Rick and Michonne are finally one step closer to reuniting in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. The sequel show to the hit AMC post-apocalyptic drama finds Rick now living in a CRM community after being taken away by Jadis in the season 9 midseason finale, struggling to adjust to his guarded new life and struggling to find a way to escape. Meanwhile, Michonne continues her quest to be reunited with her lover after learning of his potential survival.

Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira return to lead the Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live cast alongside fellow franchise vet Pollyanna McIntosh as Jadis and newcomers Lesley-Ann Brandt and Terry O’Quinn. Lincoln and Gurira also co-created the new show with former Walking Dead showrunner and franchise executive producer, Scott M. Gimple.

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Ahead of the show’s release, Screen Rant attended the red carpet premiere event for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. While there, we interviewed stars Danai Gurira, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Terry O’Quinn, and Craig Tate, co-creator Scott M. Gimple, as well as fellow Walking Dead vets Lennie James, Khary Payton, and Breeda Wool to discuss the exciting expansion of the franchise.

Danai Gurira

Screen Rant: In order for you to come back into this world, what were the stipulations that made you say yes to this?

Danai Gurira: The great thing was that the head of the network was very clear with me and Andy that, “This is yours, you guys and Scott’s. You guys do what you got to do. This is your vision, and we’ll support it.” And that sounded great. So, that was what we were very excited to do.

What was it like filming your first scene with Andy after all these years?

Danai Gurira: It was like going home again, you know?

What was it like being an executive producer?

Danai Gurira: It was very intense. All cylinders are going at all times. I also wrote an episode that Gimple left me to show run, so it was a lot of cylinders going all the time. We had our eyes on everything, and we worked together on everything. Anything you can name, from staffing to casting to artistic choices to, of course, story. It was a lot of work, but it was very gratifying.

Scott M. Gimple

Screen Rant: What was behind the decision to go from three movies to a season, and how does the show compare to what the movies would have been?

Scott M. Gimple: It really was a question of time, circumstances, the world changing, and the media landscape changing. Ultimately, some things changed in a remarkable way. We were working on this a while with Andy – it was gonna be a Rick thing. And then for as long as things happen – and things happened in the world, as you know – Danai was available at the same time. She had finished her tenure on the show, and then it was like, “Woah, this is going to be very different.”

Absolutely, in my mind, I thought we would get to that. But suddenly, it was here. To tell you the truth, the way it all happen? It was kismet that it all came together like this because we really love what came together. But we couldn’t have predicted the way the world turned, the way the landscape turned, and the way the availability happened. A lot of it was out of our control.

You’re bringing back Danai and Andrew, not just as actors, but as executive producers. What surprised you the most about working with them as creatives?

Scott M. Gimple: It can be a little nerve-wracking to be like, “I’ve done this a certain way, and now I’m playing in a band.” I mean, it’s all three of us. And I was amazed. It really was that initial breaking of the series, which was just the three of us. Writers came in eventually to bring it to life alongside me. But if you watch the series, the structure of it, the story terms, we laid that out in conference rooms across the country – Andy, Danai and myself. And once we got going; once we got a momentum going, we really got excited, and it really flowed. It was surprising how well we worked together.

And then the other thing that surprised me was just seeing them as real producers getting their hands dirty, being on conference calls together, casting together, hiring together. All the way through post-production. It was amazing to see how they took to it; how hard they worked. It was cool to see that they were like, “Woah, you were dealing with this all this time?” I was like, “Yeah, that’s what it is.”

So, they were the ones who were surprised about what it took to be an executive producer on a Walking Dead series?

Scott M. Gimple: I think, yeah. It was eye-opening, I’ll say that. But they took to it, and I loved having that support. I loved being in a band, it was cool.

Lesley-Ann Brandt

Screen Rant: How excited are you to finally unleash The Ones Who Live to the world?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: I am so excited. I think they’re very excited. My social media has been going crazy, but I’m thrilled that the fans who have been on this journey for 12 – 15 years now finally get to see what they’ve been waiting for. They get their Sheriff Rick Grimes back, and they get to see these characters do their thing; make the magic that made them so incredibly loved on the show.

Because the show has been around in one form or another for so long, what surprised you the most about making the show?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: How much Andy and Danai still really care, truly, after so long. I came off of Lucifer, which was six years and shot on the Warner Brothers lot. It was a well-oiled machine, which The Ones Who Live is, but it’s a lot grittier. You’re in the woods of New Jersey. Obviously, no makeup, they don’t have it in the apocalyptic world. So, mess me up; make me look raw and gritty. And it was freezing. I started in 21 degree windchill, and I finished, I think, in 78 degrees humidity.

Danai and Andy are not just back playing these characters that are so beloved, they’re also producers and really involved with the creative side. What was it like to work with them in that way as well?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: That was wonderful. It allowed me to put my best foot forward. When I play a character who is South African, who is from Cape Town and from my community, there’s a way we say things. There’s a cadence we have to our accent, and they were really happy to make the changes in order to make that as authentic as possible. I credit Andy, but I credit Danai especially because she studied in Cape Town. She was very familiar with my community, and I love that she advocated for that.

They’re saying this is a one-and-done miniseries. Is there talk already about moving forward?

Lesley-Ann Brandt: I mean, there’s talk by the fans. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that Scott Gimple has things up his sleeve. Let’s see. If the show is massive, which I’m sure it will be, and everyone tunes in. Who knows?

Terry O’Quinn

Screen Rant: Welcome to the world of The Walking Dead.

Terry O’Quinn: Thank you very much. Happy to be alive.

After all the genre stuff you’ve done with your career, especially a show like Lost, was it only a matter of time for you to join the universe of The Walking Dead?

Terry O’Quinn: No, I never thought that. [Laughs] No, it was a complete surprise when they asked me if I wanted to do it. And I didn’t know it, as I said, so I was encouraged by a lot of people. I didn’t realize the size of the deadhead universe. I could have been in trouble if I turned it down, so I’m quite happy I didn’t. I love to work, and when work turns up, I take it.

What surprised you about working with this cast? Especially because some of the members have been working together for more than a decade.

Terry O’Quinn: Nothing, really. I expected them to be professionals. I worked primarily with Andy, and he’s a wonderful man to work with. There are probably 5 or 6 people that are kind of the best of the best, and Andy is one of them. Basically, he’s a pro. All I require is a happy set and professionals to work with, and they had that.

After working for six years on a show like Lost, which had a very passionate following that dissected every episode, how does working on a show like The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live compare?

Terry O’Quinn: The Walking Dead was a lot quicker. It was fast and dirty. Not dirty, but we had to get it. Scott wrote a lot of words, so when I was there, I worked hard. I remembered a lot. But the one in Hawaii, as are all things Hawaiian, was somewhat more relaxed. This one was like, “Go get ’em and get that day in. Get that shot, and then there’s zombies to kill.”

What can fans actually expect from this season?

Terry O’Quinn: I think they can expect to be surprised. Somebody asked me about fan expectations, and I said, “Well, I hope their expectations aren’t disappointed or destroyed.” But I hope they’re gonna be surprised by things that happen, because that’s what makes anything interesting.

Craig Tate

Screen Rant: How excited are you to be a part of The Walking Dead universe?

Craig Tate: I’m taking it all in, day by day, second by second, picture by picture, and interview by interview.

What makes the show different from the other versions of The Walking Dead?

Craig Tate: It’s one of those things that you see, no matter the scale of the loss, everyone is dealing with their own scale of loss. And you’ll see everyone trying to cope in their own way with their own personal losses. And I guess also, in a weird way, give themselves permission to prioritize their story before others . Essentially, what you’ll see is that we’re all looking inside of this weird, fractured mirror. We’re seeing obscure reflections of ourselves.

Andrew Lincoln has been around since day one. What surprised you the most about working with him as an actor and executive producer?

Craig Tate: To keep it on a base level, it was just seeing his tenacity toward his transformation from Andrew Lincoln to Rick Grimes. When I met him at the screen test, he was full-on Andrew Lincoln with a British accent. And then over the course of a few takes, you watch him transform with a feral nature into Rick Grimes. That was very impressive, and that was also highly motivating. It just simply opened the door to explore; make it as messy as it should be.

What was the biggest challenge for you making this season of the series?

Craig Tate: Just being comfortable enough with yourself. I think every actor has this impostor syndrome, but being comfortable enough in your roots to know that you are translating a message effectively.

Lennie James

Screen Rant: You’ve been a part of this franchise since day one. It keeps evolving, and this is a brand-new show with a brand-new vibe. What is your take on how this continues to evolve?

Lennie James: Do you know what? I have no idea. I genuinely have no idea. We can guess, but I’m one of those who kind of likes not knowing and seeing what they can do. The only thing I can compare it to is, after all of these years, we still come up with walkers that you’ve never seen before.

This story, and the different ways we can tell this story, is like the different walkers that we come up with. It can have a million different incarnations in a million different languages in as many countries as there are, and we can have ice walkers and volcano walkers, and the story can keep being told.

What’s your take on how things ended in Fear the Walking Dead?

Lennie James: I thought we got to tell the story the way we wanted to tell the story, and we got to bring it to an end in a way that I thought was fitting. It was a decent culmination of the story that we were telling.

Khary Payton

Screen Rant: I’m so excited to be here because I’ve watched the first three episodes.

Khary Payton: You got an inside look. Everybody has been waiting on this. I was just saying this is like a long-term pregnancy, and everybody’s waiting on it, but you already got it.

What was it you expected when you went into The Walking Dead versus the reality of what you got?

Khary Payton: Michael Cudlitz, the first day that I came into the makeup trailer and started to do this, said, “Everything is going to change.” And he was absolutely right. From the first day, I was told. I came into this when it was at its height, you know, so there was no getting around the fact that this was going to be a big deal.

Compared to when you came into it, which was a few years ago, how did this new show surprise you?

Khary Payton: I’m surprised that it finally got done. You know what I mean? There was a while there where I was like, “I don’t know if this is going to happen,” because Andy was like, “Guys, I gotta go home. I gotta see my kids. I got to watch him grow up.” I wasn’t sure if he was gonna really come back, you know?

I think it’s amazing because there’s nobody like Andy, for his intensity and his work ethic. He’s that guy that you will absolutely run through a wall for. Because he’s already running through it, you know? I can’t wait to see it. I can’t wait to see it.

This season, Danai and Andy are executive producers. You’re not just working with him as actors, you’re working with them as creatives in that way. What was that like, especially for Andrew?

Khary Payton: Oh, my God. I would imagine it was amazing to have that kind of input into what’s going on. And also have that kind of bounce-back with Danai, who is just a flaming ball of fire. She really is, and I can only imagine how amazing that would be.

Breeda Wool

Screen Rant:This is a brand-new show with a brand-new vibe for The Walking Dead. What struck you about it and made you go, “The show’s gonna be awesome, and I’ve got to be a part of it?“

Breeda Wool: I think Scott Gimple, Andrew Lincoln, and Danai [Gurira]’s involvement and dedication to creating and generating the series on their own is a union between show creator and actor and writers and producers that is like the Hollywood dream. You meet some people, and you are [inspired].

One thing that Scott and the whole Walking Dead family do is they fold people in, and the fact that they fostered this and created this together is very unique and very special to this particular world. And I think it also lends itself to the beautiful fan base of this show. The dedicated fan base and the family of that extends, I think, into the show creators of this series as well.

What surprised you about working with Scott, Danai, and Andrew?

Breeda Wool: I think something like Walking Dead is a tremendous amount of [work]. There’s helicopters, giant stunts, and a huge team of people. What always kept striking me is their dedication to the story and their dedication to art, and Scott’s dedication to maintaining a extremely rooted throughline to all the characters and what they need and what they’re going through. I felt that from everybody involved.

Bert and Bertie were the directors. Being in their world, where you’re talking about high production and high art at the same time? In my opinion, it feels glorious.

This is a season long, but I believe the original plan was to do three movies. How does the season compare to what the original plan was?

Breeda Wool: When I was making it, it felt like a movie. I felt like I was making a giant blockbuster movie. I was on my way to Paris, and Scott Gimple called me and said, “Would you please come on The Walking Dead and take Michonne to a new world? There’s going to be a movie. There’s gonna be multiple movies.” Then a global pandemic occurred, and this miniseries feels like a movie. It feels like a movie. In that regard, I don’t know if they actually strayed too far from what they originally intended. Everybody watches TV now. There’s a lot of TV these days that is in between movie and TV. This is one of them.

About The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live presents an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world. Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead… And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?