Warning: This story contains spoilers for the Sunday premiere of “Evie/Joe” from the Tales of the Walking Dead series. on me Tales of the walking dead, Terry Crews plays Joe, a chronic online recluse who prepares for the apocalypse years before it happens. IRL, the real-life crisis in Flint, Michigan, prepared the former soccer player and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star to process walking dead Universe. Crews says about his role in “Evie/Joe,” the series’ August 14th episode premiere walking dead Anthology series.
“You have to understand, I was worried. You have to know because I’m a fan too. I’m a big fan,” Cruz said. Character Book Around the walking DeadAMC’s flagship zombie drama is nearing the end of its eleventh and final season. “And the last thing you want to be is the guy who spoiled the franchise.”
During the first Comic-Con panel at the New Show in San Diego in July, Cruise told the convention audience that Duane Jones, the lead man in director George A. Romero Night of the Living DeadIt was the first time a young crew had seen a “black hero literally running the show.” In a full-circle moment, Crews stars in the first of six original one-hour standalone episodes set in the Walker apocalypse.
“Listen, you have to know, this is a dream. This world is as big as Marvel. It’s as big as any other,” Crews says. “And I’m a huge fan of horror and science fiction, especially this show.”
Scott M. Gimbel, Chief Content Officer, AMC’s TWD Universe, CEO Pop Up developed the anthology he produced walking dead Veteran director Michael E. satrazemis and Tales The Channing Powell Show. When Crews Agent Filed Everyone hates Kris And the white chicks star for Tales Crew to consider, mutual interests led to a “surge” of phone calls from both sides.
“I got a call from my agent like, ‘There’s interest from the walking DeadAnd I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I had to talk to them, let’s make it happen,” the crew recalls. It works, and I was in this new anthology. And I found out that they’re doing this whole series. It’s all stand-alone episodes. That’s beautiful. And when I read the script, I was like, “I’m 100% there.”
more Twilight Zone From american horror storySeason one, consisting of six episodes walking dead Newcomers like Anthony Edwards, Parker Posey, Gillian Bale, Danny Ramirez, and Jesse T. Ron Underwood, whose credits include city coats and episodes of Fear of walking deadHe took out a crew reunion with Moon, a friend he used to work with newsroom And the Lip sync battle.
“We’ve known each other for years,” Cruz says of Moon, his partner on a shoot that was “like shooting a movie in ten days.”
“We’ve been friends for years… we talk a lot. There were times she called for advice, she called me, and we always see each other. And she’s just the coolest person,” Cruz says. “Once I got the role, I didn’t know who Evie would be. Then I got a text from [Munn] And she says, “You’re going to be Joe, right?” And she went, “What? Are you Ivy? And flipped over the script. … She said, ‘I’ve had my baby. Now it’s time to kill some zombies. And let me tell you, we came prepared. We were ready, ready, Ready to work together again.”
In “Evie/Joe,” the two strangers set out on a road motorcycle ride through Ohio and Michigan so that Joe can meet IM pen pal “USHLDBSCRD” (pronounced “You Should Be Scared”), ready to call him before online. 402 days after the apocalypse, Evie helps Jo realize that life is more than just plan To live when you tell him, “You’ve been so busy trying to survive the apocalypse, your life never started.”
While Joe may be the first walking dead The character to be caught in the zombie apocalypse – after 13 months of working underground, Sandra/USHLDBSCRD (star guest Kersti Bryan) lures victims to her vault so she can kill them before they can steal supplies – the episode ends somewhat on a hopeful note for Evie and joe.
But as Crews points out, “In walking dead world, hope does not last long.”
“I love the way they finished this thing, which is very upbeat, but I feel there are very dark times for both of them,” Cruz says. “I think it’s funny because Evie was right in this episode. But I think, in any future iterations we might do, that Joe [pessimism] would be right. Even after they’ve been exposed to Sandra and everything, they are just beginning to experience betrayal. It has been just over 400 days since the end of the world. I think there are some tough times ahead.”
Those dark times must happen on screen in Season 2 of Tales Or beyond that, Crews is “willing to do whatever these writers make of it, because they do a good job.”
Such as walking dead The universe is expanding with three upcoming spin-offs focusing on Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), so could Joe be back?
“Absolutely,” Cruz says. “When you’re talking about Maggie and Negan having a secondary show, you’re talking about Daryl’s show, and then with Rick and Michonne back, there are three different worlds I can get into.”
Crews adds: “It’s a big world, and I think the actual main series is still very, very small, and we can extend this to something else entirely.”
Until then, Joe walking dead The tale is a personal tale for the Crews, who own opened On the importance of mental health and treatment after being “reclusive” for the first 40 years of his life.
“I realized I didn’t do the therapy because in my community, therapy was seen as voodoo. But once I finally went, I started to understand what got me moving and what went wrong,” Cruz says. “Coming from Flint, Michigan, it was a different culture. I mean, it was a great city… then [the] The auto industry ended, then the crack epidemic spread, and oh my goodness, people were dying left and right. I was literally Joe, when I was a high school student. I remember feeling like I had to get out of here before my city collapsed.”
“Evie/Joe” was filmed in Georgia, but was shot in parts of Ohio and Michigan, including Flint, which evoked memories of Crews’ childhood.
“I’ll be honest now, [when] I go back to Flint, every place I remember and the places we used to go from my high school to movie theaters to anything. All fields now. It’s all gone. It’s really walking dead. I mean, honestly, Flint, Michigan He still doesn’t have clean water to drink. It is America. This is the United States. And you’re like, “Wow. There’s lead in the water, even as I’m talking now. And you say, ‘What a coincidence for a city that used to be great.”
In preparation for Joe’s episode of TWD Tales, Crews says, “It moved me into playing Joe and realizing this new world is something he’s always been preparing for. And there he is.”
New episodes of Tales of the walking dead Sundays weather On AMC and AMC +.
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