Michael Cudlitz On The Secrecy Of His ‘Walking Dead’ Return

The Walking Dead shocked fans when it brought Abraham Ford back to the series for a sequence of flashbacks in its Season 7 finale. Keeping such moments a secret was no easy feat.

Abraham actor Michael Cudlitz caught up with ComicBook.com to talk about The Walking Dead‘s seventh season in anticipation of the release of The Walking Dead: The Complete Seventh Season on blu-ray. While chatting, he opened up about pulling off some of the biggest surprise moments on television for the 16-episode run which he was a part of for only two episodes.

“For me, the biggest thing was the look,” Cudlitz said, referencing the red handlebar mustache and hair his character rocked on the AMC series. “You know, keep the red hair and keep the mustache.”

Another key, according to Cudlitz, was to “travel a lot,” and be seen doing so.

“I had pictures saved up that I would put out on my Twitter account and I’d talk about Atlanta when I wasn’t there,” Cudlitz said. “When I was there, I would make sure I photographed and tweeted and be seen as much as possible. Especially the airport — the one place where I do not use the lounge…or didn’t use the lounge. I would make sure I was in line at the food court, and eating out in public. You make a big deal of it when you are there. If you’re at a hotel for the night, whatever, you make sure you at least walk out a little bit, be seen. It only takes one or two people to put it out their social that they saw you, or whatever. ‘What’s he doing there? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ And they take it and they run with it. They do all the work.”

Cudlitz also offers new perspective of his time on The Walking Dead on commentary tracks and featurettes for The Walking Dead: The Complete Seventh Season which is available on Blu-ray now.

The Walking Dead‘s sibling series Fear the Walking Dead returns September 10th. The Walking Dead will return for its eighth season on October 22, 2017. The Season Eight premiere will mark 100 episodes overall for the popular AMC series. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.