‘LOST’ Actor Was Almost King Ezekiel On ‘The Walking Dead’

It’s tough to imagine anyone other than Khary Payton playing King Ezekiel on The Walking Dead but it was almost a reality as LOST alum Harold Perrineau almost took the part.

Perrineau, who is best known for his roles like Michael Dawson on LOST and Jack in Zero Dark Thirty, was close to nabbing himself one of the hottest roles on current television. Introduced in The Walking Dead‘s seventh season, King Ezekiel has become a fan-favorite character for his extravagant manners under the portrayal of Khary Payton. Ahead of the television debut of the character, however, there were rumors of Perrineau having landed the part, which Perrineau tells ComicBook.com were not completely unfounded.

“There was a little bit of a talk about it,” Perrineau said. “For a while there was. I was already doing something and it would’ve been a big juggle. Not that he’s not great! There was just a talk. It was a talk and it didn’t go down. I’m really excited for him.”

As much of a fan of Payton’s portrayal of the character Perrineau is, he admits, “it would be fun to have a tiger!”

Of course, Perrineau was involved with a series which revolutionized television by combining science fiction, character drama, and novelized storytelling which may or may not have opened the doors for show likes The Walking Dead, or even Game of Thrones or Stranger Things.

“I think it 100% did,” Perrineau said. “I think it paved the way for a lot of the TV we see now. There are things that people thought you couldn’t get away with on television before and LOST came along and broke all these rules. Now, there’s all this great storytelling and different ways of telling the story and I think LOST was one of the first things to do that.”

As for whether or not LOST will return, the outlook is grim, but Perrineau will be ready if the phone should ever ring and the island demands more from Michael.

“It’s a show about characters,” Perrineau said. “The island is there and there are mysteries there. There’s interesting people, these flawed interesting people that are looking for something.”

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