The Walking Dead: Michael Cudlitz Talks Abraham & Rosita’s Big Scene

Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, the twelfth of season six, Not Tomorrow Yet, featured a pretty explosive scene between Abraham and Rosita. Be warned, spoilers for the episode follow if you haven’t yet watched.

Abraham and Rosita’s break up was pretty emotional for the audience and Rosita but for Abraham it seemed like the most cut and dry thing he could possibly do. I mean, his best explanation was, “Why are dingleberries brown? That’s just the way shit is.”

Over the weekend I had a chance to talk to Abraham actor, Michael Cudlitz, about the scene and he had some good perspective to offer.

“I think she forged him into that. I don’t mean to blame her, obviously he’s the one who f—ed up in the sense of, “Is it f—ed up to fall in love with someone else?” You know? I don’t know,” Cudlitz says. “When you’re in a world where everything has been rebuilt or they’re trying to rebuild and you’re not a character who lies and you are a character who would rather not hurt somebody, if you fall in love with somebody, how do you best do that? I don’t think Abraham is equipped to handle that in any other way other than to be honest about it.

“I think he’s processing it and he knows that he has to leave and he’s come to the conclusion that he has to leave and he’s like, ‘Well, I’m gonna leave. It’s gonna be easy.’ And she’s like, ‘Why? Why? Why?’ She’s pushing for the why. He doesn’t really have the words to do it in a soft gentle way in that moment but it certainly pains him to do it. I think he’s much more used to dealing with men. It’s just the way it is is the way it is. He’s not good at doing that, apparently. I’m sure the character is gonna get some blow back and I’m gonna get some blow back because people aren’t gonna be happy about that but that’s life. I don’t think he is equipped to handle it in any other way.”

The Walking Dead‘s executive producer also weighed in on the topic with some heavy compliments for the entire cast involved, including Josh McDermitt who showed up at the end wearing a “Virginia Is For Lovers” t-shirt. Having directed Not Tomorrow Yet, he would know the ins and outs of the scenes just as well as the cast involved.

“That moment, the break up moment between Abraham and Rosita is so raw and it’s so emotional and when we shot that scene, both Michael [Cudlitz] and Christian [Serratos] were taken to a different place,” Nicotero says. “It was something I hadn’t seen before and I was just amazed. During the rehearsals, Josh [McDermitt] would just step out and be like, “Hey, have you tried these cookies?” and we would all start laughing because it was so ludicrous! Then, when we started rolling and he stepped out, it had a completely different feeling to it. It’s an amazing piece of acting by those actors. I think the fact that he’s even wearing that t-shirt is another great piece of this character Eugene that we’ve come to love. I really want to give huge kudos to Michael and Christian for that sequence. It was really amazing.”

In the comics, (spoilers ahead) Rosita ends up getting a bit cozy with Eugene, though she repeatedly denies his efforts to be with her. The community encourages her to admit having feelings for him, claiming it’s not uncool to like the fat guy anymore, and eventually they begin having a relationship but it is cut short when the Whisperers put her head on a spike.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 PM ET on AMC.