Fans of The Walking Dead continue to be surprised by the series, which has seemed to rejuvenate itself yet again with the addition of the sadistic Negan, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Recently, Josh McDermitt‘s Eugene Porter seems to have joined up with Negan, though Walking Dead fans are unsure if that’s truly McDermitt’s intentions. In an interview with Vulture, McDermitt reveals that not even he knows the truth — and he wants to keep it that way in order to help his performance.
Though the interviewer praises McDermitt for his ability to convey fear, McDermitt explains that it’s just one of the challenges of being an actor. He says, “It’s all boring actor talk. Basically that’s just stuff you rehearse and practice on your own. When it comes time to go to those emotional places, you go there. Unfortunately, it’s not a fun place for us to live, because nobody likes to live in the unhealthy portions of their brain, but that’s what we’re called upon to do at times. It never gets easier. The more you do it, it still never gets easier.”
Working on a television series with so many plot twists and turns doesn’t mean that everything gets spoiled for the actors working in the series. For example, McDermitt admits to the interview that he doesn’t know if his character has really sided with Negan or not. He explains, “I’ve had to make decisions for myself because being an actor is all about making choices. So I had to make those choices and I’m going to keep them to myself because I don’t need to reveal all the tricks of the trade. But I did ask Scott Gimple, our showrunner, not to tell me what Eugene’s intentions are — if he’s Trojan horsing this thing or if he’s full-on Team Negan — because I don’t want to know. I love being surprised at certain parts of the show… I also think if I did know anything, I’d start playing that, and I don’t want that to happen.”
