The Walking Dead Actor Didn’t Know “What the Hell” the Show Was Even After Watching It

The Walking Dead actor Vincent Ward admits he had “no clue” about the show when he joined the zombie drama in its third season. Ward played Oscar, one of the last-surviving inmates of the overrun prison discovered by Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of survivors in the Season 3 premiere. “Seed” ended with Rick, Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glenn (Steven Yeun), Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and T-Dog (IronE Singleton) coming across the prisoners — Tomas (Nick Gomez), Andrew (Markice Moore), Big Tiny (Theodus Crane), Axel (Lew Temple) and Oscar — none of whom survived the third season, during which time The Walking Dead became a ratings juggernaut.

“I didn’t even know what The Walking Dead was. I had no clue,” Ward told Kendall Talks TV. “I just looked at it like it was an audition, any other audition. Matter of fact, I videotaped the audition … I went in there, auditioned, and it’s like, ‘Well, you got a part on The Walking Dead.’ My agent and manager were excited, I was like, ‘Okay, but what is it?’ They’re like, ‘It’s about this group of people or something.’ I said, ‘Who the hell’s watching that?’ [Laughs] Then we find out everybody was watching it.”

A modest hit for network AMC during Season 2, The Walking Dead became the first cable series in television history to top every show of the Fall broadcast season in the coveted adult 18-49 rating with its record-breaking midseason finale in Season 3. The episode, “Made to Suffer,” was Ward’s last: during a raid on the neighboring Woodbury community, Oscar was shot and killed after appearing in just seven episodes.

“For me, in the contract, it’s like, ‘You can’t say that you’re on the show.’ I tell people one of the easiest things to do is keep your mouth shut. A lot of people get fired because they don’t keep their mouth shut,” Ward said. “Honestly, I was there for maybe three months, but it was another maybe two or three months before the show came on. I remember going to the red carpet here in L.A. at Universal, walking the red carpet, and nobody knew who the hell I was because the episode hadn’t come on.”

Even after Ward’s first episode of The Walking Dead premiered in October 2012, the actor still had questions.

“I didn’t know what the show was about, and when I saw it, I was like, ‘What the hell is this?’” he said. “Even my episode I did on True Blood, I didn’t know what True Blood was. I had never seen it, but I had ended up getting a part on it. For me, I don’t look down on smaller TV shows or movies. I just don’t do that, because if somebody wants you, I just feel honored that they want me. I’m humbled by it, because there’s a lot of actors and actresses out there [who do that].”

“For somebody to be like, ‘I believe in you and I want you to be such-and-such,’ then I give 100%,” Ward added. “I give my all.’”

During a January convention appearance, Ward said he “enjoyed” his time on The Walking Dead but stopped watching once his character was killed off.

The Walking Dead next airs “A Certain Doom” as a special episode later this year. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.