Exclusive: The Walking Dead's Josh McDermitt Talks Alexandria, Negan, Deanna and More
03/01/2015 10:10 pm EST
Earlier this week, ComicBook.com has the chance to catch up with Josh McDermitt, who plays Eugene on AMC's hit series, The Walking Dead. During an exclusive interview, Josh discussed topics like reading The Walking Dead's comics, what to expect from the Alexandria community, the possibility of Negan appearing, and more.
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It's been an interesting second half of the season so far, and a little bit slow for you though, huh?
It's been wild. Now we have the attraction of Alexandria and that kind of throws things in a different directions. For people that know the comics they kind of understand where things can be headed, but for people who only watch the tv show it's something completely different and they're like, "What the hell is going on?"
Did you read the comics?
I did. I'm not completely current. I'm 5 or 6 issues behind. I like to read them in the volumes because, you know, you flip through one book and it's done in like 3 minutes. You sit down for like 15 minutes with a volume or even one of the compendiums and that's always pretty… I love it, it's like a cool, almost alternative source material because this show likes to variate and change the way things happen. And just to see how they kind of interface the two and come up with the story lines on their own.
Yeah, they do like to change a few things and keep us guessing. I know the comics pretty well, I'd say, but sometimes the show still throws me for a loop. Are you going to be a community planner like you were in the comics and then start making bullets?
I think that remains to be seen. Ultimately, Eugene's… How do I answer this without giving things away? It's a battle with every interview. Eugene's main goal is to figure out how he fits into the group and survive at this point. Whether they're on the road or whether they're behind the walls of Alexandria, that becomes his primary objective. So, once he feels comfortable in that, I think we can look into him exploring other things.
In the comics, I hate to spoil it- I know you're not up to date, but he's still alive.
I know that! I know those things.
So, on a show where as a cast member job security can be pretty a scary thought, does it help you sleep at night that Eugene's heart is still beating at least on paper?
Not really just because Andrea is still alive, too. Isn't she?
That' true.
Yeah, stuff like that and the fact that Daryl's not even in the comics kind of makes you go, "okay, anyone can go at any time." You know, Tyreese's death in the comics was Hershel's death on the show. They like pulling from the comics but they also like mixing it up. Especially Gimple, who's a huge fan of the comics before he even started working on the show, loves to mix things up. I think it's hard to kind of sit back and go, "oh yeah, well job security." Everything is pretty much up in the air.
Yeah, honestly. I agree with them I think you're doing a great job, but I can imagine how the fans of this show can get a little overwhelming. I'm sure you guys get bombarded.
Yeah, thanks. It can be overwhelming, but it's not. It's cool because it's not all on me. It's kind of team effort. It starts with the executive producers. It starts with Kirkman and Gimple, and Gale Anne Hurd and Nicotero. The guys at the top, they're making sure that every phase of the show and the comic is paid off in a respectful way so once it kind of trickles down to me it's a lot easier because they've done all the heavy lifting already.
Sure, yeah. I think that the Deanna Douglas switch was pretty big. I'm looking forward to seeing how fans react to that.
Yeah. I like how they've kind of done things. It's kind of a compliment I hear all the time, from comic fans are like, "I like how y'all did this," or "I think it's great how y'all have did that," and "this was from the first two issues and you're doing it in season five," or whatever. They're very complimentary and they like it. It could easily get out of hand or it could be really divisive and it's not. I hear it all the time. I feel honored that people even say that about me and the portrayal of Eugene. They say it's exactly how they saw the character in their minds when reading the comics, you know, "You are doing the character justice," which feels great. I didn't want to come in and ruin it. You know? "Who the hell is this jackass?" I didn't want to do a bastardized version of Eugene.
Sure, yeah. That's a good way to look at it.
I don't think there was ever a character that I've auditioned for, and believe me I've had a lot of input with this character, but I don't think there's every been a character I auditioned for where so much character work has already been done before I even auditioned. It actually made things so much easier. Instead of having to come up and fill in the gaps with a bunch of things that they may not be thinking in that direction or want to stay away from these sort of things and I'm trying to flub some things in so it makes sense to me but it ends up hurting the character, they want to stay away fro that sort of thing. We go in to do The Walking Dead and they've already filled in those gaps for me and it's great. It makes things really easy.
That's awesome. I talked to Ross [Marquand] the other day and he said the same thing, how easy it was to join the cast from the script, to the cast, to the production and everything being welcoming. He made it sound like it's so much fun.
Yeah, I agree. When we came on, everyone was so supportive and everything. It's such a well-written show and the source material is so well written. We captured lightning in a bottle, we really have. I've been on shows that you feel like you're grinding your gears so much and you make a product that's still good, but you know, it's hard work getting there. That's necessary. Still everything is super cool and chill and they want you to put your best foot forward and have your best performance and everything. I agree with Ross. I had the same experience, everything was awesome.
With everyone being so tight-knit and having to say goodbye to people all the time, like Chad and Emily most recently that we know of. Is it hard to say goodbye to such good friends?
Yeah, absolutely. You know, Chad and I grew close because, I think it's episode 2 or 3, when the group is held up in the rectory and the group is killing the Termites… We shot that on a different day and Chad and I bonded. We had like an hour and a half of just sitting around without having to do anything. We had like, the deepest conversation, and, like, instantly, I'm like this guy is great, this guy is my brother. This is great. Then, to have to see him go, I didn't know at that point he was going to be killed off. Here I am losing a close friend.
What was interesting is I felt the same way with Emily and I didn't even have one scene with her. It's just because every time we get together, we're getting dinner together, we're all getting to know each, we're all a member of the family. You lose that person and it sucks, but you've gotta keep moving forward. It's really hard and actually, I hate to say it, it makes your performances better. Like when they shoot the death scenes and maybe someone's in there, like in the hospital and we watched Emily die. I mean, the tears that you have from losing a friend on the show are real and they kind of translate into what the character's doing, I hate that we use it to our advantage in the performance, but you hate to have people taken from you.
Speaking of people being taken… We're all expecting Negan in the near-future. Do you know anything about him showing up?
The only thing I ever here about Negan is people asking when Negan is coming.
Yeah, I don't expect to see him for a while because so much happens at Alexandria before he shows up, but you knew I had to ask! People on the internet are crazy about him!
Who knows if they'll even bring him in. Gimple likes to do his own thing, too. There's nothing saying he has to bring Negan in. The story has been compelling enough without the guy. Let's just focus on what we got right now. We can't worry about what's going on in the comics. Why aren't people screaming, "Where's Ezekial?" Let's just focus on what's in front of us.
They want to see Lucille!
Yeah, but then again, I also heard… I don't know if you saw that episode of @Midnight… Kirkman likes to mess with the fans.
Oh, yeah. I saw that. He could have so much fun teasing fans and making stuff up.
Yeah anything he says can be taken as a spoiler.
He could say Eugene is going to fly this season and people would start coming up with theories on how that would happen.
Yeah, right?
Josh McDermitt also discussed playing a Marvel super hero and Eugene's mullet in a spoiler-free edition of this interview, which you can find by clicking here.
Do you want to see more Eugene? Do you agree with other fans who say that McDermitt does an excellent job portraying the comic book character on screen?
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