More “Real Ezekiel” Coming In ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 8

Fans of The Walking Dead can expect to see the curtain pulled back a bit on King Ezekiel when the show returns for its eighth season.

When ComicBook.com visited the set of the AMC series, Khary Payton revealed the King might drop his act a bit more throughout the coming story. The only time fans had seen the “real” Ezekiel so far was when he revealed his true self to Carol early in Season 7, explaining his past and why he carries himself the way he does. Season 8 might expand upon that story.

“I’m sure there’s going to be a bit of that peppered in,” Payton said. “I think you’d be remiss not to use that aspect of him in some way, shape or form, so yeah. I think it’ll come in when it’s necessary.”

In fact, some encounters on set have influenced Payton’s view on his Ezekiel character.

“One of the things that I learned dealing with Andy [Lincoln] and Lennie [James] is that when they’re here doing the show they’re using their southern accents pretty much the whole time they’re on set,” Payton said. “They have to consciously turn it off after they’re done. They were sitting around talking about football, soccer football, together at a table one day, and they were talking in their southern accents, and they started to laugh. They were like, ‘What? We’re two Brits talking about football. Why are we still talking like this?’”

Like King Ezekiel, the actors have been their characters so long, they don’t notice when they’re acting versus being themselves on set.

“They’ve been doing it for so long they have the consciously turn it off,” Payton said. “I think that’s the same thing that happens with Ezekiel. They think, ‘Wow. He hasn’t broken character.’ It was like, ‘No, he has to consciously tell himself to break it at this point.’”

The Walking Dead‘s sibling series Fear the Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9 pm ET on AMC. 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.