SDCC 2018: 'Fear The Walking Dead' Press Conference Recap
On Friday, the cast and producers of Fear the Walking Dead gathered for a press conference, [...]
On Friday, the cast and producers of Fear the Walking Dead gathered for a press conference, including Ian Goldberg, Andrew Chambliss, Scott Gimple, Michael Satrazemis, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Maggie Grace, Garret Dillahunt, Lennie James, and Jenna Elfman.
The floor was immediately opened to questions from the media.
What was it like to join the show as a newcomer?
"Like moving into a new neighborhood," Grace said. "It was so warm and friendly and I will say a little shocking when we lost cast members very soon thereafter. I had no idea."
"It's not the first show I've joined mid-process," Dillahunt said. "It's the best introduction I've ever had."
"It's been a big learning curve for me just in the mythology," Elfman said. "I wanted to, it was really important to me, to make sure I understood it…Just artistically it's been really stimulating and a really great adventure."
What is the theme of Season 4B?
"I think there's a few, we talked at the panel a bit about the end of the first half of the season ended with these characters sitting around a campfire brought together by circumstances they couldn't imagine," Goldberg said. "Theres a lot to resolve, both within themselves, within the group, questions of who are they to each other, who will they be going forward, how will they carry on Madison's legacy of hope, how will they bring light into this dark world. And I think redemption is a really big theme in the back half."
How has Alicia changed on the show?
"It's a been a really exciting journey for me because this character has had one of the major developments out of any character on this show," Debnam-Carey said. "We've seen her go from a regular teenage girl to a fearless warrior in the apocalypse. She's been destroyed by it and lost everyone she knows…All our characters have become orphans of the apocalypse. Everyone has lost everyone in their life, their family…If you thread it all together in one journey, it's quite remarkable how much she's changed. This season's been really, really hard. I lost all the Clarks. I'm the only one left….What's great though is that we now get to see Alicia now purely as her own character completely. She no longer has ties to her mother and her brother."
Was there a competition for Lennie with TWD?
"My kind of thing I try and do my best wherever I am and tell the story in the best way that we think it should be told. I don't think there'd be any point in the crossover…if it wasn't adding something or continuing the great work that was being done before, if it wasn't broadening the storytelling. If it was just a gimmick, I'm not interested in a gimmick. ..That was the things that most interested me and most concerned me…I'm very protective and take a real responsibility for Morgan as a character…If we end up kicking the other guys' ass, that's a bonus.
Is Garret Dillahunt at all like his John Dorie character?
"It's been a blast. I can't say I wasn't a little nervous about it," Dillahunt said. "They did it really well. I sure loved that first episode. I don't think I've ever had, in a long and busy career, such a great introduction to a series or a universe."
Further crossovers ruled out?
"It does not," Gimple said. "That's about all I got to say. It does not but I wouldn't expect it all the time. Things could happen. You never know who might pop up on Fear the Walking Dead. That includes The Walking Dead and potentially people in the past from Fear the Walking Dead."
Natural disaster originally planned for TWD?
"We had talked, things had bounced around in that area on the original show," Gimple said. "I think once we talked about some of the crazy imagery involved, Fear the Walking Dead is a show that is incredibly distinct on its own. This half season really establishes that it has such a tonal flexibility. It is a tonal elasticity. There are things that happen, there is this Episode 10 that is so dark, so emotional, and so heartfelt. And then, as Lennie has said within an episode we will see Morgan on a toilet."
Chambliss says they were excited t see how many different types of episodes they cloud do.
Will Al's tapes continue to be explored?
"We will definitely be exploring more with those tapes and why they mean so much to Al in a couple of circumstances. She's into them, why they mean so much, what's on them…"
How does directing The Walking Dead vs. Fear the Walking Dead compare for Michael Satrazemis?
"Both shows are very unique and being around from the very beginning…creating and just watching the shows uniquely go through their process of evolving. This was a unique and different kind of story for me because we were trying to reinvent and take the show to another place and a giant time jump. When this was offered to me there were al to of things I couldn't say no to. … Also, knowing from the very beginning what they were gonna go through… This has been probably the greatest years of my life and one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. … I'll tel you what, what we've done together and what we've created …."
Did he help Colman Domingo learn anything about directing before Episode 4x12?
"He was ready, he just needed the love," Satrazemis said. "He's a creator. A filmmaker…The highest term you can ever be given is a filmmaker."
Do zombies poop?
"I think there's a fermentation process that could result in projectiles," Gimple said. "I don't mean to spoil this half of the season."
Freedom with no comic?
"It's a double edged sword because sometimes we really wish we had a comic book we could turn to for ideas but at the same time we do have this incredible sense of freedom and we can look at The Walking Dead and what they haven't done," Chambliss said. "That's what we really try to do in the back half of this season."
Did they pick up the pace and story intentionally with seasons three and four?
"Coming into this for us, what we like so much about TWD universe, is it is this universe that lends itself to reinvention," Chambliss said.
"That variety takes so many different forms," Goldberg said, citing tonal, character art, schematics, walkers, and locations as variables. "That's where not having a comic book is actually okay."
How will TWD universe expand? Other countries?
"I'm currently working on some things that answer that question so I shouldn't answer it now. There's a lot of stuff that's cooking in the garage right now. The frozen walker battle continues! You never know where it could wind up. It could wind up on TWD, it could wind up on this show. There could be a half hour television show of just frozen walkers. … as the months go on we're gonna have a lot to say about it."
