When The Walking Dead broke ratings records, a spinoff was inevitable. When Fear the Walking Dead broke ratings records of its own, a second season was inevitable. At the Season Two press junket, Tony Award nominee Colman Domingo talked about his character, Victor Strand.
“I think of Victor as someone who believes in things in black and white terms. He says what he means. I think that he may not reveal too much, because it’s about him really strategizing and also reading personalities to find out whether or not they can handle it as well. I don’t know how he values love, but we know that he values obligation. You do him a solid, he’ll do you one. He is pretty clear. He doesn’t have a lot of gray. He says what he means and is amazing to play.”
As we’ve seen, every character on the show has had to make tough decisions. When the world is suffering a zombie apocalypse, tough decisions will have to be made. Almost every character has had to make a decision that would be horrifying in a world without zombies. While Domingo thinks each character has been forced to go out of his or her comfort zone, he doesn’t think their actions have gone too far.
“I don’t even know exactly what is too far. I think that we just don’t know unless we are in that situation, honestly. That’s the interesting thing about these characters as well. You have no idea. We have no idea the stuff that we are made of. When we are at this crossroads, what will we actually do – especially when it comes to protecting their families, protecting their best interests, their futures in some way, their dreams, their hopes, their ideals. We have no idea unless we are thrust into that situation. I think that’s why it’s so popular as well. We all have these thoughts of “what will we do if we were in that situation?” We think that we know what we will do, but we actually don’t until it actually happens.”
A drama about a zombie apocalypse is going to be intense. Though filming some scenes can be intense, it’s worth it because the cast has become a team. Everyone wants to put out a high quality show and is willing to put in the effort to create the quality. Domingo shared how emotional the show can be for the actors.
“We really are playing life or death in every scene and every scene has so much complexity to it. To work at that standard all the time, it can be taxing, especially if you have entire day and your scenes are lined up where the emotional arc is devastating. You have to be devastated for 12 hours. That’s when it’s a little taxing but you know you have to do the work. You know you need all the coverage. I think our show is dealing with a lot. There are infected kills and drama and chasing and things like that – all that good stuff that we need in good in action drama – but it’s very character driven and there is a lot of emotional work that we are doing. It could be taxing, I think we are such a great team that everyone really shows up for one another because we have to.”
The further we go into the Fear the Walking Dead universe, the more alike Victor and Madison (Kim Dickens) seem to be. Neither is afraid to make the hard choice and both have had moments of unapologetic brutality. Though they still mistrust each other, they’ve forged a tenuous alliance. Like us, Domingo is curious about the trajectory of their relationship.
“They have to wrestle to find out what this relationship is. What is this new relationship? All of the relationships are being challenged on this boat and in this apocalypse. The fallout could mean many different things. Someone who was your son one day, [the next day] could be something else. He could be your adversary. You have no idea. Everything is changed. The world has flipped upside down. So these two people who have come into this universe as adversaries in some way, perhaps they form a bond in some way. It’s up to the universe and [co-creator] Robert Kirkman and [co-creator] Dave Erickson’s minds of what it becomes.”
In a hit show, there are always going to be guest stars. Domingo shared his wish list of potential guest stars.
“Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Melissa McCarthy. We are going to need some laughs or it’s going to be a long, long season.”
Any fan of The Walking Dead universe knows that no character is safe. Anyone can die in any given episode. If/when he’s given the dreaded call from the producers that his time is up, has he thought about how his character should meet his end?
“I don’t want to give them any ideas because I would like to be around for a long time [laughs]. I feel that with someone like Victor Strand, it will have to be something ridiculous – like being bitten by a snake or slipping on the deck.”
Part 2 of Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead premieres Sunday, August 21st on AMC. Season 3 will air in 2017.