The Walking Dead: Exclusive interview with Josh McDermitt

Readers on Undead Walking are going to want to know about The Walking Dead season 6.  I know you can’t say anything about what’s going to happen or give away any major plot points, so for me to even ask about it is kind of pointless.

"“But you’re going to anyway, right? [laughs]”"

Just one.  The Wolves are set to be one of the major problems for the survivors on The Walking Dead.  If Eugene was in charge, what do you think he’d do to combat this menace and do you think his strategies would be simple or elaborate?

"“You mean like a giant game of Mouse Trap?”"

[laughs] Exactly.

"“Eugene’s thing is what will be the most efficient.  There’s obviously room for this character to go down the wrong road using his head if he gets mired down into details that don’t necessarily matter.  I think that’s human error.  The risk of a mistake is always there.  But I think Eugene’s big deal is to be as efficient as possible.  So if that means the plan will be elaborate or the plan will be simple, whichever one will capture or kill the most Wolves or whatever the deal would be in the imaginary scenario.  Efficiency is key.”"

If you could re-cast yourself in any role on The Walking Dead, which one would you choose and why?

"“Baby Judith.  [laughs]”"

There you go! [laughs]

"“She just gets to sit in her diapers and poop all day.”"

Picturing you on the floor of the cabin in diapers being protected by Tyreese would make that scene A LOT different.

"“[Laughs] Well, Chad Coleman would carry me around a bunch and that was always really special.”"

Eugene enjoyed video games before the apocalypse on The Walking Dead.  If The Walking Dead had a game based on the show, which character would you want to play as?

"Is there an asterisk on this where I can’t say Eugene?"

No, you can say whatever you want.

"“Well, I won’t pick Eugene because I feel that’s a cop-out.  Honestly, that’s the character I’d want to play.  I love this character so much.  But honestly, I’d love to try Abraham.  I could just do it much better than Michael Cudlitz is doing it. [laughs]”"

And the catchphrases are so much fun, right?

"“’Motherdick’ is one of my favorite lines.  I say that all the time.  Another one, people come up to him and ask him to scream ‘Who’s Deanna?’  It’s funny, because it wasn’t written in the script that way.  It just happened on the day that we were shooting it and he was kind of shouting it.  We all kind of turned and started laughing.  And he was totally serious.  It works for the character and the scene and it’s not out of place, but it’s just funny that he’d be so skeptical and yelled ‘Who’s Deanna?’  So we were making fun of him long before it got on Talking Dead and all the fans would come up to him asking.  It definitely makes me laugh.  But I could totally do the character much better than Cudlitz could. [laughs]”"

But you’ve got “it’s classified” and the mullet.  When are we going to get another awesome catchphrase from you or will we see “it’s classified” come back?

"“I can’t say if ‘it’s classified’ is coming back or not.  I think with our staff of writers, they aren’t actively looking for catchphrases and that sort of thing to give these characters.  But I do think they just happen naturally.  As long as these writers are in place, there’s always going to be room for that.”"

There are amazing writers on the show.

"“Yeah.  They’re incredible.”"

Next: More with The Walking Dead's Josh McDermitt