Melissa McBride in "The Walking Dead." Photo copyright of AMC.
Happy New Year! I thought I would kick off 2022 with a new round of Sci-Fi Blast From The Past posts. To new readers, Blast From The Past interviews appeared in-print only and not on-line. Today, actress Melissa McBride talks about walking in the post-apocalyptic shoes of Carol Peletier in AMC's The Walking Dead. Enjoy!
Most people marry with the very best of intentions, but then life happens, and sometimes things do not always work out according to plan and how they had hoped. For Carol Peletier of AMC’s The Walking Dead, her dreams of living happily ever after began to wither as a result of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband Ed. The situation then grew even worse due to the global zombie apocalypse and the subsequent unraveling of civilization. Carol, Ed and their daughter Sophia eventually evacuated their home and headed to Atlanta, Georgia to find refuge. In their travels, the family crossed paths with Lori Grimes and Shane Walsh, who had left the city, and the two of them along with the Peletiers joined an Atlanta survivor camp.
Sadly, Carol faced further upheaval in her life when Ed and Sophia were killed. Despite such a loss, the widow and former mother soldiered on, and nine years later, Carol is the show’s longest-living female character and the only one to have been in all nine seasons. She has also appeared in the most episodes of all the series’ female characters, and along with Daryl Dixon, has been a part of the story since the first season. That is quite a laundry list of achievements, and actress Melissa McBride is very proud of every single one. Like most of the show’s characters, Carol first appeared in The Walking Dead comic book, but while the print version of her was plagued with serious psychological issues that ultimately led to suicide, the TV incarnation has fared much better, showing courage and determination in the face of what often looks like insurmountable odds. After all this time, McBride is very much one with Carol, although she admits to sharing a kinship with her character early on.
“Carol is very real to me,” says the actress. “She’s sensitive, emotional and a survivor. This woman has proven that she has a great deal more potential than a lot of people give her credit for. She’s always said, ‘Don’t underestimate me.’ I think Carol knows herself extremely well, and one of the things I found interesting about her is that from the beginning she’s someone who I knew quite well, too. By that I mean I know people who have been in the same situation as Carol was when we first met her – a victim and survivor of abuse who’s had to do things out of their comfort zone in order to survive certain situations. Back then my hope for Carol was that she would survive and come out the other end even stronger and having exceeded her potential.
“The world of The Walking Dead is a very different and lawless type of place where crazy, crazy things happen, and I couldn’t be more pleased with where Carol is today. I joined the show in the third episode of season one [Tell It to the Frogs]; the cast and crew had already been working together for a while, and right from the start I was surrounded by this welcoming and cohesive group of people who were totally open to the [creative] process. We all trusted each other and you could play around with the material. You felt that everyone had your back and were totally present and in the moment when you were doing a scene. That’s still true today, which is pretty cool,” she enthuses.
How has the actress seen her character further grow and develop during filming of the show’s current tenth season? “As always, it was very exciting coming back to work,” says McBride. “There’s a lot going on this season that’s new for me as an actor as well as for my character. One thing I’m really happy about is that Carol is speaking her mind, taking care of herself and doing what she feels she needs to do. My character has been doing that for a while, but it feels a little different this time around, and when you watch the episodes you’ll hopefully see what I mean.
“There’s this sort of underlying independence that I’m feeling with Carol this season, especially with regard to the choices she’s making,” continues the actress. “In the past, some of her choices have been based on wanting to keep other people safe. So it was a matter of, OK, I’m going to go so that no one else gets hurt, or something like that. This season, though, it’s just a bit different as far as why Carol makes the choices that she does. Also, one of the big elements in play as far as her decision-making process is the grief she’s trying to deal with and that was caused by everything that’s happened up to now. Something else I can tease about without going into spoilers is some of the things that Carol gets to do action-wise this season. She reacts in ways we haven’t seen before, which surprised me as an actor, and I hope makes it fun for people to watch.
“When it comes to relationships, I think Carol still feels deeply for King Ezekiel [Khary Payton], but Henry’s [played Macsen Lintz and Matt Lintz] death made it difficult for her to be with him in the capacity that she was. Again, that doesn’t mean Carol doesn’t feel for Ezekiel, and there will be some interaction between the two of them this season. Everyone’s relationships are going to be challenged psychologically because of, for example, seeing those 10 peoples’ heads on the pikes last year as well as the deception faced by our characters, and perhaps most importantly because of the Whisperers [human survivors who disguise themselves with zombie skin to blend in] and how they operate. So it’s a really special season and there’s a ton of neat things to look forward to.”
A former casting director, the award winning-actress’ other TV credits include Matlock, In The Heat of the Night, American Gothic, Walker, Texas Ranger, Dawson’s Creek and The Walking Dead spinoff Fear the Walking Dead, while on big screen she has appeared in such movies as The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The Mist and The Happys. As a child, McBride mulled over one or two other career options. “Design was something else I was interested in, along with private investigator, so I could wear all types of disguises,” she recalls with a laugh. “I was kind of all over the board. I’m just a very curious person with varied interests.
“I think my initial interest in acting was the psychological aspect of it, and where does an actor go when he or she becomes someone else. Definitely one of the things I enjoy most about this profession is having met so many rare, open and wonderful people who are fascinated by a variety of things and enjoy having conversations on the couch until four in the morning to kind of get to the core of what you’re talking about.
“Something else I love about acting is the opportunity to play characters with depth and that give you lots to explore and challenge you to bring them to life in ways that will engage those watching. I also have a huge appreciation for the fan base. With Carol, in particular, I get a lot of mail from people who are or have been in situations similar to hers and who find great inspiration in Carol and the fact that she’s a survivor. Although she’s a fictional character, she’s also very real to people, or at least certain aspects of her are very real and relatable, and as an actor, that’s incredibly satisfying to me.”
Steve Eramo
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