Danay Garcia Recaps Fear The Walking Dead Season 2, Previews Season 3

Fear the Walking Dead‘s second season introduced a handful of new characters but one of them quickly became a fan-favorite among viewers. Danay Garcia’s Luciana joined the AMC series late in Season 2 as one of the toughest lady charaters on television.

Luciana has been a soldier at Tijuana’s thriving Colonia community since the world fell apart. The group seemed to be a bright spot in the apocalypse until their gangsters oppressors were revealed and Nick Clark went ahead and pissed them off. Of course, along the way, Nick and Luciana ended up in some sort of relationship which was a huge step for both characters who had suffered great losses already.

To wrap the season, Luciana and Nick head north to the American border, abandoning the Colonia home to avoid a battle. However, what they found was worse than what was coming for them in the first place. The season ended with a bullet in Luciana and the characters’ fates left up in the air.

Speaking to Garcia, ComicBook.com heard the actress’ perspective on the Season 2 experiences and got a little preview of what’s to come in Season 3.

Check it out on the following slides!

Season 2 Takeaway

ComicBook.com: What has been the lasting impact being a part of this show has had on you so far?

Danay Garcia: I was actually thinking about this. The impact has been, first, to get used to the world as an actor and understand it and be comfortable and enjoy. You go through all those stages. After the whole work is done, it’s gone in post-production, we get back to our lives, but then the fans, the audience that love this, they are as apocalyptic as me. They love it how you should love these things. They have this passion, an apocalyptic passion. They are fans of infected and they want to be an infected and they want to be this, and it’s this great energy that is the exact same energy that I use as an actor in order to pull it off. This passionate need and the energy that you have to put out there every day on set really comes back at me with the fans. It’s so beautiful. We don’t have fans that are like, “Oh, hi, I’m a great fan.” No. It’s like, “Hi! I love so much!.” I don’t know why I feel apocalyptic. I think because it’s life and death. It’s like “You’ve got to hear me!” type of thing.

I think it’s been such a beautiful exchange in that regard because of that. That has been very overwhelming and so humbling and so beautiful.

Playing A Bad-Ass

CB: You get to play one of the coolest female characters on TV right now. Luciana is such a badass. What is that experience like to play this character who really almost seems to have no fear and she’s just out to survive, and she does have a heart? What is it like to play that character? Can you talk a little bit about that experience?

DG: I think what I really love about her and I’m really proud of the work and the work that I’ve been putting on and what I really focus on. It’s like in order to play a person that is fearless, you need to feel the fear first in order to overcome it and that’s what makes her human. That’s what makes her real. That’s what makes her back to this earth and reality. It’s not just a character that is like Superman that has super powers. No, she overcomes her obstacles with grace and with obviously survival instincts and this badass attitude that comes out of her. It comes out of overcoming what’s really a pain that she is overcoming, and she does the best she could do. Everything has to make sense for her in order to make a step forward. For example, deal with la Colonia or deal with the dead the way they did at Colonia.

I just love the fact that I feel the fear and then I overcome it with rage, with power, with energy. It’s a good example for women, and for guys. For anybody. You’re not born a badass. We all have points of breaking down, which she has in the show. She has all these layers and then she becomes a monster. After everything that she goes through, she comes back with a knife and I’m about to kill you. I think you deserve to die.

It’s not that she wakes up and she has no feelings. What I love about Luciana is that she really cares. It’s not somebody that is ruthless. It’s not a woman that doesn’t have feelings. It’s a real person that really goes through this whole journey and then she overcomes it. That’s what I love playing and that’s what I focus on as an actor, on every line, on every scene.

That Cliffhanger

CB: Season 2 was, in a lot of ways, building up to that really, really explosive moments in those last two episodes, but specifically the scene you were involved in seems to be flipping the whole show on its head a little bit with this whole new group coming in and Luciana got shot. Two questions. One, is Luciana going to recover? And two, what are these moments in this group, what are their impact going to be on the show?

DG: I think it’s massive obviously, and anything that has to do with an apocalypse, the moment you’re settled, that’s when everything ends. Yeah, the fact that I got shot, I think obviously I’m going to recover and obviously I’m going to be affected by these people that had killed some of my people. Some are run away and some of them are dead. This huge massive issue of resentment towards them because, first of all, I don’t know who they are. They are not my family. I’ve never seen them. Nick has never seen them. They are complete strangers that just took over our existence, and I’m very interested in seeing how she is going to deal with this because this is a completely different animal.

These are military people. They are Americans. They are fully equipped. They have all the equipment to kill me on the spot. We’re not fighting with a stick and a knife. This is serious. These people are trying to do this in a war, so I have to use both tactics to survive. That would be the mind and negotiations. I don’t know how she’s going to get out of it, but I’m interested to se how she’s going to overcome this monster. How she’s going to overcome her fears, her obstacles. Whatever comes at her, how she’s going to maneuver that and how Nick is going to adapt to that and how I’m going to adapt to that. That is very exciting because it’s a complete different ball game.

New Lady in Charge

CB: That same night that we Skyped for After the Dead following the Season 2 finale, I also talked with executive producer Dave Erickson and he said we’re going to be seeing a female villain as a leader, more or less, of one of these two groups that are going to be almost like a border war. What can you say or tease about this new leader we’re going to encounter?

DG: I’m really looking forward to it, because you know what? I honestly think that every time somebody makes somebody evil, the really truth is that they are really not that evil. They just have their reasons, that they’re making decisions based on their own, obviously, issues. If you really go down deep, deep, deep down, they’re people that are just doing the best they can. Obviously, it’s not a good thing, but I’m really interested in seeing this character and how they’re going to make her and turn her into what. And what are her choices and decisions? And based on what? I want to see them together. I want to see how Luciana, if I get to meet her, would deal with this situation. It’s not just a male, it’s a woman. It’s a villain. It’s whatever it is that she’s going to be. I don’t know, but it would be amazing.

CB: Right. I hope she’s not quite as scary as Negan!

DG: I agree.

The Relationship

CB: Late in the season, we obviously had Alejandro’s death and that’s obviously going to have a big effect, but also this whole thing toward the end of the season seems to be like Luciana got shot because it’s Nick’s fault. How are those two things going to affect Luciana and Nick’s relationship going forward?

DG: You know what, obviously this was not planned. This was an absolute accident. We were really heading north to a better place, a secure place. I think the first thing is to heal and then I know this is going to cause some fractures in the relationship and obviously we have to wait and see how he’s going to react towards that because innocent people died because of us, because of his decision, my decision to bring them with me. I think as any relationship when you hurt innocent people, there’s a lot of compromise. A lot to overcome. I just hope they make it. I really do, and I hope that they get justice to themselves. Whoever is left out there, they can do something about it.

I really think they are both stronger together than the leaders. They have this instinct to nurture and to help out there. Like the Colonians before. I think they have good meaning. They have good intuition. They have a need to do good. I know they have to have a fight, because if I were Luciana, I would be like, “Listen. I got shot, okay? You shut up.”

It’s just a natural in times of struggle. It just comes out, but we don’t know where that going to lead us. I don’t know.

Prison Break

CB: My last question, I do have to ask you with the Prison Break revival coming up, are you at all involved with that?

DG: I am not involved, but I am involved in the actor’s life and I cannot wait to see it. I am so proud and happy that this is coming back because he deserves it. It deserves another run. We need to see those characters again alive. We need to see these people operate now years later again. How have they changed? Because I know them really well, the characters, and I know them, too. But the characters, we fall in love with. The fact that they’re coming back to life is so exciting. The fact of whether I’m in it or not, I just feel as part of it. As you and then them … You never really detach from it. Even though I’m not personally there, I will be watching it. I will be watching it big time.