The Walking Dead: Dead City Who is Perlie Armstrong played by Gaius Charles

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - MARCH 20: Actor Gaius Charles attends the 2017 NBCUniversal Summer Press Day at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on March 20, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - MARCH 20: Actor Gaius Charles attends the 2017 NBCUniversal Summer Press Day at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on March 20, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Months ago, Deadline reported that The Walking Dead spinoff series The Walking Dead: Dead City added Gaius Charles to the cast. This series is one of several spinoffs in The Walking Dead universe, set in the crumbling city of post-apocalyptic Manhattan, which continues the stories of Maggie and Negan.

Dead City
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 – Photo Credit: Peter Kramer/AMC

Charles joined Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who play Maggie and Negan, from the flagship series in this six-part story released on AMC and AMC+ in June 2023. Eli Jorné, writer and showrunner for Dead City, has previously served as a writer for The Walking Dead. Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe Scott M. Gimple, Cohan, and Morgan will executive produce with Jorné.

Charles plays Marshal Perlie Armstrong, a member of New Babylon, a federation of survivor communities in New Jersey and New York. He is tasked with keeping law and order in the community and also has another exciting objective, capturing a man named Negan.

He is a man who is confident and ruthless in pursuing what he believes is justice. Perlie enjoys his work and adds humor to the terror he insights. A true family man, he is devoted to building a safe world for his wife and daughters. A man of patience and resilience, his journey dredges up a loss that haunts him.

It is eventually revealed that Armstrong is on a manhunt for Negan, who, in revenge for the beating, robbery, and possible rape of his wife Annie (Medina Senghore), lets his anger get the better of him and murders the five men responsible. One of the men was a magistrate of New Babylon, and the others were marshals.

Walking Dead
Gaius Charles as Perlie Armstrong – The Walking Dead: Dead City _ Season 1, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Peter Kramer/AMC

The Walking Dead: Dead City

While tracking Negan to Manhattan, Armstrong is captured by the Croat (Željko Ivanek), a former member of Negan’s Saviors. The Croat is a cruel and brutal man who has also abducted Maggie’s son Hershel (Logan Kim).

Will Armstrong make it to the final episode of the season? Only time will tell.

Charles is well known for his role as Brian “Smash” Williams in the TV drama Friday Night Lights and has had roles in  Salt, The Wonder Years, Queens, Roswell: New Mexico, Grey’s Anatomy, Taken, Alice, and Land of Dreams. 

The Walking Dead: Dead City airs new episodes on AMC on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. AMC+ subscribers can view new episodes three days early.

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