daniel Sharman on Troy’s Chess Match with Madison and the Spoon Scene in FEAR THE WALKING DEAD Season 3

The humans have often been just as scary as the voracious Infected on Fear The Walking Dead, and season 3 is no exception, as viewers were recently introduced to Troy Otto (played by Daniel Sharman), the member of a prepper community who is fascinated with learning more about the Infected, even if he has to get blood on his hands in the name of science. Troy got more than he bargained for when he crossed paths with Madison (Kim Dickens), though, resulting in a scene that will forever change the way viewers look at spoons. I recently had a chance to chat with Sharman about joining the show, Troy's backstory, and how the spoon scene changed the way he looks at tea.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me and congratulations on the first few episodes. I've really enjoyed your performance as Troy, it's really a fascinating role. What was the audition process like for you coming onto this show? Did you know who you were auditioning for? I know that auditioning for Fear The Walking Dead or The Walking Dead can be secretive.

Daniel Sharman: Yeah, they're very secretive. I actually didn't find out who Troy was until basically the day that I got down there. I really didn't know much about him. But people kept telling me that it was a very interesting role. They kind of gave me these side glances and I was like, Okay, interesting. That can always be a code for something else. They were very secretive about it, but the sides were quite interesting and well-written.

I don't think we ever used any of the sides I got—they were dummy sides—but I auditioned like everybody else and I went back in and met [showrunner] Dave [Erickson], but I honestly didn't know anything about it until I got down there, and then suddenly they were like, "We're going to fit you for a spoon in your eye," and I was like, "Here we go, prosthetics city, here I come." But the spoon actually looks quite good, so I'm glad we did it in the end. But I thought I was going to have a spoon in my eye for the entire season.

I will never look at a spoon the same way after that scene you had with Kim Dickens.

Daniel Sharman: It's funny, I was telling Kim, "You know, I'm an Englishman, and I just can't have cups of tea with those kinds of spoons anymore. It just brings back too many memories.

Was that [the spoon scene] your first scene with Kim Dickens?

Daniel Sharman: Yeah, that was literally the first scene, too, so it was quite an introduction.

It's been fun to watch Troy and Madison interact with each other. It's like watching a chess match, because each one knows how to play the other one, and Troy may have gotten more than he bargained for with the Clark family, because Madison has been messing with him and keeping Troy on his toes as much as he keeps her on her toes.

Daniel Sharman: Absolutely. That was always what was fascinating to me about the script. You never get the sense that either chess player reveals their hand, and what I find lovely about it is that even when Troy is at times surprised or outmaneuvered or outflanked by Madison, there's a kind of respect there instead of an animosity, because he now has a partner that is equal to him. I think that's the first time in his life he's ever had someone who has showed that, so there's a kind of excitement and joy in playing with her. His barometer of when we can be friends is not quite the same as everybody else's. You have to almost kill him to gain his respect.

At first you think that Troy is just this sadistic person and that he's doing these things just to be pure evil, but as we learn more about his backstory, it almost seems as though Troy is as much of a victim as he is a villain. Was it interesting to dive into that duplicity as an actor?

Daniel Sharman: Yeah, I'm really not interested in playing—I don't think any actor is—two-dimensional characters, so it was never an idea to me that this was just a psychopath or somebody that was totally without a past or a reason for his behavior, so I was really glad that the scripts supported a deeply troubled character, but also the reasons for that trouble—an exploration into a human being and human nature. That to me, as an actor, is always way more fascinating than just playing an "evil" character.

Because Troy lost his mom before the apocalypse, do you think that he could almost see Madison like a mom figure in his life?

Daniel Sharman: There's a very muddy relationship there. Of course there is an idea of losing a mom, but I don't think it's quite as simple as him wanting to replace his mother. I think he looks at Madison as a strong woman, and is fascinated by someone who cares so deeply for her children and would do anything for their survival, which is so alien to him, because he's never had anybody that's done that. So I don't think it's just a motherly thing, but he's fascinated by blind devotion and this intense love. Because when he first sees Madison, it's not just Madison, it's Madison with Alicia. That's the key, seeing those two together and watching that relationship, which is something that Troy just does not understand. He has a line in the first episode where he says something like, "You love him more than you love yourself." And he's never encountered that. He's quite baffled by somebody who would really, honestly give their life for somebody that they loved.

You've had quite a run in recent years with memorable, darker projects. You were on Teen Wolf and The Originals, and even had that memorable appearance in The Collection, and now you're in Fear The Walking Dead. They're all diverse projects but they deal with these darker themes. Is there something about this genre that you're attracted to, or something that gives you a particular opportunity to explore as an actor?

Daniel Sharman: I'd love to say I chose it, but that sounds like I have some kind of control over those things. I go wherever they pay me to go, but there is something that I love about any world in which you can explore the extremes of humanity. I don't know whether that's just because I'm a nutcase and therefore I like the extremes, but I think that life is too short, and you go for the extremes and you go for the big things. And in a genre like that, they are dealing with the wit's end. It's where the stakes are incredibly high, it's where everything lives where you see real human nature in some way, and I do like that. Maybe that's just something that fits together, because I'm an extreme kind of person and enjoy that, and therefore people think that I'm a nutcase [laughs].

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Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates on Fear The Walking Dead, and in case you missed them, check out a new video teasing what's to come in season 3, as well as our interviews with Kim Dickens and Colman Domingo.