The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman Says Steven Yeun Blacked Out His First Day On Set

Running from zombies can be exausting, there’s not doubt about that in anyone’s mind. How about […]

Running from zombies can be exausting, there’s not doubt about that in anyone’s mind. How about running from fictional zombies? You know the one’s played by actors that will smile and say “hey” when the director yells cut?

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Apparently, than can be just as tiring.

During a tribute to the Walking Dead‘s fallen hero Glenn, Robert Kirkman shared one of his favorite memories with Steven Yeun on set.

Kirkman wrote The Walking Dead comic series that debuted in 2003 from Image comics. Glenn Rhee was one of the first characters he introduced, and the same stood true for the televisoon adaptation in 2010.

Glenn was set to appear in every episode of the series, starting with the pilot. Steven Yeun was cast as the beloved character, and he got a breathtaking surprise when he showed up to set.

According to Kirkman, Yeun didn’t make through his first day on The Walking Dead without passing out.

“The first thing that Steven ever shot was doing a pickup shot for episode 4 in season 1 because we wanted him to go back to the tank and grab Rick’s hat that he had left behind. But we didn’t want to pay to have that tank back on set, so we did some pickup shots of him running and grabbing that hat for the later episode. And I guess he didn’t anticipate how much running he was going to be doing because we ended up having to do a few takes, and he hadn’t eaten anything, so he kind of blacked out on his first day of shooting. So we always used to make fun of him for that and he was always a good sport about it.”

Can you imagine, showing up to your first big acting gig and being told to run a marathon? It’s good to know Yeun was a good sport about it, though. Some actors would complain about their workload, but Steven just wanted to deliver the best performance possible.

The show may never be the same without Glenn, and fans everywhere will miss his character for seasons to come.

The Walking Dead returns on Sunday, October 30 at 9pm ET on AMC.

Source: Entertainment Weekly