King Ezekiel, the eccentric, affable, and theatrical ruler of The Kingdom, will make his debut (along with pet tiger named Shiva) in this Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead. He’ll be played by Khary Payton, who is best known for voicing Cyborg in Teen Titans and Aqualad in Young Justice.
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In a recent interview, the 44-year-old actor described how he landed the coveted role.
“I had auditioned for The Walking Dead once or twice before and wasn’t as familiar with the comic book,” Payton told The Hollywood Reporter. “I watched and was a fan of the show. I had vague idea of who he was. When I got the sides, it was a four-page monologue and that is unusual for a TV audition. I had the weekend to go over it and as I was going over it, the name of the character — King Augustus — and the fact that he had a lion, I went online and it was pretty easy to figure out who it was. I realized that the monologue they’d given me was almost verbatim from the comic book moment where Ezekiel tells Michonne who he was before he became the king.”
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The official synopsis for ‘The Kingdom’ reads, “For a number of familiar faces, a new, well-established community seems too good to be true.”
Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead reigns as television’s most watched drama for adults 18-49 and tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse, and follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home.
The series stars Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Steven Yeun as Glenn, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Chandler Riggs as Carl, Lauren Cohan as Maggie, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Melissa McBride as Carol, Sonequa-Martin Green as Sasha, Michael Cudlitz as Abraham, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan.
The Walking Dead is executive produced by Scott M. Gimple, Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero and Tom Luse.
“The Kingdom” episode of The Walking Dead will air Sunday, October 30 at 9/8c on AMC.
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