The characters of The Walking Dead: World Beyond live in relative security compared to their Fear and Walking Dead counterparts, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have threats of their own. That’s why the fledgling series, which premieres October 4 on AMC, has its own warrior characters in Felix and Huck.
Nico Tortorella and Annet Mahendru play the two security officers, who also become the self-appointed protectors of the teenagers at the center of the story. The actors explained to Screen Rant how they relate to their characters and what they expect to learn about the mysterious CRM organization lurking within the series.
The two girls are going through an extreme pandemic themselves. Can you talk to me about how it's something that parents are going through now and how you think you're able to relate to your character on that level?
Annet Mahendru: I can tell you that I am a parent, and I have a kid. It's really disconnecting; people have forgotten how to how to be with each other. They're afraid of each other. It's like everyone's contagious; you don't want to get that contagion.
Annet, let's talk about Huck for a second. She's tough as nails and pretty badass. Where does she get her inner strength from?
Annet Mahendru: From her experience, really. She's been in the armed forces, and she's joined teams before and believed in them and worked really hard - and then realized that people make decisions sometimes out of all sorts of interests. A lot of times, they don't know, they just kind of push the button. She's been disillusioned by life and has become a standalone figure. She's had to truly align herself with herself.
Before it was like, "Which organization can I join to make sense of the world?" Then you realize everyone's in the same boat, and no one has it figured out. You just have to be real; to look at what's going on in front of you and just see what it does to you, and then respond honestly. And that's what she does. She's out there, inspiring people to do the same; to get out to try something new, really, because there is no one way. There never really was; it was just all trial and error.
Can you talk to me about the scariest thing about the Walking Dead apocalypse? Because the scariest part is known to be the humans, not the zombies. Why hasn't your character lost hope in humanity as a whole yet?
Annet Mahendru: Because she knows that people are capable of anything, and we are many faces. It's all about accessing those other parts of us, and she has learned how to do that with herself. She knows that, "If I can do it, I know you can do it too, because we're all the same." And that's her superpower. Because she recognizes it, and she sees it in other people; she knows when they're not doing it, when they're hiding, when they're afraid.
In this world, death is a big theme. I've thought recently, "Wow, I'm not afraid of death. I never was," and then I realized I just haven't spent time with it. I haven't thought about it. I realized how actually, "Wow, where do we go?" This is the scariest thing; our bodies decaying and you see that in every zombie, they're kind of a mirror image of that and that state. I'm seeking the answer myself.
One of the characters that Huck has almost a mentorship with is Hope. Can you talk to me about the relationship between Huck and Hope?
Annet Mahendru: Hope has been deeply traumatized like Huck was, and they've both assumed automatically destructive patterns and self-sabotage. The problem is time is really running out; everyone has a gift, and it's Huck's responsibility to turn her around before it's too late - because she can contribute to all of our well-being and all of our futures. If she doesn't, she's not only sabotaging herself, she's sabotaging what's left of the world and that's just the most frustrating thing ever. Because the power lies within us, and we're holding it back. We're holding back that energy of life.
Felix is the guardian of these two girls going through this pandemic, something that many parents are going through now. How can people relate to your character on that level?
Nico Tortorella: Yeah, it's funny. I always think about a cousin that I had - that I still have. But growing up, my cousin had just started being a paramedic, transitioning to being a fireman, when I was like in high school. He was my best friend, but he would teach me lessons the hard way. Quick little story: I may or may not have been arrested at my high school graduation. And the way that he reprimanded me for that is something that I bring to this character of Felix. In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm playing a version of my cousin when I'm talking to the girls.
So, to answer your question, I feel like there's a tough love that that has to exist.
How did your character end up in the circumstances of being where they are on this show?
Annet Mahendru: Well, Huck was out in the wild, and she found this community that took her in because she was completely broken. They fixed her up, and she took all sorts of jobs to pay back what they have given her, and then there was a job post in the security team.
She's like, "I got the experience. I was in the armed forces. I've got all sorts of training. I'm gonna save you. I'm gonna keep you safe. I owe you my life." And Felix said, "Yeah, let's go." And that's how she ended up with this community and on the inside, so to say, and now she's taking them back out.
What's the relationship between Huck and Felix? You get to see it a lot in episode 2, but can you talk to me about their relationship and how they care for each other?
Annet Mahendru: Yeah, there's a brotherly connection between them. When you take the sexual aspect away, there's this sense of freedom. You can just be yourself; there's no impressing, there's no end goal. There's just a lot of freedom to be who you are, which is very special between the two. And the sky's the limit.
Nico, how did your characters end up in the circumstances they are to start off start us up on the show? Could you talk to me though about Felix's life before everything happened 10 years ago?
Nico Tortorella: He was troubled. Felix grew up in a pretty religious house; in a Catholic Italian household. And he was trying to find himself. I think that's what we all do when we're growing up; we try to find who we are, who we love, what it means to be alive. And sometimes some of those things are not accepted by the ones that are closest to you.
To try to understand yourself, to look in the mirror and be like, "This is who I am and this is who I love, even though society is telling me that that's not okay," builds a lot of character. That is a deeply spiritual relationship with yourself and with the universe, and it's shaped a lot of who Felix is.
We see Felix, towards the beginning of the show, lock up Hope. Can you talk to me about the relationship he has with the two girls and the way that he views them? He's somewhat of a father figure, or even a big brother type.
Nico Tortorella: I mean, if that's not a metaphor - locking up Hope - I don't know what it is. No, Felix is a brother. He's been part of this family for a long time; this is not a new relationship. Hope, Iris, Leo and Huck for that matter, are the only family that Felix knows - and Will.
But the girls try him. Hope, specifically, pushes Felix to the edge. I think Felix sees a lot of himself in Hope, and he doesn't want her to stray too far. He knows how to fuck with them in the right ways, but also keep them in line. Just like a brother does. You can say shit to family members and to siblings that you can't say or do to anyone else. It's just how families operate. Blood is thicker than water, but it's also harder to clean up.
Episode 2, where we get some stuff about your characters is phenomenal. This show's obviously a spinoff of The Walking Dead. How do you think your characters will leave their mark on the long line of the fan-favorite franchise?
Annet Mahendru: We're new beings, so we can really go anywhere. There's no confinement, there's just the hustle and the imagination. We can be as creative as we can be, and there's no one holding us accountable for it or, "This is where you are supposed to be." We can just endlessly evolve and take the audience with us on that journey.
Nico Tortorella: I feel like the audience, if they haven't already, will begin to hold us accountable because we are part of such a massive franchise now. They expect something from these characters. But I think what we get out of this new series is, like Annette was saying, a reimagination. And fans will appreciate it. I think there's a time to breathe in this series that maybe there wasn't in the first two.
There's a new character at play here, and I'm so fascinated by Julia Ormond playing Elizabeth. What do your characters think of Elizabeth and the Civic Republic?
Annet Mahendru: Is she God? It's sort of that area; the God of science. That's all we have left after all this deconstruction that has happened, and that's what we're going to explore. We're really sort of, in a way, exploring God in the season.
Which Walking Dead character would you guys like to cross over with?
Nico Tortorella: Are we saying "crossing over" as in, like, die with holding hands? That'd be Huck. I want to cross over holding your hand in a loving embrace.
Annet Mahendru: I'll hold you do it.
But as the characters on the show, who would you guys want to see pop up in your show?
Nico Tortorella: I want to go over wherever Rick is and start an army and take over the world. That's my plan.
Annet Mahendru: I want to hang out with Princess. I want to take Felix with me, because he's my true silly, and then we could just be real silly.