The Eugene Porter that fans were introduced to in The Walking Dead Season 4 is far from the Eugene Porter that stands before the survivors in Season 11. Josh McDermitt’s character has evolved from the timid man that hid behind his friends into a protector of those that are beside him. That was exemplified in the latest episode of The Walking Dead, which featured Teo Rapp-Olsson’s Sebastian Milton attempting to send Margot Bingham’s Max Mercer into a hoard of walkers. Instead of looking on, Eugene intervenes, throwing the walker that was about to bite Max onto Sebastian himself. As Sebastian struggled to fend off the flesh-hungry zombie, Eugene gave him a glance and walked away with Max, neglecting to save the spoiled son of the Commonwealth’s governor.
Speaking with ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley, McDermitt noted that he believes Season 4 Eugene would not be able to recognize the Eugene that fans see today.
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“He’d be unrecognizable, 100%. He ran in the opposite direction when he saw a walker. [Former co-star] Sonequa [Martin-Green] sent me a gif of us running out of the train car, and there was a zombie reaching for Eugene and Eugene’s just doing one of these (holds hands up),” McDermitt said. “And then she comes up and shoots the walker through the brain, and I thought that was so funny. It’s how far this man has come that he’s not running to get away from a walker, but he’s actually getting his hands dirty and pushing a walker into someone and them dying and him saying, ‘Well, them’s the breaks.’ Unrecognizable at this point.”
Rapp-Olsson spoke with ComicBook.com’s Cameron Bonomolo as well to weigh in on his character’s death, noting he believes Eugene’s decision to let Sebastian die will have some consequences.
“Eugene can’t simply just walk away from the fact that he was the ultimate decider of Sebastian’s fate,” Rapp-Olsson said. “Even if it was to save Max, he doomed Pamela’s only child, and she is certainly not a person who is willing to forgive and forget.”
The Walking Dead airs new episodes every Sunday on AMC.
