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As The Walking Dead enters its eleventh and final season, its protagonists set off in search of supplies following Alexandria’s fall. Meanwhile, Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), and Princess (Paola Lazaro) must navigate the Commonwealth’s confinement, deciding whether the highly organized group is a friend or foe.
Since his Season 4 debut, Eugene has had the most dramatic character development of his three traveling companions, a fact that no one knows better than McDermitt. In an interview with CBR, McDermitt sized up the Commonwealth, discussed Eugene’s rocky love life, and recounted fun behind-the-scene moments from The Walking Dead Season 10 and 11.
CBR: Eugene’s gone so through so much in Season 10 with the Rosita drama and the mess Stephanie has gotten the group into. Where are his head and heart going into Season 11?
Josh McDermitt: He’s a determined guy. I think we can just assume that he’s going to do everything he can to keep his people safe, meet Stephanie, figure out how to get some resources by building an alliance with this new community to help this war going on back at home that he doesn’t even know has ended. So, he just feels like he has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. He doesn’t want to screw it up. I think that what we’re seeing in the first couple of episodes is some cracks in that veneer of just like, “I’m confident with what I’m doing. Oh, wait! Maybe I’m not that confident.” A lot of his confidence is tied up in his intellect, and I think [the Commonwealth] is just getting to him right now.
So we’re not really sure where he’s going with this. Is he going to come out on top, or is he just going to continue to get paid down by this community? He’s just asking for help, and they are relentless in coming after him and the others. I think he’s just on a bit of shaky ground right now, emotionally, mentally, and in really wanting to do what’s right for his communities but also hoping to find love with this person that he connected with over the radio.
To bounce off that, Eugene’s been having some romantic difficulties of late. What do you wish for your character’s love life going forward?
I would love it if he got into a relationship with someone just because that’s something we haven’t really seen with this character before. He’s not the first choice for people when it comes to wanting to be in a relationship. He’s tried with Rosita. He’s certainly tried, and the fans have wanted him to end up with different people over the years, but it’s just hasn’t worked out.
So, it would be nice for it to work out finally because I think that’s going to offer him some growth that we just haven’t seen from him. He’s definitely become a more confident person with his physical abilities. When we first met him, he was afraid to be around a walker and now, all of a sudden, he’s like killing multiple walkers at one time with ease. So it’s just kind of the next turn in his trajectory would be to find love and settle into a nice routine with someone where you can kind of just share your heart with someone. I think that would be fun to play because I don’t really know that I would have guessed that would happen for him when I first came onto the show.
Season 10 left off with Eugene, Yumiko, Ezekiel and Princess captured by the Commonwealth. Can you give us a little hint about what they’re up against with this new group?
I think the Commonwealth is very organized. When you look at the interrogators interrogating our entire group, they’re well dressed. They’re in suits. They’re clean. They have nice tools. They have this big intimidating orange armored man in Mercer. They’re just organized, and that’s intimidating in itself. I think that [Eugene and Co.] are trying to continually reassess what they’re up against. It’s not even so much that they want to be against them and go up against them, but they want some help. We see Yumiko get a little glimmer of her past as an attorney, and it’s like all of a sudden, a little light goes off for the people of the Commonwealth, like, “Oh, she’s speaking their language.”
So we’re starting to see more and more of this highly organized, highly structured community. Until one of the characters can figure that out, you’re just going to be in a world of hurt. It would be great if they could get some help for their communities back home. But it’s just kind of cracking through that bureaucracy first. I think it’s the first step.
Eugene and Princess have spent a lot of time together, so I’d love to hear about your experience working with Paola Lazaro.
She’s awesome. She brings such a fun energy to set. We met her at the end of Season 10. She came in and was just instantly very comfortable with everyone, a tremendous actor, and we have mutual friends, which helps, but she just has such positive energy. Between her and Khary [Payton] — I don’t know that there’s a more positive individual on this earth than Khary Payton, and Paola is right up there with him, giving him a run for his money.
It’s fun! We just laugh and, and yet she’s very serious when it comes to her work. That’s all we can hope for with new cast members is that they’re going to come in wanting to do the work, wanting to make the show better, and I certainly think that she does.
She has hilarious stories. Even her just telling a story about going to the grocery store to buy an apple or something is chock full of these weird things that have happened to her and her comments on it and that sort of thing. I tend not to laugh. I did stand-up comedy for years, and comedians tend not to laugh. They think things are funny, but they tend to not laugh because they’re in their head going, “Oh, how can I tag that up or make that funnier.” So a lot of times, I’m just in my mind going, “Oh, that’s funny. That’s funny,” but I’m not actually laughing. But with Paola, and especially with Eleanor [Matsuura], Eleanor is hilarious too; I find myself smiling and laughing so much with them. And I love that. I think that’s good for my soul.
I have heard that you’re quite the jokester too. In that regard, are there any fun behind-the-scenes moments you can shout out from this upcoming season?
[Laughs] This season has been difficult to prank people just because we’re trying to stay up on our COVID protocols and keep socially distanced. A lot of times, doing a prank involves putting on Khary’s wardrobe and splitting the back open because it’s too small for me, just stupid things like that. We’ve always tried to keep it light on this show.
It’s funny you say that you’ve heard that I’m a jokester because I don’t necessarily see that as much as I see that with other people. I know it was really bad between Norman [Reedus] and Andy [Lincoln]. Both of them would always consult me and just say, “Hey, I’m thinking about doing this or I’m doing this later, watch out, there are pigs in so and so’s trailer.” Things like that [laughs]. And I’m like, “Cool. Awesome. I love that we’re doing this.”
Sometimes I feel like if I am going to joke around and pull pranks on people, I might take it too far, and I never want to take it so far that it affects people’s work. And I know for sure that I would do that, so I try to pump the brakes [laughs].
What do you think is the biggest way Eugene has changed from the person who arrived in Season 4 to who he is now going into Season 11?
Overall, I think the biggest change within his mindset is just that he thinks of others. As simple as that is, that itself has unlocked so much for this guy. When we first meet him, lying about having the cure to the apocalypse to gain protection is such a selfish act. People were dying, trying to protect this man, and it didn’t really affect him so much in that he was just like, “Well, I’m still alive, so let’s just keep this train moving.”
It started to affect him later on. I don’t remember what season, but we kind of touched on it where he remembered the people that died for him. That was the start of it. He had a conversation with Tara, where she was like, “Dude, you got to think of others.” But really, that is the mindset because the Eugene we first meet would not be on this mission at Commonwealth. He would not be trying. He would be like, “Hey, I’m going to go try and save the day,” and he would just peace out and be like, “I’ll never see them again.” Now, he’s actually putting his life on the line, sacrificing his safety — and the group that is traveling with, their safety as well — to better their communities. That’s just a selfless act, even though there is a bit of a selfish intent in the fact that he wants to meet Stephanie and hopefully continue a relationship with this voice that he started a relationship with.
But other than that, just the overall mindset of thinking of others. And really, I think that’s awesome. As simple as that is, I don’t think we do that in our society. So, it’s always really cool to portray a guy who was actually trying to think of others instead of living in his own world.
As a side note, it was a lot of fun to watch you in Creepshow. What was it like to step into a new character and work with Greg Nicotero in another beloved franchise?
Look, anytime Greg calls me up and wants to do something, I’m going to drop everything to work with him because he’s just a genius and a mastermind, and I love working with him. We had some ideas for what to do with the character. There’s this old character actor that I loved growing up, his name’s Mike Hagerty, and I kind of based a lot of [the character’s] look on him. But it wasn’t until I got with the makeup department head over there, Addison Foreman, who also does special effects makeup on The Walking Dead, but he was over there doing makeup for Creepshow, and I said to Addison, I was like, “Hey, I was thinking about shaving and going into a mustache and doing this look with Mike Hagerty,” and he knew exactly who Mike Hagerty was. And then he talked to Katie Ballard, who does hair, and she was like, “Yeah, let’s do this and that.”
It just kind of was just a great collaborative effort to unlock who this character ended up being. All the work that I did on my own only got me to a certain point but bringing in these people who are really good at what they do and providing input into this character helps me do my job. That was really special. No TV show, no movie is ever done by one person. It’s a collaboration. I just loved that experience of working with them. I didn’t think it would be as amazing as it was, not to say I thought it was going to be bad, but it’s just exceeded expectations. It was a lot of fun!
Season 11 of The Walking Dead premieres on Aug. 22 on AMC. However, AMC+ subscribers can catch the premiere now.
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