“The Walking Dead” Season 5 is currently running Sunday nights on AMC. For all you “Walking Dead” fanatics, the sixth season was renewed even before the long awaited premiere. This season, it looks like Andrew J. West is playing the main villain, Gareth. While Terminus has been destroyed, Gareth and his group are still out there making trouble for Rick Grimes and his friends.
West made his first appearance on the series in the final episode of season 4. When CraveOnline spoke with West earlier this month, he couldn’t confirm the rumors about Gareth’s cannibalism… which were confirmed on last night’s episode.
However, West did tell us about his journey with the show. From working with Andrew Lincoln, to hanging with the crew after a long day of shooting, West divulges what it’s like to be part of the hottest show on TV. He also gives us clues about Gareth and reveals what about the character he’s most excited to share with audiences. That, and his experiences with fan art. Apparently Norman Reedus’ has an entire room of it…
CraveOnline: You had only a 24-hour turnaround after getting cast before you flew to Atlanta to shoot! How did you prep?
Andrew J West: It’s tough. I don’t know if it was exactly 24 hours, it was about that length of time. I got off the flight in Atlanta and went straight to a fitting from the airport. The first taste I got was the clothes. I was trying to figure out who my character would be based on what he dressed in. I was grasping for any clue. Scott Gimple [the showrunner] called me into his office and he sat me down and he gave me really all the information that I needed to know to approach the finale of season 4. Gimple is great at giving you the information [needed] in order to do your job well but not giving too much so the story of the show isn’t compromised. Scott is extremely hands on and made himself available to answer any questions.
Was it liberating to move forward not knowing the steps in front of you?
Absolutely! I loved it in fact. What it does is it forces you to rely on your instincts. You don’t have time to overthink anything or think too much about how should I approach this scene or that scene. How should I say this line? You should be thinking about what it is you’re trying to achieve. When a scene becomes really exciting is when you’ve got that spontaneity. You know what you’re trying to achieve but you don’t know how you’ll get it done. In the finale of season 4, Gareth has a plan, an endgame in mind, but he doesn’t know how Rick, Michelle and Darrell and Carl [will] react to him. There’s no reason I should know as an actor. I love working like that. I think it makes more exciting.
How much of is Gareth you? That may be a scary question given he’s pretty evil!
We’ll see if he’s evil or not! I have a tough time putting those labels on a character I play. There are aspects of this character that are exactly me. You and the character just become the same person in a way. There isn’t really a character; it’s just you creating this illusion. In any given scene, the thing that Gareth is trying to achieve is made up in this world of The Walking Dead. But the way that the character goes about it is not unlike the way I’d go about it. There are aspects about him that are me.
Like being a cannibal? There’s talk about that…
[Laughing] I’ve heard that talk! But I don’t know about that exactly. We’re going to see a lot of interesting decisions that Gareth makes when the season starts up again. A lot of these things are going to be fascinating to watch because the skill of the writers, but as an actor it’s exciting to play. It’s the middle of the zombie apocalypse! How do you know how someone would react? It teaches you about yourself as a person.
You’ve said this season advances into some uncharted territory. What’s it like as an actor to be apart of that? It’s brave!
It’s certainly overwhelming and scary in a way because you do feel like you’re probably going to be pushed in ways other jobs have not pushed you before. Accepting the job is easy. You know you want to be part of a job like this. The bravery comes later when you’re jumping into the scenes and not filtering yourself and allowing yourself to sink into that world. That can be scary. Our impulse as people is to try to control, as an actor you have to give up that control.
What’s set life like? It’s such a dark show; what do you guys do to chill?
It is such a heavy show and you can’t maintain levity on set all the time when you’re dealing with such heavy subject matter. The cast and the crew and everybody is good at maintain a balance. When we step away from work, we have a lot of fun, group dinners on the weekends, cast and crew getting together and hanging out; participating in real life to off set the darkness of the show.
Is there an actor in particular or crew member who’s been impactful to you?
Just as a fan of the show, I am continually surprised and impressed with what Melissa McBride brings to the show. She is just always has a profound effect on me when I’m watching her work. I have had the opportunity to work with Andy Lincoln a lot. He’s got a remarkable process. He just has these ways of sinking into the scene and into character that are very physical. He’ll make these sounds and these grunts and these moans…I don’t know what it is that he’s channeling! It lets you know it’s okay for you to do that too. Do whatever it takes to get the job done. It allows you let go of your self-consciousness. There’s always a fire in those scenes; there’s always something that’s extra intense.
There is so much fanfare around the show! It must be a challenge to go from that to the serious nature of the set. You’re sort of required to play two roles with a show like this.
It’s been great. I’ve been shocked with the outpouring of support and how excited the fans are about this new character. I’m learning how to strike that balance. We shoot the show that exists in this horrific fantasy world and you want to make that a reality for yourself while you’re working. Then you come out of it you have the conventions and you don’t want to tarnish that world. You want to leave a little bit of mystery so that when people turn the show on, it’s easy for them to sink back into that world. It’s an issue that I’ve thought about. I don’t think it’s too difficult for the fans to separate you two, see you as a normal person, and then turn on the show. You want to make sure that the fans are seeing that character and not seeing you. That breaks the spell.
Have you been to these conventions yet? What’s the craziest fan art you’ve received?
I’m going to the Walker Stalker convention. A lot of the Wizard cons, Columbus, Ohio, New Orleans. People on Twitter have sent a few things; some paintings. They’re very cool. I’ve heard that Norman Reedus has an entire room that’s just dedicated to all the art he gets! I think he released a book! As far as fan art, he is definitely the guy to talk to! I love seeing that stuff though. It’s so exciting.
Without giving away too many spoilers, what elements of the show are you most excited to share?
The fact that Gareth is revealed to be a very complicated character. There’s nothing one dimensional about him. I think people aren’t going to know exactly how to feel about this character. I love that. I don’t think that it should be obvious. Every person that you get to know well, you have moments where you disagree with them, dislike them, maybe there’s something that someone does that makes you look at them in a different light, those are the most interesting relationships. I hope the audience will develop that type of relationship with this character.
