The Walking Dead: Exclusive interview with Corey Brill

Do you ever think about what it takes to play a troubled and violent character on screen? The Walking Dead has had a long list of such characters: the Governor, “Claimer” Joe, Lizzie Samuels, Ed Peletier, and more. How does an actor get to that very dark place?

Pete, The Walking Dead – AMC /

Actor Corey Brill played another one of those troubled and violent characters, the despised Pete Anderson, who was introduced to us in Season 5 of The Walking Dead as Alexandria’s doctor and Jessie’s abusive husband. Corey was kind enough to give us some insight into his portrayal of Pete. And as you probably already know, Corey himself is a very likeable guy.

Read on for exclusive scoop from Corey and learn what he’s been up to since his impactful performance on The Walking Dead.

What has been keeping you busy since your time on The Walking Dead? Are there any current projects you would like to share with fans?

"“Hey thanks for asking! I’ve been busy since that fateful (fatal) scene in the ASZ…I played Josh in the world premiere of “Of Good Stock” by the very talented Melissa Ross at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa along with narrating some very cool audiobooks for Simon and Schuster. Especially fond of The Truth and Other Lies by Sacha Arango – it’s twisty and darkly funny. “"

I understand you are not the only actor in your family. Is it difficult to manage multiple performing schedules?

"“Funny you should ask – I’m holding down the fort right now while my wife (Joy Osmanski, complete rockstar) is out of town workshopping a new play. Yeah, sometimes it’s hard to manage stretches apart, but this career also allows so much (sometimes too much!) downtime between jobs to spend together so it evens out.”"

You composed and performed a song titled “Senoia”, which is the filming location for Alexandria. What prompted this creative endeavor? How much time do you get to spend performing musically?

"“One of TWD’s amazing production assistants, Britt, sent me a text before one of my flights back to Atlanta that said “See you in Senoia!” I just loved the sound of that. Nothing to do with walkers at all, just a little tune. I love music and playing around on all sorts of instruments, but so far it’s strictly for fun. No music gigs in my future other than my ongoing living room concerts!”"

If you don’t mind my asking, how tall are you exactly? Was your height helpful in portraying Pete as an imposing figure?

"“Ha! I’m 6’4”. I don’t know if my height factored into casting at all – not sure that Scott Gimple even knew how tall I am – but it certainly did help the end result, I think. Rick Grimes is a closer (I mean we saw him bite off a guy’s throat), so I think they emphasized our difference in height to help even things out a bit.”Rick Grimes and Pete’s face to face rivalry over Jessie on The Walking Dead. TV screenshot from Screencapped.net"

How much time did you have to get to know other cast members before filming scenes with them, specifically Andrew Lincoln, Alexandra Breckenridge, and Melissa McBride?

"“I had so much fun with everyone there and was made to feel so welcome across the board. Both Andy and Melissa are collaborative and friendly – it made me feel so comfortable and confident in my own work. Most of the Alexandrians stayed in the same hotel and I especially had fun off set with Alexandra (she’s just so cool), Ross Marquand, Michael Traynor and Austin Nichols. We completely dominated trivia night at a bar in Senoia one of our last nights there. Go team ASZ!”"

What was the most challenging aspect of your role as Pete?

"“Pete was such a troubled character…he had to control and hide all of this rage and pain and addiction enough to still function in the community. I think the most challenging thing about portraying someone who’s wearing a mask like that is figuring out how that mask comes off. For Pete it was ugly, and fast.”"

Many (probably non-comic readers) could not believe that you killed the beloved Reg Monroe. How early on did you know that Reg would die at the hands of your character?

"“I didn’t know for sure until reading 5.16 and I felt terrible! Steve is such a lovely guy…he could barely look at me that last day of shooting. I completely understood since I was in a similar boat. It’s no fun to kill a new friend.”"

Might any fan conventions be in your future?

And just for fun, if you were not cast as Pete, what other character would you like to have played on The Walking Dead?

"“Oh, definitely Rick Grimes.”"

Finally, would you mind sharing the best way for fans to keep up with you?

"“My website is coreybrill.com, I’m on Instragram as Cbrizza and on the Twitter as @brillcorey. I’m not the most frequent user of any of these, but I’m getting better, I promise!”"

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Corey as much as I have. I look forward to following his future projects and even added his song

Senoia

(see below) to my SoundCloud playlist. Look for him at conventions or send him a Tweet and let him know just how good he was at playing bad!

Next: Walking Dead 50 most shocking moments and deaths

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