Rosemary Rodriguez: The Journey To Become A ‘Walking Dead’ Director

Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead comes from the talented mind of Rosemary Rodriguez, marking her second time directing an episode of the zombie drama on AMC.

As it turns out, Rodriguez got involved with a show she had always been a fan of through a close friendship with Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Rodriguez had worked on several episodes of The Good Wife with Morgan ahead of his role as Negan, and having stayed in touch, would eventually find herself involved with The Walking Dead as a result.

“I did a lot of episodes of The Good Wife, where I met Jeffrey Dean Morgan,” Rodriguez told ComicBook.com. “One day, I got this text. I was at home. I got a text and it was like ‘Hey, you want to join up with The Walking Dead?’”

When Rodriguez didn’t have the number saved in her phone, her husband came up with the perfect solution. “My husband’s in the kitchen and I was like ‘Somebody’s asking me to work on The Walking Dead and I don’t know who it is.’ And he goes, ‘Just text them back: F yeah! And I’m sorry, how is this?’” So I did exactly that,” Rodriguez said.

She would quickly find out it was Jeffrey Dean Morgan inviting her to join the show, which Rodriguez notes is the slightest indication of what a great friend the actor can be. “I talked to Scott [Gimple] a couple days later,” Rodriguez said. “I talked with Scott in the morning and then, yeah, he hired me and I

The director tackles the second episode of the show’s All Out War storyline, which arrives with a slew of action sequences taking place simultaneously across various location. “I was one of the people that was a big fan of season seven,” Rodriguez said. “I really loved how Scott broke everybody up and it got sad and depressing and then you’d go on and ‘Where is Daryl?’ Where is Rick? I can’t stand this.’ I love that.”

Unlike the seventh season which Rodriguez is quick to compliment, The Damned allowed het to operate with Andrew Lincoln’s Rick and Norman Reedus’ Daryl simultaneously. “Directing them together was so exciting,” Rodriguez said. “The only person I didn’t have, of course, ironically enough, was Negan!”

The road which lead Rodriguez to her working on shows such as The Walking Dead, The Good Wife, and Jessica Jones leads back to a passion for filmmaking which started with purely loving movies. “What made me fall in love with film making movies?” Rodriguez said. “Watching movies. I just love movies.” Her first project was a 2001 feature film titled Act of Worship.

It all helps fuel the revolution female directors are currently charging toward head on, especially after Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman this summer. “I’ve been in the revolution since the day I was born,” Rodriguez said. She continues her fight through filmmaking, as following her first feature the offers for romantic comedies poured in, but action-packed character-driven stories are where she most wants to operate.”When I got into television, I started with action right a way. The first episode I had we were having a huge car chase. A car going into the East River. Just a lot of crazy stuff happening. So, I came up on action and doing that and I’m up on stuff so, that’s where my heart lays.”

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.