With the return of The Walking Dead from its mid-season break imminent there is an air of excitement on what is to come with the introduction of The Whisperers.

A new direction for The Walking Dead is very much underway with the departure of the shows most iconic character. But with that comes some new faces to liven things up such as Dan Fogler.

The Tony Award winning actor will be far from lugubrious and it is easy to see why with a CV including Hannibal (TV series) among various film roles but more notably the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

Now he is trading the world of magic and muggles for guts and membrane. We catch up with Dan to talk about being involved in two huge projects and much more.

HeyUGuys: How did you come about getting the part in the show?

DAN FOGLER: They called me up. My agents were looking for something in television for me, putting the feelers out to certain shows I liked. So The Walking Dead called me up and I said absolutely!

I loved the part, I read the comic books so loved the idea of portraying a character that is in the comics.

What your first day on set was like? Is there any sort of initiation for new comers on their first day?

[Laughs] Yeah, it’s kind of like trial by fire if you are not used to the Atlanta heat in the middle of August!

I always like to use stuff from my environment in my acting and I always wanted to be in a western and this has that feel to it. This is really the first show I’ve been on where I’ve not been worried about sweating.

Pretty much nine times out of ten you get someone running over to you to dab the sweat away. Even in the heat you are supposed to look like ‘Hey, this is wonderful’. But I was like this is great, this is perfect!

Dan Folger as Luke – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Your character, Luke, collects instruments – that’s his thing. Is there be anything you would collect or could not live without in such a world?

Wow, I think that I would be a little bit more practical than Luke! But you do lose your mind in the zombie apocalypse.

I suppose if I came across comic books I’d drag them along with me. You need something to read, man, in that world!

You are no stranger to graphic novels having written a few of your own including Brooklyn Gladiator. How big a part did the likes of The Warriors and Escape from New York influence you?

Oh hell, yeah, man. There is a lot more of it coming really soon actually. All my work is like Twilight Zone on acid, psychedelic tales.

It’s homage to Akira, The Matrix and of course Escape from New York as well as Blade Runner. I’ve taken all the headlines and stuff happening today and thought, okay, what would it be like 20 years from now?

It’s weird.

There is a wall around the US in Brooklyn Gladiator and you are pretty vocal about your feelings on the current president. How worried are you about the reality in the US post-Mexico border wall if it happens?

When you move forward in Brooklyn Gladiator it really illustrates a lot of my fears. I grew up in New York and I know what a charlatan is!

The idea that he would be president is a concept for a sci-movie. That would be an amazing concept, yeah, that a maniac has the reigns of the world and turns it into a reality show. That is The Running Man dude!

Then when he actually got elected you see the chess pieces that are moving into place.

Hell, a lot of the conspiracies are becoming true! It’s tricky man.

It’s been recently announced that production for Fantastic Beasts 3 is delayed – do you know when you should start filming and what can you tell us about the film?

Yeah, we start in the Fall. The movie is going to be gigantic!

The reason we were given is that the movie is bigger than the first two combined. They needed more time to prep and they didn’t want to rush anything so they pushed it back.

I can tell you that we are going to Brazil. I don’t really know much…[laughs]. I’ll get a script closer to when we start shooting.

The Walking Dead returns on Monday 11th February at 9pm on FOX