For fans of The Walking Dead who find it difficult to stomach the gory scares that are part and parcel of the zombie epic: you’re not alone. Josh McDermitt, who plays Eugene Porter — a resourceful, intelligent and eccentric survivor of the outbreak — admitted he had no appetite for the genre growing up.
“I’m scared. I have a sensitive spirit. I get nightmares pretty easily and that sort of thing,” he said on Saturday afternoon. “I’ve had to go back and watch some horror movies [now], but because I know how the sausage’s been made and the curtains been pulled back a little bit, it doesn’t scare me as much.”
WALKING ON SET
McDermitt joined The Walking Dead during season four (the season seven finale aired on April 2). Already an avid fan of the series, he had to transition from fanboy to cast member pretty quickly.
“I was worried about being the guy who screws up his favourite show. There was a lot of pressure,” he said. “I don’t know what my next job is going to be, but it’s gonna suck, because it’s not this.”
McDermitt, in Dubai for the Middle East Film and Comic Con, recalled the first TWD episode he starred in, with his onscreen travelling companions, Michael Cudlitz as Sgt Abraham Ford and Christian Serratos as Rosita Epinosa.
“We shoot an hour south of Atlanta, that’s where everybody lives. And Andrew Lincoln [who plays lead character Rick Grimes] drove to set on his day off just to meet us, give us the lay of the land, introduce us to people and put us at ease,” said McDermitt.
“Like, that was the lead of a show. They don’t do that. But he knew what a juggernaut this show is and how intimidating it can be. Without that, I don’t know that I would have been able to tackle the role as confidently as I had been able to,” he said.
WAITING GAME
Much like fellow gruesome show Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead has become synonymous with surprise deaths. McDermitt is prepared for the possibility that his character could be next.
“I’m going back into production, season eight for the show. Hopefully I’ll live throughout, and if I don’t I’ll move on to the next job, because that’s what we do as actors — we are journeymen,” he said.
If he were to be written off the series, would it be so secretive that he’d find out on the spot?
“No, that would be horrible. That’s torture. I have a place in LA and I have a place in Atlanta when I’m shooting, so I kind of have two homes to maintain, and it’s difficult to do and it gets very expensive,” he said.
“It’s like, the more heads up you can give me so I can stop paying rent in one area, you might actually help save me some money,” he added. “I don’t think anyone’s just opened a script and saw that they’ve died.”
TWIN PEAKS
McDermitt is also gearing up to be in another television epic: a reboot of David Lynch’s crime drama Twin Peaks, releasing in America in May.
“I wasn’t a fan of the [original] show because I was just a kid, but I remember my parents and their friends all talking about it. It was kind of the Walking Dead of its time — watercooler talk. People would get together on Monday mornings and chat about it at work,” said McDermitt. He couldn’t divulge the extent of his involvement or details of his character, but stressed his excitement.
And when the cameras stop rolling, McDermitt, an advocate for more positivity in the world (particularly on social media), retreats to the comfort of home. He tries to rekindle any relationships that may have suffered in his absence.
“I like to entertain and have people over. I just don’t want to leave my house. What are we, in April already? For 2017, I tallied it up the other day, I’ve only spent 11 nights in my own bed this year. It’s hard living in a hotel. It is what it is,” he said.
