The show’s epic quote machine was forever silenced.
What was it like for Cudlitz to return to his former stomping grounds?
What were the scenes he was most excited and nervous to direct?
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What’s this we hear about and him and Norman Reedus coming up with a backstory for Daryl?
And what would Abraham be up to now had he survived?
We asked Cudlitz all that and more.
Gene Page/AMC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So what was it like to be back, my man?
MICHAEL CUDLITZ:It was amazing to be back.
The crew welcomed me back with open arms.
Gene Page/AMC
I do think in a strange way that it was a part of the healing of losing Andy.
It was a really wonderful script, a very character-driven script.
I loved that I had a number of characters that we know really well.
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Then half the episode is also devoted to characters that we’re just getting to know right now.
I was really excited to be a part of that.
It has some pretty cool action sequences, but generally in its heart, it was a character-driven piece.
Although, again, I had a great team around me.
I took advantage of all the talent that we had out there.
I’m really, really proud of the episode.
What were you first reactions when you looked at the script and saw what you would be dealing with?
I knew the show was also beginning a new direction with more of a Western quality for the episode.
I did a bunch of research watching some really great Westerns.
I watchedThe SearchersandShane, and a couple other ones.
I stole some visuals from that stuff, the way they told stories.
One of those things was the fight between Aaron and Jesus.
I knew with the fight what I wanted to do right away.
My storyboard artist said, “You just start at the beginning.”
We’d just build the scene literally shot by shot.
I was very excited about working with Melissa and Norman.
I think their scenes were beautiful.
It’s shot beautifully, and I think that they just performed the hell out of that scene.
What was the dynamic like when you’re giving direction to your former castmates?
You talk about that scene with Norman and Melissa, or obviously Danai is in this episode a lot.
Was it a little weird the first time you were giving them direction?
I know these characters, generally speaking.
I felt very comfortable having those discussions with them.
So I think it’s important for those discussions to happen.
We will discover where those Xs come from.
It’s a really fed up story.
It’s a big, really fed up thing that happened during that break.
At some point, we will find out about it.
You will find out eventually what that is.
It seems like it’s a place where that is definitely encouraged this season.
It’s just different ways of working.
It’s a way to reward them, in a way.
It’s a good situation.
And clearly there is a new energy there now with all the changes.
I think she has a really wonderful, creative thing going on.
It’s just completely different technique of running things than [former showrunner Scott M. Gimple] was doing.
It was just time.
It was time for him to do something else with the show for the show to grow.
Nobody can ever say again, “Well, that’s not what they did in the comics!”
But the family and the people we are following have all changed.
We talked about getting back and seeing some of the old gang.
There are also a lot of new people this episode.
And you have Lauren Ridloff, who is deaf, and Angel Theory, who is hard of hearing.
Yes, we had everything.
We had American Sign Language, we had minors that had limited hours, we had animals!
We had the ASPCA with the horses and the dogs.
I got stopped for lightning strikes for six hours.
We immediately lost three and a half hours with somebody who I only had for eight hours.
So it was amazing.
[Laughs]
But the sign language stuff was phenomenal.
Do we sign everything?
Do we sign parts of it?
What are those choices we’re going to make?
I think the new group and the new infusion of energy is a really great direction for the show.
I think the fans are going to love it.
Let’s play a game of What If?
I think that he and Sasha would be raising a baby.
I think that they would be making the difficult decisions that you see Carol and Ezekiel making.
So I see more of that in sort of that Ezekiel-Carol relationship.
But he would want the future.
At that point, he had made the decision that he could see himself doing that.
I think that at this point we would have been doing it.
I think he would have settled into a pretty wonderful leader, a very caring leader.
So you came, you did it, you conquered.
Are you going to come back and direct again?
What’s the plan?
That’s all up to them.
I spoke to Angela pretty recently.
We’ll see from there.
I let them know that I would love to do that.
Now the ball’s in their court at this point.
