Walking Dead can survive without me: Andrew Lincoln
he show will go on – with or without him.
So says British actor Andrew Lincoln, who plays leading protagonist Sheriff Rick Grimes in the massively popular TV series The Walking Dead.
The 40-year-old believes his character’s death is bound to happen at some point – and that both he and the show would be okay with it.
“I’ve always maintained that if and when I die, which is an inevitability in the show… as long as it pushes the story on, I’ll go with it,” said the likeable British star at a media conference in Singapore on Monday.
Lincoln and fellow star Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon, were in town to promote the show - currently on a break midway through its fourth season - which has become a global phenomenon.
Part of the show’s secret sauce is its knack for killing off characters at crucial junctures – but Lincolnis hoping for Grimes to stick around a fair bit longer, and hinted that the second half of the season will provide answers as to why.
“I don’t want to go just yet,” the 40-year-old laughed.
Lincoln added: “In the next eight episodes, you’ll see a very different tone, pace and you’ll be rewarded by it as well.”
“It’s almost like a magnifying glass on the rest of the survivors,” he said, referring to where the show left off, with the “prison gang” scattered and left in disarray after an attack by their enemy, “The Governor”.
“It’s a really different back eight and if we continue to keep doing that, he (Grimes) has got a few years left.”
They love Singapore
The rest of the session, however, was decidedly less sombre, with Lincoln and Reedus holding excellent court through playful and hilarious banter, much like their previous appearance on Saturday.
And if the duo were in an even better mood, it was because of a newfound appreciation for their Singaporean devotees, according to Lincoln at least.
Reedus, 44, was relating a story of how a nasty fan riled him up on an airplane when his co-star jumped in to comment on how “it’s different in Singapore”.
“People here stand away from you. They know it’s you, then they’ll ask, then it’s an invasion and you’re swarmed,” Lincoln joked.
“But yes, it seems to be there’s a politeness before that, whereas sometimes (elsewhere) it’s a feeling that you’re behind a cage.”
Comedy central
The stars also gushed about Singapore, especially when it came to – what else – the food.
“Spicy crab” was “delicious” and “amazing” to both Lincoln and Reedus, who also found time to try the prickly durian.
“You open it, you look at it, you think fruit,” said the effortlessly cool Reedus. “And it tastes nothing like fruit!”
He later described the durian as a “great” weapon of choice during a zombie invasion, to the delight of those in attendance.
But the loudest guffaws came when the duo were asked to play a game of “shoot, shag, marry” – with the choices being a zombie (or “walker”) and Lincoln and Reedus themselves.
“I’d shag a walker,” said Reedus. “And marry Andy, because then I can continually shag you.”
“If he does that, can I shoot myself?” Lincoln replied.
But Reedus had the last laugh, banking on the TV show’s plot to fire back, saying: “You’ll come back as a Walker and I’ll shag you again!”
