Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live actor Terry O'Quinn gives details about General Beale

Fans of The Walking Dead universe are counting down to the return of Rick and Michone in the upcoming spinoff, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. The title comes from a mantra that the couple lives by, and the series will see a heavy focus on the Civic Republic Miilary (CRM) led by a ruthless man, Major General Beale. Lost actor Terry O'Quinn has been cast in the role of Beale and, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, offers some details of this new character.

Major General Beale is first heard of in the limited spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond. This series consists of two seasons and reveals much more information about the CRM. In World Beyond, Beale is never seen, only heard, so it is exciting to put a face to the character. (See EW for the exclusive first-look photo) A quick flash of Beale is seen in a sneak peek video below at the :22 mark.

The Ones Who Live - Major General Beale

Beale is the man in charge of the CRM, the military branch of the Civic Republic (CR), an advanced community with a population of approximately 250,000. In World Beyond, details were shared regarding a new initiative, Project Votus, devised by Beale and Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond). This study sought to slow and hopefully stop reanimation after death. This sounds like a great idea, but they needed test subjects and would use humans bit by the undead or outspoken people against their new project.

O'Quinn shared some new details regarding Beale in the EW interview. He is highly esteemed and has a solid military background, having served two terms in Vietnam and officer training. Beale bases his decisions on what is best for the community to ensure its survival. He has a large army under his command, with 2,000 highly trained front-liners who do the majority of the work, be it good or bad.

"He seems like a completely reasonable person and the decisions he has to make are all explicable to him. He understands why he has to do what he has to do, whether some people agree with it or not. So I think personality-wise he has a history with all of his troops, and with the Civic Republic, he’s sort of a military, George Washington in the eyes of a lot of these people. And then when he starts dealing with Rick, we don't know exactly what to do with him, or who he is, or what he is. And so he plays coy with Rick a lot, and I think there's a lot to be found out there. So Rick helps discover the heart of the man, I think."

- Terry O'Quinn

It will be exciting to see Rick and Beale come face-to-face in the new series. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premieres on AMC and AMC+ on February 25.

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