We have another packed show with cast members from both
"Fear The Walking Dead"
and "Walking Dead: World Beyond."
Tonight on "Fear", we finally got to see what it looks like
when you put a nuclear apocalypse
inside a walker apocalypse.
We follow the newcomer, Will, as he scoured
the toxic wasteland to find food,
only to get captured by soldiers of a new community
run by none other than Victor Strand himself.
And, of course, in classic Strand fashion,
not only did he survive the nuclear blast,
but he's living his absolute best life.
But after Will dropped the bomb that he knew Alicia,
Strand eventually ended up dropping poor Will off the roof,
resulting in his untimely death.
Didn't you think he was going to be in this season?
I thought so until this moment.
Over on "World Beyond", we caught up with Elton
and Percy as they met some newcomers who spend
their free time replacing the empties' eyeballs
with mini face corsages.
And after nearly getting killed over some turnip thievery,
Elton and Percy were taken to the perimeter community
where they were finally reunited with Iris.
So, how will the group react to Huck after she brought
Hope to see them?
And why does Strand want to keep people from coming to his tower?
And what is padre?! So many questions.
How's everyone else surviving the nuclear fallout?
I want to know that, too.
On tonight's show, we have interviews with cast
and producers, not one but two in memoriams,
plus exclusive sneak peeks for next week's episodes
of "Fear" and "World Beyond."
My guests tonight are Nicolas Cantu, who plays Elton,
Aisha Tyler, who directed tonight's episode of
"World Beyond", and Gus Halper, who quickly played Will
in the season 7 premiere of "Fear the Walking Dead."
I'm Chris Hardwick, and this is "Talking Dead Live"!
[Cheers and applause]
Well, all right. Welcome.
The conversation's just beginning.
Of course, we want to hear from you.
Tweet us, hit us up on Instagram @amctalkingdead,
or go to "Talking Dead"'s Facebook page.
And go to twdu.com/deadlive to vote in our polls
and make your voice heard.
Please say hello to my guests, Nicolas Cantu, Aisha Tyler,
Gus Halper is here, as well.
[Cheers and applause]
On the little TV screen.
Dammit, Gus, I really thought I was going to get to see you
this whole season.
I'm like, "What a great dynamic new character."
There he goes. Damn it! Ah. I'm so sorry.
But he did such a great job,
and people on the Internet love you.
@thebestdixon on Twitter says, "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
In all caps.
Will was literally on route to being my favorite
"Walking Dead" character in history.
He was so well written, but why?
@walkthelivingD on Twitter -- "Gus Halper gave such
a subtle but resonating performance as Will."
And Colman Domingo on Twitter -- "I truly love making
this episode with Gus Halper.
Michael Satrazemis guided us so lovingly."
So, now that we've gotten that all out of the way,
what appealed to you about playing Gus?
-You know, I started reading the script.
And I was just kind of blown away with how brave they were
to start -- first of all, to start a season
completely changing the landscape.
You know, it's like -- it could be a whole new show.
The environment is so different.
And also to start a season with a character
you've never met, a total stranger,
and to start it with like 10 minutes of silence.
I was like, "This is amazing. This is great."
And then as I kept reading, I realized,
"Jesus, I'm in every scene.
You know, this isn't a series regular role.
What's going on?"
Kept reading, kept reading.
The dynamic between the characters and everything,
and then finally the piece de resistance,
the death at the end, I was like,
"I got to do this. This is too much fun."
Such a great way to start a new show.
-It was an incr-- I mean, even though I'm so sorry
we lost you in this first episode,
it was an incredible mechanism to show where
Strand is at, what's going on, the landscape of this new world,
give us some clues about Alicia.
Can you talk about shooting the scene where
you got thrown off the roof?
-Did we talk about it?
-No. Can you talk a little about it?
-Oh, yeah, the scene where we got thrown off the roof.
Yeah, I mean, it was funny.
We shot in two different parts.
There was a part where he kind of runs me up
to the ledge, and that with Colman.
And that was great. Felt very safe doing that.
And then the second part, obviously,
was the falling piece.
And it was the very last thing that we filmed.
It was like 5:00 in the morning.
It was at the end of an insanely long month
of shooting, and, you know, they put you in this harness
where you feel like you got to walk like John Wayne,
and they pull you up 40 feet on a crane.
Camera facing down. I'm facing up.
And I don't remember. I was so tired. I don't remember.
I just remember Mikey, our director, on the ground
just shouting up at me, "Flail! Flail!
You know, move your arms," you know, whatever.
And so I just kind of did this for, you know, 30 seconds.
And I just felt very silly.
But it looked good.
You know, and he did the Spielberg in "Jaws"
technique where they just use a little piece of it.
-It was really fantastic.
Aisha, did you have a reaction to Strand in that moment?
-I am one of those people who watches television with my face.
So I'm watching it on my iPad, I'm like, "Ah!"
You know, like, "Are you going to be okay?"
But obviously it was sad to lose that character because
we obviously see how he's meaningful to Alicia
over this episode.
We think we're going to connect with him in that way.
But also, that felt like the turning point for Strand.
Right, that's the point of no return for him.
And we keep seeing Strand trying to be a good guy
and kind of falling back, and you keep kind of hoping
that he's going to make the turn and really become a good guy.
And I think that was the moment he decided,
"There is no going back for me.
I am going to fill my body with the forces of evil,
never return."
And so really, it was sad.
I kind of mourned for old Strand there.
-I know, but, like, even you can see in the art
for this season of "Fear the Walking Dead",
it's like, are we seeing like the birth of a super villain?
-Yes. -And I don't think we've ever
really seen that in the show before.
We see Negan do the reverse.
But, like, watching a character you've been with for so many
seasons, all of a sudden, like,
"Oh, is he the villain this season?"
Nicolas, how do you think Elton would fare,
like, having just learned kind of how to survive
the regular apocalypse, how would he do
a nuclear apocalypse?
Would the corduroy suit provide any protection
from the fallout?
-I think he's just a kid, man.
[Laughter]
I mean, it's already a lot.
He's leaving his campus walls.
He's dealing with all these walkers.
If he had to deal with an invisible enemy, radiation...
-Yep.
-...I think he'd break down and cry.
I'm gonna be honest.
-Well, I appreciate your openness,
and I think that's okay.
And who wouldn't, by the way? Who wouldn't?
It's like, "Oh, we just got used to zombies.
Oh, my God, now nuclear fallout? Come on.
This has got to be a joke, right?
No, it's happening." I mean, on the show.
Coming up -- but I guess also in the time line of your show,
that happened in the other part of the country like ages ago.
-We knew nothing about that.
-That already happened. Maybe don't know about that yet.
Coming up, we have interviews with the cast,
plus exclusive sneak peeks of next week's episode
of "World Beyond" and "Fear."
We're gonna find out about Aisha's character
on this season of "Fear."
-She's actually on the show. -What?!
-But first, before you throw someone off the roof,
let's slow things down and say a final farewell
to all those we've lost on "Fear the Walking Dead" tonight.
♪
-All those people you got living there,
you think they actually give a damn about you?
They're just afraid of what they might do
if they step out of line.
♪
-Aisha Tyler is a force to be reckoned with.
She is amazing. She knows what she wants.
She knows how to get it.
She gave us the confidence to do what we knew we had to do.
You know, we didn't second guess ourselves with her.
And it was an absolute dream working with her.
-When it comes to Aisha, I just remember
there would be times where we didn't have to speak.
Like, she would come in to give a note,
and she would just look at me, and I was like,
"I got you, I'm gonna do it, don't you worry, girl,
Roll the camera."
And I love that.
I loved developing that relationship to her
to where we could read each other's minds.
She's an actor's director. She knows the game.
But she's also so smooth with it.
It didn't feel like this director/actor relationship.
It felt like we were genuinely creating something together
and bouncing ideas off of each other.
I will forever be grateful for her for her kindness
and her professionalism.
[Cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "Talking Dead."
We're back with Nicolas and Aisha and Gus.
And just some reactions to your directing.
@Fukumlozin on Twitter says, "Just realized Aisha Tyler
directed tonight's 'World Beyond' episode.
What the what?! Badass!"
@slipplejice1993 -- "That episode Aisha Tyler
directed was incredible.
Love the grass empty scene."
Oh, yeah, that was so cool, especially on the show,
it's like, after all these seasons
and "Walking Dead" shows, how do you keep surprising
and just where the ground comes alive,
and it is almost like quick sand.
That was phenomenal, Aisha.
You did such a great job.
-Nicolas killed it in that.
He had to run a thousand times and tumble to the ground.
-Yeah. Just a lot of running and falling
on "the Walking Dead." I got used to it.
-He's a kid! He can run!
Oh, you kids, you can run all over the place.
-Just throw me around.
Do whatever with the stunts, yeah.
-@ChrisTysonLDN on Twitter says, "Aisha, what do you feel
was your greatest challenge as a director
on this type of show?"
-You just called it out.
It's between "Walking Dead", "World Beyond", and "Fear",
it's 18 seasons of television.
And so when you come in as a director,
you're really trying to find a way to do something new
and still stay inside the world.
And almost everything kind of walker, empty thing
has been done.
And so how do you come up with a new concept?
And that scene actually got concepted
a couple of different ways.
First you guys are falling into like a bog filled with water.
And then it was going to be, like, a mud pit.
And we were just trying to come up with something
that would be visual and beautiful and frightening,
and Matt Negrete and I were talking about kind of
the theme for this block of shows.
And something came from I think a song.
I don't know. I'll tweet about it later.
But it was sad, funny, beautiful, scary.
And we just wanted to come up with something that was
frightening, served the world and was something that was
totally new.
And so I wanted to make the walkers beautiful
because we've never seen beautiful walkers before.
And so the idea is they've been in there a long time.
They're lurkers. They've been living in this glade forever.
These kids run in, and it looks amazing,
and then this beautiful place just turns totally
treacherous and menacing.
So it was really fun.
The actors that are playing the walkers were all
buried in the ground.
And the whole time, I was just like,
"Don't step on a human's face. Don't step on a human's face."
[Laughter]
I wasn't thinking about anything.
But, like, "You step on a dude's eye,
you are going home," so yeah.
-I imagine the board of gags that don't make it.
They're like, "They go into an abandoned casino,
they pull a slot machine, all these walker heads come out."
No? Alright. I'll show myself out."
You know?
-But you are just try-- Like, how do you serve the world,
you know, a world that I obviously love a lot,
and still come in and do something innovative,
you know, when they've done so many incredible things
in "Walking Dead" world.
You're just trying to kind of kill it that way.
-Nicolas, can you talk about shooting that scene?
-I mean, yeah, it was incredible having
Aisha at the helm just like telling us
how to kill these monsters that were in front of us.
It was great.
I felt at home killing all these crazy creatures.
And they were beautiful.
I mean, she's 100% right about that.
They had these flowers growing on them.
There was one with fungus on the side of his head.
And some guy had worms coming out of his mouth.
-You remember that guy? -Absolutely.
-Yeah, very good night's sleep.
-It was super physical, and for Ted and for Nicolas,
they had to do the combination of running
and all the physical work, all the stunt work,
and then be terrified.
You know what I mean? Be really frightened.
And especially for you, you had such a physical
scene because you're being attacked by like one Walker
after another, and you finally get out,
and then you get bitten on the arm.
And then you're hilarious at the end
with the "tuffy stich" line, which is one of the funniest
things I've ever heard in my life.
Kids can't tear -- I'm like, in the table read --
-Well, that and also, "There were just turnips!"
Or whatever it was. Like, "Just turnips!
"They're just turnips!"
-Nicolas had a lot of zingers in this episode.
-I always like when they add those in.
-You're able to sell that stuff really beautifully.
-And speaking of the walkers, you also --
You got to do a lot of things in one episode, Gus.
You got to be kind of the lead character of this new episode.
Bring in a new season.
You died at the end, and you became a walker at the end.
Can you talk about walker Will for a sec?
-What a way to experience the show.
I mean, really.
Like, just to come in, to be in every episode
of this season, to get to experience the full --
every scene of an episode -- to get to experience
the full range of what the show has to offer.
And then to get killed, you know, by Colman of all people.
But what my experience was being a walker, in the actual --
it was amazing.
I mean, it was --
You know, those guys are such pros.
It was 45 minutes in the makeup chair.
-Oh, wow. -And that was all.
I couldn't believe it.
And then honestly, the hardest part, it sounds so trivial,
but the hardest part of that shot was laying in the position
that I had to -- you know, because you fall off the roof
and hit the ground, your body's gonna get all mangled,
and it's gonna be crazy.
So again, it was Mikey behind camera going,
"Okay, try to lay on your left hip and then try to get your --
the right side of your face on the -- and then put your --
you know, get your arm up this way and, you know, whatever."
-You have to look broken.
'Cause you don't jump off and go, "All right, here we go."
You know? You get all twisted up.
-And they couldn't fake that. They had to do that part.
So that was what I remember most about that.
But, no, it was a blast. It was a dream.
-Well, now it is time to see everyone
thought at home when we asked you at twd.com/deadlive,
"Whose worldview do you agree with the most
on 'World Beyond'"?
Asha -- she finds space for beauty in the darkness.
Percy -- may be pessimistic, but it's also realistic
in the world they live in.
Or Elton -- his views are rooted in science,
but he still believes people can be good.
While the votes are calculating, Nicolas, what do you think?
-Who do I align with? -Yeah.
Probably Percy. I'm going to be honest.
You have to be a pessimist in the apocalypse.
-You think so?
-Well, Elton, he's so darling, and he's so cute.
And he has this feeling of good in people,
but that's not what the apocalypse would be.
That's not what it would be like.
But we need the Eltons in the apocalypse.
Yeah, you can have a little bit, but I'm gonna be crazy
because it's the apocalypse and that's the time to do it.
-Garanimals suits. Like, we need those.
-You know what I mean? -Yeah.
-61% sided with Elton, by the way.
-That's good! But I'm the 20% with Percy.
-You were in the 20% with Percy. -I'm in the 20% with Percy.
-Coming up, we have more interviews.
Man, boy, you know, Elton may be like super optimistic,
-but Nicolas -- -The juxtaposition
from actor to character.
No, I'm just looking to have fun in the apocalypse.
Can you imagine going into like a "world ends" situation
with morals?
How boring. How boring.
-You got to get those turnips.
Coming up, we have more interviews from the set,
we're gonna ask Aisha about who she's playing on "Fear"
this season, and an exclusive sneak peek
of next week's episodes of "World Beyond" and "Fear."
But first, before you win at blindfolded Jenga,
let's slow things down and say a final farewell to all those
we lost in "World Beyond" tonight.
Here we go.
♪
-[Growling]
♪
[Thuds]
♪
[Growling]
♪
[Growling]
♪
-I think when we pick up with Strand at the top of season 7
is Strand is fully in his universe.
You're seeing how pragmatic he is, you're seeing how
interested he is in curating the world, which is with
art and music and scotch.
But also, he's a bit of a dictator.
We find him in a space where he has had to make
extreme decisions about survival.
So I think that's why he's willing to, you know,
toss Will off, because he knows what that will do.
He's got the information that he needed from Will,
and Will was no longer useful.
But the way he threw him off is because he was useful
in making sure that Alicia will stay away from him
because he doesn't need that complication of that love
from Alicia that will stop him from doing
things the way he needs to do it.
[Cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "Talking Dead."
That was the wonderful Colman Domingo
on Strand's mind-set and action from tonight's premier.
And just some reactions from Strand tossing Will
off the roof.
@Needmoredaryl on Twitter says,
"Victor is the 'Fear the Walking Dead' Negan."
I said that. But it's like a reverse Negan.
He's doing the opposite.
@EricaSLP on Twitter -- "Wow, Victor Strand has gone
completely to the dark side.
I don't know whether I hate him or love him.
Either way, a master class from Colman Domingo."
What do you think about Strand's new persona?
New, like, whole vibe?
-He's gone full despot, you know, full dictator, right?
Which at the end of the world, I think, look, the big questions
these shows always ask are, are we essentially good,
or are we essentially bad?
I think that's the core question at the center --
-Or who do we become --
-Who do we become when the rules fall away
and there's no society to enforce that?
Are we essentially good, or are we essentially bad?
And I think that's what your character explores
and Percy's character explores.
-Or what is good and bad? -From what point of view?
Yeah, preserving your own safety
or preserving the safety of others.
And so many of the people on "Fear" specifically
have been about the greater good, have been about
personal sacrifices for other people.
Strand's always been a really selfish douche bag.
And you kept praying for this guy to kind of come around,
but I think there's case to be made for -- I mean,
there's only eight of us left here,
I might as well get mine."
And that's what he decided to do.
-Well, his personal journey has also been like
he's trying to fit into this mold and trying to be
a part of something that he's never probably
had to do in his life, and every time he does,
it doesn't work out.
So he probably is just like,
"Screw it, I'm going to just be me."
It's basically -- it's you are watching someone
just embrace who they are.
-That beat at the end of the season last season where
he claims to be Morgan Jones for a minute.
-Yeah. -And you see him try to
inhabit that skin, and it's not that comfortable for him,
and then the world ends, and he doesn't die,
and he's like, "I have been unleashed." [Laughs]
-Yeah. -And you can see him.
He's just like "There's no point in pretending anymore.
I am just going to be the evil dude that I am."
-Yeah, the nuclear blast just blew that shell right off.
-Exactly.
-And now this is pure Victor Strand, man.
-Yeah, unadulterated.
-Gus, do you think it was Strand's plan all along
to kill Will, or do you think in that last moment
when you're talking about emotions, that he was like,
"Oh, yeah, yeah, emotions, I can't have if I of those."
Then do you think it was a spontaneous decision?
-Yeah, I think it probably was a spontaneous --
I mean, part of what was so fun about playing that episode
is that these guys are just
flying by the seat of their pants.
You know, it's not sort of like a heist thing where it's like
a reveal at the end that it was the plan all along.
It's like these guys are changing their minds rapid --
lightning speed from minute to minute.
And I think that's what made -- that's what made it so much fun
is that these guys are just, they're incredibly spontaneous.
They don't know exactly what they want.
They have these plans they think they will follow through on,
and then they get new information and whatever.
They get tested in a certain way, and they switch on a dime
and they go completely in opposite direction.
And for that to happen so many times
over the course of an episode,
I think it was spur of the moment.
I think it was, you know,
I think it was less sort of like a trap
and more just a game of tennis, the whole thing.
-I mean, I can't let it go that with what happened to you
in this episode and you just said
that they're flying by the seat of their pants,
[Laughter]
If you could fly by --
-Who's good with the puns now?
-Will would still be here! But his pants did not fly.
They went down with the rest of him, unfortunately.
Elton and Strand are both very stylish.
I was actually -- I was --
because I sort of look at -- I look at the corduroy suit
as Elton's like super suit, and then Asha stole it.
And I was like, I really felt like,
"I really hope he gets that back."
I was really kind of bummed for you.
-Yeah, yeah, we got to we got to keep an eye on
to see if Elton gets that suit back.
But man, let me tell you, when I lost that thing
and I found out that I just had a union suit on,
you see in the episode, I have basically pajamas.
-You definitely have me to blame for that.
-Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the butt flap.
-We had a butt flap.
-I literally was like, "Can we get the thing
that has the little butt flap in it?"
-Where did that come from? Deadwood?
Like, where do you even get those anymore?
-You know, in the future, there's not
a lot of underwear to go around, you know?
-So it's those old timey props.
And I think the alternative was to put you
in your actual underwear, and I was like,
"Let's give him like at least
something that'll keep him warm."
-Tighty whities or butt flap.
-Now you feel better about it, don't you?
-Or Old West.
-Old timey trap door pants.
-Give me back my corduroy suit there!
-I almost went full prospector.
-You almost went full prospector.
-Asha rocks the shoot better than me, everybody was saying.
They were like, "Come on, she's rocking that thing.
You don't deserve it anymore."
-But you got it back in the end,
and everything's fine, so to speak, sort of.
Before we go to break, make sure to follow FearHQ on Twitch.
They're live four days a week discussing all things horror
and "The Walking Dead." Check it out.
Coming up, we have more interviews with the cast,
plus not one, but two exclusive sneak peeks.
We'll be right back.
-[Cheers and applause] -I definitely was like --
♪
-Asha and her brother, Dev,
I think to a lesser extent, are free spirits.
They're a brother and sister team
that are quite different than Percy and Elton.
There's an optimism and a hope to their way of life.
And they see the dead
as a shell of the person that was once living.
And they are able to recognize that these not only were people,
but maybe the souls that made them
who they were are still trapped inside their bodies.
And so they don't just kill for self-defense.
They're killing as a gesture of grace to these people
because they see it as what they're doing is a favor
to these dead people in the fact that once they're dead,
then their souls can go on to the next life, potentially.
So she really represents a way of looking at life
that is very different from Elton's.
[Cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "Talking Dead."
We're back with Nicolas and Aisha and Gus.
Just some reactions for Nicolas.
@EltonGrimesClark says, "Elton's back."
@lunacy873 -- "I've missed Elton."
@SonnanTreppe on Twitter says,
"Elton is such a pure little being.
And I would die for him, and Percy is the cutest..."
[Laughter]
..."Percy is the cutest.
-I'll read it. "He's the cutest, soft, feral boy."
-Yes, that's what it says.
"The cutest, soft, feral boy.
I love this duo so much."
-Nicolas is disgusting.
-"I love this soft, feral boy" is the best.
By the way,
we did a poll about who wore the tuffy suit better,
Elton or Asha.
-79% said Elton. -No way.
-Yes. And I did want to ask you, though --
I didn't know if it was okay to ask you about this.
but, you know, you're working on the show for a couple
of years now and from the first time
I met you at New York Comic-Con,
like three years ago or whatever,
you hit a growth spurt, as people do.
-So on the show, it's only been a couple of days,
but Elton is a little bit taller
than he was like a couple of days ago.
Did they have to make a couple of different suits?
-Yeah, they built like four of those.
Just 'cause I mean, I'm in the middle of my growing years
and there was no time skip at all.
So we go from -- it was just a couple of days,
like you said, and so the end of season one,
it's this little guy.
And then you see me on the horse, and I have like a beard.
[Laughter]
-Super ripped.
-What's up, Percy? Where we going today?
Apocalyptic journey. I almost looked like Rick.
-You're shaving with a buck knife up the --
Yeah, this here -- It's great being a teenager.
-There you go, yeah. -That's the way it is.
An honest way of living.
-And then you drop the flap on your underpants.
[Laughter]
-Because you're an old timey prospector.
-Exactly.
-You see it. -Oh, my God.
-Comes together. -All ties together.
So switching over to "Fear" a little bit.
Will obviously knew Alicia.
So what can you tease, if anything,
about their relationship?
-So I got to be careful. I can't say too much.
We do get a flashback later in the season to
a little back story, their relationship.
This is going to be so vague.
-Hey, no, it's me, your buddy, Chris.
What are they going to do? Throw you off another building?
Come on.
You can say it. What is it?
-I'll say this.
Big things happen in a short period of time
that lead to some feelings developing.
And then some more big things happen.
Some other big things.
And then that's about it.
-That was too specific. The network's coming for you.
-[Laughter] -Hide.
-You just see like the color bars on the thing --
technical difficulties.
He's just gone.
Gus's agent is like, "Have you seen Gus?"
"Who's Gus?" Like no one --
-Yeah, yeah, I'm getting a call guys.
-No. But we will learn why Alicia
no longer wants to see Will.
-Okay, excellent.
Well, coming up, we have the two exclusive sneak peeks
I've been promising.
We're going to ask Aisha about who she's playing
on "Fear" this season.
But first, here's Lennie James, Colman Domingo,
and executive producer Ian Goldberg
on the dramatic new look of "Fear" this season.
It really is stunning. Check it out.
-We knew with the way that we ended season 6
that everything about the show
was going to change dramatically.
The detonation of those nuclear warheads
was going to change the landscape,
the walkers, everything.
Andrew and I had a lot of conversations with our
production team, particularly with our production designer
Bernardo Trujillo, about how do we portray this new world
that's sort of an apocalypse on top of an apocalypse?
-I didn't know where we'd go when it comes a to
nuclear fallout and what the world would be like,
but it sort of like doubles down on the apocalyptic world.
You just go further and further,
and people really show you who they are.
I think everyone transforms because of that, too.
-This season, quite simply, looks like no other season.
We as characters don't look like we've looked
in any other season.
We are dressed for the environment,
and the environment is a post nuclear environment.
It has brought all of our teams, our costume department,
our makeup department, our visual effects department,
our practical effects department, our set design team.
The whole of our crew has come together
to work on this new world.
Been difficult. It's been hard.
It's been hot in Texas and humid,
and we're under layers and masks,
so it hasn't been easy.
I'm really excited for the fans
to see the work that our crew has done.
They've just done an amazing job.
♪
-Hi, I'm Caitlin. I'm from the UK.
And "The Walking Dead" means pretty much everything to me.
-Hi. We're the Bon Giovani family.
And we love "The Walking Dead."
-Hi. My name is Tamyra Mensah-Stock.
And I am the 2020 Olympic champion for women's freestyle
wrestling at 68 kilograms.
And I love "The Walking Dead."
Here I'm an E.R. doctor working in the emergency rooms,
and when I'm not working in the emergency rooms
helping people feel better, I'm watching "Walking Dead."
If I must pick one favorite moment from "The Walking Dead",
it has to be when it's up in the hospital.
I love the deep, intricate relationships between
the characters and how you actually get to know them,
and you end up having connections with them.
It's because of "The Walking Dead" that I met
some of my best friends from all around the world.
-This show means a lot to me because these characters
have shown us how hard it is to hold on to our humanity
through these tough moments, and through it all,
they still managed to do it as one big family.
-What I love the most about "Walking Dead" is that
they're all super nice and they're friends with each other
and they help each other and they're strong and brave.
-How much do you love "The Walking Dead"?
-Sooooooo much.
-Thank you so much to all the actors and actresses
and to the producers and everybody in making the show.
It has really been a huge part of my life.
-Thank you so much to everybody
who makes this amazing show possible.
[Cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "Talking Dead."
That was a look at some of our amazing fans we featured
this season on "Talking Dead". and it's been really incredible
hearing what the "Walking Dead" means to fans.
So if you want the chance to be featured on
"Talking Dead", you can send us a 30 second video of yourself
explaining how "The Walking Dead"
has impacted you at fansubmission@TalkingDead.tv.
And, you know, I also want to give you a huge shout out
to our studio audience.
I mean, I was telling Aisha before the show, like,
I had no idea how much I missed being...
[Cheers and applause]
Thank you. It's just your energy
makes this show possible, and we couldn't do the show --
like we did do the show without you.
But I didn't like doing it without you.
And now I'm happy that we're back.
So we have a question that was sent in
by a member of this very audience, AK.
So let's roll it.
Hi. I am AK. This question is for Aisha.
Aisha, did you plant any Easter eggs
in the "World Beyond" episode that you directed tonight?
-Ooh, very good questions. So I love Easter eggs
because I am a fan of "Walking Dead" world.
In this episode, we meet Professor T. Brooks Ellis,
who is a canonical character from the show.
And if you'll remember, Eugene mentions his boss
at the Human Genome Project.
[As Eugene] "Well, Mr. T Brooks Ellis told me
that my mullet made me look like I was a fun guy."
That was my Eugene impression. It was terrible.
But you will see that we planted a lot of human genome
Easter eggs in that scene in the classroom,
including he's got a he's got a double helix bolo
that I fought very hard to get into the show,
and I should have stolen when I rapped, but I didn't.
And yeah, and there's also the mop that hope is using
for her forms.
The mop handle is the mop that she asked for
in the previous episode from the broom closet
when she's having a little tour of the facility.
But yeah, you know, these shows, they're all related.
And so you're always trying to kind of connect them
to each other, connect the characters of the world
because, you know, the Commonwealth and the CRM
and the rest of the wasteland, they're all interchangeable.
They're not interchangeable, interconnected.
And so hopefully we get to play a little bit of that here.
-It's just one Easter egg of like, yeah, this guy,
Rick, I was just talking to, and you just hear, "Hey, guys."
Like just from off screen,
but you don't reference if it's like the Rick.
-You just wave at Rick, but you see the back of him.
How's it going, Rick. High five.
-Was that -- I don't know. It's just an Easter egg.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Is he there, is he not there? I don't know.
Gus, can you talk about shooting the scenes with Colman
in the tower set?
-Yeah, I mean, shooting the whole thing with Colman
was a dream because he's a brilliant actor
and he's the kind of actor who gives you
something different every take.
So every scene that we did, we did 20 different versions
of it, which is just so much fun.
But the tower stuff was some of the first stuff
that we filmed, and it was great, man.
He's, you know, I mean, I'm so excited for people
to see what he does with this character this season.
He's brilliant in general.
He's brilliant in this role,
and just the evolution of his character.
I mean, just -- it's the size of it.
And, you know, he's just such a large personality.
He's so larger than life.
It was so much fun to play across.
And you know, all the tower stuff
and the lavishness of the tower kind of fits his personality.
And it was a lot of fun playing the desert rat,
just kind of poking my head in there
and checking it out, you know?
-Nicolas, how would you describe the dynamic
between Asha and Elton?
-Uh, it's very complicated.
We see at first in this this episode,
but it expands more as the season goes on.
But I think the basis between these two characters
is the difference in ideology of the apocalypse.
We have Asha, who is a very belief based character,
and we have Elton, who's more of a science brain.
So you see them clash, you see them kind of try
to understand each other's point of view,
but it's a very theistic like relationship between them.
It delves into ideas of religion and self-identity.
And you get to really see
how these two very different mind-sets interact,
and one of them steals the suit from the other,
and I'm a little mad about that, but that's okay.
Relationships start off rocky and then go wherever they go.
-But no hard feelings.
-Yeah, no feelings. I just had a butt flap.
That's it. -That's fine.
You know, that's fine.
Before we go to break, I'll remind you to go to
AMCPlus.com to watch episodes of "Fear" and "World Beyond"
a full week early!
Coming up, we have a sneak peek of next week's episode of
"Fear The Walking Dead."
But first, here's an exclusive look
at next week's episode of "World Beyond."
Check it out.
♪
-Listen.
I need to tell you something.
-Don't. No, we're not doing this.
-Felix.
Leo and Hope don't even know.
-Know what?
-My mother sent a team out on a recon mission.
And, um, it went bad.
We lost Will.
I know what he meant to you,
and I can't even begin to tell you --
-No, don't!
[Walkers growling]
How the hell did he get here?
[Grunts]
[Walkers growling]
♪
[Cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "Talking Dead."
It is now time for our exclusive sneak peek
of next week's episode of "Fear The Walking Dead?"
Here it is.
-Things are going to get worse before they get better.
-Morgan, we need to talk.
-About what? -About what happens
when we get it.
Wherever we get it.
-What do you mean, what happens?
-There's a playlist of songs I left on this tape.
-What is this?
-I hope you listen to them. -No.
-It'll make you smile.
-Turn it off. Morgan, make it stop.
-[Baby crying] -Okay.
-Turn it-- -I'm trying.
-Stop it right now! Turn it off!
-Morgan, please stop it! -[Baby crying]
-I don't want to hear that song! Turn it off!
[Baby crying]
-Morgan!
-Aah!
[Cheers and applause]
-Alright, so "Fear the Walking Dead",
Aisha Tyler, you will be on this season.
What can you tell us about your character?
-Much like Gus, absolutely nothing.
[Laughter]
My character. Her name is Mickey.
She has lost quite a bit in the apocalypse,
and she connects with Dwight and Sherry because
they've come back together.
And so they have this kind of shared hope
that maybe they can, you know, salvage things they've lost.
She's a badass. She really --
It's a really intense episode, and I loved her so much.
I read that character and I was like,
"I have to play this person."
-I can't tell you how happy I am for you.
Just knowing what a fan you are of the show
and having been friends with you for so long
and all the amazing things that you do,
I am so delighted that you're not only directing.
You know, you directed "Fear", you direct "World Beyond."
I'm just I'm so happy for everything that you're doing.
Congratulations, Aisha Tyler. -Thank you.
-[Cheers and applause]
-And, Nicolas, what can you tease
about the rest of the "World Beyond" season?
-Pff, uh, well, it's our last one.
So you're going to get to see how all these characters tie up,
and you're going to get to see more of the CRM.
We're going to see more questions answered
and more questions posed
and more zombies killed and just cool stuff.
-Yeah, and this next episode's great for Nicolas.
I directed the next one, as well.
We had a really great time together,
and you kill it in this one,
so it's going to be a really good one next week.
-Oh, fantastic. It is always such a delight
to talk to you, as well, Nicolas.
-Thank you. -Super funny.
-Appreciate that. Thank you. -And great on the show.
And I don't know. I'm just happy.
I'm happy we all get to come here.
You know, Gus, just listen, man, you did such a great job
in one episode of the show.
Whatever it is, you got it, kid. You got it.
[Laughter]
I always want to tie our show into, like,
"Walking Dead."
It'd be like, really funny if we had just shot
someone throwing him off a roof at the end of the show.
But I do have a question for you.
Everyone loves to ask this question.
But since we only get to talk to you this one time.
@Skateboarding1211 wants to know,
"What is your zombie weapon of choice?"
-I got to go with Strand's sword.
I mean, you get the distance.
-Yeah. -You know, it's not a gun.
It's not going to draw attention.
I don't think up close knife action is for me.
I don't think I have that in -- I don't want to get my hand
too close to the face.
-You don't want to run out. You get a little distance.
-Yeah, I want one of these, you know,
I want to be able to do that and just, you know, from a safe.
-You're marking them like Zorro. You're doing "Z".
-I want to Zorro my way through the apocalypse, yeah.
-But you did such a great job.
It was such a pleasure to have you on the show.
I can't wait to see what else you do, Gus.
Thanks for being here.
For you watching, "Talking Dead",
my guests have been Nicolas Cantu,
Aisha Tyler, and Gus Halper.
Please be sure to catch Aisha on
"Whose Line Is It Anyway?", Saturdays on The CW.
Also, keep an eye out for Season 13 of "Archer."
Oh, my God. Coming in 2022 of FXX.
Go to AMCPlus.com to watch the next episodes of
"Fear The Walking Dead: World Beyond",
which Aisha also directed.
-I'm a great ambassador.
-Next week, November 28th we'll back.
We'll be diving into everything, "Fear" and "World Beyond."
Happy Halloween and happy Thanksgiving!
See you then! Stay safe. Bye bye!