Ross Marquand Was “Intimidated” by Michael Biehn’s Warlord on The Walking Dead

Ross Marquand was “intimidated” by his Walking Dead guest star Michael Biehn. The iconic actor plays a warlord of the walker apocalypse in Sunday’s “Warlords,” where Aaron (Marquand) and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) encounter a new group as emissaries for the Commonwealth. The episode, written by Jim Barnes and Erik Mountain, reunites Biehn with his Aliens and Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd, franchise producer of The Walking Dead. (Last season, the scribes pit Gabriel and Aaron against another Terminator star, T2: Judgment Day actor Robert Patrick as Mays, in the bonus episode “One More.”)

“It’s so funny, because I definitely kind of laughed when I heard that Michael was going to be playing the part [of Ian the warlord],” Marquand told ComicBook in an exclusive Q&A for Episode 13. “Because I was so excited to work with Robert last year and excited but also intimidated because I love his body of work and also, he usually plays such scary badasses that I was worried that he was going to come to set and be kind of gruff or whatever. Robert couldn’t have been nicer, couldn’t have been more fun to talk to. We were laughing and joking around half the time. And then it came time to work, he was most professional and easy to work with.”

Marquand had “the same trepidation about working with Michael because he also plays gruff badasses,” he admitted with a laugh, adding guest stars Biehn and Patrick are “both just the most lovely, affable, fun-to-talk-to guys.” 

“We’re so lucky to have such incredible veteran actors like them to play on our show, even if it was just for an episode. I mean, we really lucked out getting both of them to play in our universe,” Marquand said. “And I wish there were more versions of them, like more twins or triplets in the case of Mays. But they were both so much fun to work with and I’m just really pleased that they got to play in our world.” 

Biehn portrayed Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens, Lieutenant Hiram Coffey in The Abyss, and the future Kyle Reese in The Terminator and Terminator 2, all produced by Hurd and directed by ex-husband James Cameron. Biehn also starred in the Hurd-produced Clockstoppers and television’s Adventure Inc. 

Outside of the Hurd-verse, Biehn’s credits include roles in Tombstone, The Rock, Grindhouse, Hill Street Blues, and Star Wars: The Mandalorian. Biehn is the latest Terminator actor to appear in the TWD Universe, following T2 actors Patrick and Xander Berkeley on The Walking Dead and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines actors Nick Stahl and Michael Papajohn, who appeared on spinoff Fear the Walking Dead. 

Also guest-starring in “Warlords” are actors Jason Butler Harner (Ozark), Jenique Hendrix (Mile 22), Connor Hammond (Creepshow), and Medina Senghore (Happy!). 

Season 11 Episode 13, “Warlords,” is streaming now on AMC+. New episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season Part 2 of 3 premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+. 

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