Now that we have just about recovered from the events of The Walking Dead’s mid-season premiere, the excitement of what lies ahead for those left in Alexandria is uncontainable very much like the herd of Walkers were that descended on the supposed safe-haven.
At this years Walker Stalker Con fans converged at the Olympia London to meet their favourite actors and the event truly showcased the gargantuan following the show has.
HeyUGuys managed to battle through the unrelenting wave of fans to talk to Ross Marquand about working with the shows new comers, the character he disliked and the one skill he believes will ensure his survival in a zombie apocalypse.
It’s has been an explosive return to the second half of the season. What was it like filming the end fight scene?
It was incredible.
We were shooting three nights in a row, if memory serves. I didn’t sleep much because once the sun comes up my internal clock just turns on. I stayed up for about four days straight.
We were all covered in fake blood the entire time, hacking away at Walkers. It was an amazing thing when were backed up against the gates, right before the tide turned and get the upper arm on the Walkers when Daryl shoots the RPG into the lake.
There was this great moment, and it was on my birthday actually, when I looked up at everyone up the line at people I’ve come to love and respect as friends and colleagues. It was just a wonderful feeling that we were all in it together, up all night long for days on end and we were all exhausted.
Will we see the bro-mance with Daryl again?
Yeah, I hope so. I think the real priority for everyone right now is to focus on defence. The jobs and roles we’ve seen these people in have been put on pause.
Protecting the walls of Alexandria becomes the main priority. In episodes to come I hope that will be revisited, most definitely.
How do you keep things fun on set after shooting some of the more intense and darker scenes?
We have to keep it light pretty much all of the time. It is easy to slip into a morose state when we were doing this because it is such a dark show. Keeping it very light and friendly is the number one priority.
Norman, of course, likes to play pranks.
One time he put live chickens in Andy’s trailer, so that was very funny. We’re always looking for ways to crack each other up between takes because it can get quite intense.
What has it been like to work with the new-comers to the show?
Well, I love all the new cast that have come on this year especially in the second half of the season. I love working with Merritt who plays Denise in the show, she’s just been a really wonderfully ground character and a great addition to the show.
Before you got the part of Aaron you were a big fan of the show already. Are there any characters you hated before but now like?
Well, you know. Seeing Father Gabriel at first I didn’t care for him too much because he is very duplicitous and a dishonest character.
But after getting to know Seth on a personal level, he is such a sweet guy and so funny a lot of those impressions I had of Father Gabriel have fallen aside. There’s a massive chance of redemption for that character now with the second half of the season moving forward.
You’re known for your impressions, do you do any good impressions of your fellow cast and do you do a good Rick Grimes “Carl” impression?
I do a few but only do it in private. I’ve got a policy that I don’t do impressions of people in front of them.
They don’t always respond positively in my experience. Yeah, I do that pretty well. I am not ashamed to say.
Which accents can’t you quite get right?
I’ve been trying to master the Welsh accent and it is fascinating to me. Over the weekend at Walker Stalker I met a lot of Brits and tried to hone in on that sound and get it down. It’s a tough one and would like to get it one day.
One of the best impressions you do is of Matthew McConaughey but do you have any similar rituals you do before you do a scene?
A lot of us, and Andy does this as well, do push-ups before takes. For me it just kind of gets us out of our heads in many respects. Plus we’re doing so many physical stunts of our own so you need to stay pretty agile.
I also do a lot of breathing and yoga otherwise those muscles will tense up.
What’s the one skill you have that you think would help you in a zombie apocalypse?
Errm, I think maybe doing voices would be helpful because you could pretend you’re from any different part of the country and blend in a little easier if you had to lie to get your way.
Also, I am really good at dissecting bodies. I could probably put zombie parts on me and manage the undead a lot easier [laughs].
The Walking Dead is on FOX TV UK on Monday evenings at 9.00pm
