“The Walking Dead”‘s newest cast member, Khary Payton, stands behind the show’s controversial season 7 premiere, noting “it was a brutal episode but it was also six years in the making.”

Payton’s new character, King Ezekiel, was introduced in Sunday’s episode, a week after the gruesome season opener in which two characters were killed in vicious fashion.

“This is a zombie apocalypse — you’re going to lose people that you care about,” Payton said Monday in a phone interview.

“I think if it happened in a Shakespearean way in which all the action takes place offstage and someone just runs in and tells you Glenn died, everybody is going to be disappointed. There’s a certain amount that you have to experience in order for you to be satisfied, from a storytelling aspect.

“And the truth is that if you’ve been connecting with characters for several years and you’re invested in them, it’s supposed to be brutal when they go — that means that they meant something to you and that’s what we’re trying to do with this show. And frankly, if there is no conflict, then there is no drama.”

via GIPHY

As leader of a community called the Kingdom, Payton’s charismatic dreadlocked character sits on a throne with a snarling tiger (which is created with special effects in post-production) by his side. He offers his followers protection from threats in the outside world — be they living or dead. He appears to be an ally for Rick and his group, who are reeling from their deadly encounter with Negan and his gang the Saviors.

Payton, who hails from Georgia, acknowledges there is a duality to friendly King Ezekiel.

“I think when you’re living in a crazy world, you’ve got to somehow deal with it in maybe an unconventional way,” said Payton.

“It’s like that Seal song, ‘We’re never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy.'”

The character stems from the comic books that inspired the AMC series, but the onscreen version has some differences.

“I enjoy reading the comic books but I don’t put any stock into the way that the comic books are going and what we might do on the TV series itself,” said Payton.

“Every time I think I’ve got it figured out, (writer-producer) Scott Gimple will throw me a curveball. So I just try to keep myself open to all the possibilities.”

via GIPHY

Payton said he was a fan of the show before landing the role, so it was easy to integrate himself into the cast. But he had to keep the part a secret.

“I’ve done video games and things where they want you to keep it a secret for two years,” said Payton, who has also voiced characters for several animated series including “Teen Titans” and “Young Justice.”

“But this was about six months of not being able to talk about this story and three months of not being able to even say that I was on ‘The Walking Dead,’ so it’s been a long time.

“When I shot the first episode, they threw a sheet over me and I had to dive in the back of the transportation truck and make sure that no one saw me coming or going — and fortunately nobody really knew who I was, so it was pretty easy.

“But it was also kind of a weird experience to get the biggest job of my life and not be able to say a word about it.”

Payton couldn’t say much about future episodes, but noted that when it comes to fighting villains, there’s a bigger picture at play.

“I think the thing that you fight in this show is your own sense of humanity and how much of your humanity you’re willing to give away to fight, to survive — are you going to live or are you just going to merely survive?” he said.

“The villains may change but at the end of the day the fight is within really yourself.”

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press


Filed under: AMC, Interview, Khary Payton, TV, Walking Dead, zombies