Micheal Cudlitz who played the beloved Abraham in The Walking Dead was the featured Panelist at C2E2 Friday and after the applause died down the first topic of discussion was his recent departure to the show following his characters death at the end of season 7.
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Cudlitz recounts when he first found out his character wasn’t making it past season 7.
“I was up visiting my son up in San Jose and I got a call from one of the AD’s who told me all the information for that next week and ‘Oh by the way Scott wants to have a meeting with you on Tuesday.’ So I immediately called Scott.”
Cudlitz wasn’t all that upset about his character’s death. The way he reasoned, “It’s about time in the comics.” Scott was surprised that Cudlitz took his character’s death so well, but Cudlitz, being a fan of the show prior to its debut, knew it was inevitable:
“If you come on the show and you’re surprised you’re going to die, you’re kinda a moron.”
For Cudlitz, Abraham’s death was unlike other deaths on The Walking Dead; it was special because Negan didn’t get the best of him.
When it comes to how closely his character related to the comic book, Cudlitz explains that all of the character’s motivations and backstory was there, but the details weren’t necessary for the show.
“We didn’t go specifically into all the specific details because I don’t think it’s necessary to do that when you are doing a TV show, a lot of it can be implied and people will take from that scene what they will.”
Cudlitz also spent time talking about what he thinks is the most important work he’s done so far his potrayal of Sergeant Denver “Bull” Randleman on the HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers.
The experience that working on Band of Brothers was life-changing for Cudlitz and the crew, and one of the biggest take always was becoming more selfless and caring for others over yourself.
“What it gave us was a taste of what it meant to go into something and be completely selfless to realize that the men to the left and right of you were more important than you.”
Cudlitz ties this in with the final moments of Abraham. “It was very much like the final moments of Abraham’s life, he was more a soldier then you could ever be because he was doing what he was doing for the benefit of the group.”
Cudlitz is currently working on upcoming TV movie called The Trustee a film about a stubborn detective who finds unlikely help from her precinct’s trustee, a larger-than-life ex-con finishing out her prison sentence doing menial tasks for the police department.
The Walking Dead Returns for Season 8 this fall on AMC.
