The Walking Dead: Terry O'Quinn Teases Major General Beale

"Come on, Rick. It's like he told you — there's no escape for the living." Those are the words that Consignee Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) heard while trying to escape the Civic Republic Military in the final minutes of The Walking Dead. But who is "he"? It's a name that has been uttered only on The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and a name that will strike fear into the hearts of survivors: CRM Major General Beale. And the man playing the shadowy leader of the CRM in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is Terry O'Quinn (Lost, Alias, Hawaii Five-0, Patriot). 

"He is the leader of the Civic Republic military and it operates pretty independently of the Civic Republic government. So he doesn't really have to deal with them very much. And he's held in high esteem. He's kind of a hero. He has a long military history. He served two terms in Vietnam and went to officer training school. And he's had to make some decisions in terms of who lives and who dies and how to deal with the mass of walking dead," O'Quinn told Entertainment Weekly. "He has a big army, but he has about 2,000 of his front liners. They're his elite corps and they do most of the work, be it dirty or not dirty. He makes decisions based on what he thinks will help his community survive. And it's completely that he's trying to make sure that this city survives, so he makes some tough decisions.

World Beyond revealed that the Civic Republic is headquartered in post-apocalyptic Philadelphia, a fortified city of more than 200,000 survivors. That series saw CRM Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond) and Warrant Officer Jadis Stokes (Pollyanna McIntosh) carry out Beale's orders — but now he's stepping out of the shadows.

"I think that he's very hidden. He's a hidden guy. I've always been intrigued by characters that you don't know exactly what their agenda is, what motivates them, or how they will be motivated. And I think in my understanding of him and the way that I tried to play him is somebody who will do whatever is necessary, but won't be threatening about it," O'Quinn said. "He seems like a completely reasonable person and the decisions he has to make are all explicable to him. He understands why he has to do what he has to do, whether some people agree with it or not. So I think personality-wise he has a history with all of his troops, and with the Civic Republic, he's sort of a military, George Washington in the eyes of a lot of these people."

He continued: "And then when he starts dealing with Rick, we don't know exactly what to do with him, or who he is, or what he is. And so he plays coy with Rick a lot, and I think there's a lot to be found out there. So Rick helps discover the heart of the man, I think." 

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live — starring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne, and Pollyanna McIntosh, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Matt Jeffries, and Terry O'Quinn — premieres Sunday, February 25, on AMC and AMC+. 

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