But an equally intriguing character from the comics made his long-awaited debut on Sunday as Jesus (a.k.a.
Paul Rovia, NOT Monroe) fought with Rick and Daryl over a truck full of food and supplies.
Theres certainly plenty more to the character to be revealed.
Credit: Gene Page/AMC
(Click through both pages to read the entire interview.
And for moreWalking Deadscoop, follow Dalton on Twitter@DaltonRoss.)
I was there on set watching part of your first episode.
Gene Page/AMC
What it was like for you when you first showed up?
Youre joining the highest rated show on television and playing this iconic character from the comic.
No pressure, right?
There was a lot of pressure.
Which day were you there?
What was the scene that we did?
Then I have a little fight sequence, so I trained pretty heavily for that.
Yeah, he did.
Its an all-or-nothing show.
I understood that right from the very beginning.
And you got into it as well.
I saw you were throwing Reedus into that truck over and over.
I mean, really swinging him into that thing.
You liked that, didnt you?
[Laughs]Yes.
Yes, I did.
It was pretty fun, but it was very daunting in that respect as well.
I really enjoy the fact that the character comes in and changes the energy of the show.
Theres a time jump, and then a very definitely new chapter.
The next world is coming into the show, and its nice to be the person bringing that in.
Jesus is very playful here, even more so than in the comic, I would say.
What did showrunner Scott Gimple say to you in terms of how he wanted you to play him?
They want this lighter character, not that hes too light.
Hes a very serious person actually.
He could be talking about something very serious, but theres also a lighter side to it.
Everything is with a kind of sideways glance, but also not too much.
The other characters dont, and the audience doesnt.
Yeah, we can jump straight to that if you want.
[Laughs]Well, I think, you know, hes quite straightforward.
Thats the thing that Ive found interesting.
And hes not acting like a dangerous person.
You havent really seen what hes capable of actually.
But even when we were shooting, I said to Scott, I dont think hes knocked out.
He sized them up.
I spoke to Scott about it, like he had been watching them before he physically meets them.
Is it the truck, or is it finding out what these two guys are all about?
Yeah, I think so.
They really ran after him.
I was like, Wow, okay.
Theyre not just two guys there.
Theres a lot of guys, theres a lot of people that theyre taking that stuff back to.
It is up in the air.
His motives should be not necessarily immediately apparent.
So what was it like after this episode?
Was there still an adjustment period?
If Im honest, it was really tough.
And youre right: Its a completely different energy to it.
So I really just had to go by instinct and by what I had been told about the character.
I was feeling it out a lot of the time.
And like I said, even then, I dont think hes being himself in this episode.
Right, that adds a whole other layer to it.
It was so difficult.
What was filming that like with them basically in their birthday suits right in front of you?
Im like, Are you kidding me right now?
[Laughs]
Oh God, yeah, that was interesting.
So I was really worried that she was, you know, going to hit me with the sword.
And its basic cable so you cant show certain things as well.
The whole thing was a really wild ride.
What about the facial hair?
Did you have to start with a fake beard and then grow out a real one?
Theres no way I can grow a Jesus beard in a week.
So its not an ideal situation because youre very aware of it.
Also, I had hair extensions as well because the characters hair is a lot longer.
So yeah, for what weve shot, it had to be, unfortunately, fake.
