Geekscape Interviews: ‘Fear The Walking Dead’s Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henri Talk Parenting And More!

It’s been a few weeks now since the always-incredible (and always exhausting), events of San Diego Comic-Con, and I’m beyond excited that I’m just now able to talk about one of the highlights of this year’s week in San Diego.

If you’re a long-time reader of Geekscape, you’ll know how huge of a fan of The Walking Dead I am. I’ve been keeping up with the comic book since I was in high school, passionately wrote Geekscape’s Walking Dead Weekly column before life got in the way, and of course, ate up every single second of Telltale’s incredible The Walking Dead video game.

So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the new, mysterious companion series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Now, that being said, I’d felt a little iffy about Fear The Walking Dead since the companion series was first revealed. Sure, the world wants as much The Walking Dead as it can get (again, you do know that there’s both a comic book and incredible video game too, right?), but would this series simply be the same show in a different location, and without the survivors we already know and love? How could it differentiate itself from what’s essentially the most popular television series on the planet?

After having an opportunity to speak with the cast and producers of the series last month, any concerns that I had about Fear the Walking Dead disappeared, and I’m now simply excited to see where East Los Angeles, and the beginnings of the infection, take this dysfunctional blended family.

And that was all before that awesome trailer was released.

The interviews were run in a round-table format, and had journalists speaking to a few of the actors (or producers) at the same time. As it was a round-table, not all questions were mine, but all of them are definitely worth reading. It wasn’t the fantastic trailer or meeting these actors that made me really excited for Fear The Walking Dead, but the passion, excitement, and chemistry that all of its talent have with the project and each other.

Here’s what Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie, who play Liza Manawa and Chris Manawa had to say about the series.

Question: Can you start by introducing us to your characters and how they fit into the world?

Elizabeth: Yeah, well. In my world, it’s all about me so… [laughing]

Lorenzo: See you guys later.

Elizabeth: And my son, even though it’s not. I’m playing Liza Manawa and Lorenzo’s playing Chris Manawa. He plays my son and we are Cliff Curtis’ first family and we got separated a few years ago. The great thing is he didn’t leave me [chuckle] so there’s not that victim thing that gets boring for me. So we had a kid, I put my jeans on the back burner, I want to go to med school, it didn’t happen. We were raising him, cut to we grew apart, things didn’t change. We separated three years ago.

Now, I’m sort of burning the candle on both ends and going back to school. I know that as a single mother predominantly, I can’t go to med school, so I go to nursing school, which plays a big factor in what happens along the way and I’m very protective of Chris. We have a good relationship with his father. His father is part of a different family now, the Clarks, which require more time because the Clarks’ children, one of his, you’ll see and so I think I’m just…the only hiccup is that when he says he wants to pick up his son, he needs to do that and be a man of his word when it comes to his son. And then Lorenzo… [crosstalk]

Lorenzo: Hello, hello.

Elizabeth: As a teenager has his own issues.

Lorenzo: Yeah, I mean Christopher is a product of a kid that his father and mother got a divorce so he’s very angry. More on his dad than on his mom. I mean how can you hate your mom if something bad happens? It’s just something about that. But no, he’s very wounded, he’s very angry with his father. He wants to become a man but now he does not have a father to look up to. So there’s going to be this journey of this kid who wants to stand up to his father. He wants to be like his father but he can’t because he doesn’t really like the guy anymore because he broke the biggest promise you could ever break, to his mother, to his son, so with the journey of this whole with the backdrop of the zombie apocalypse and stuff, will they come together as a family? Will they love each other? Will they grow? Will they survive and Christopher is trying to be the man like his father, someone like his father.

Elizabeth: I think there is a pull and push like there is with a lot of teenagers trying to figure out. What happens is…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: I love you, dad. I hate my dad.

Elizabeth: Yeah, he comes and grabs us because he knows information before we do and I’m like, you’re crazy and then these family units come together…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: That’s a big point too because Chris is at that end, I mean we both resent the other…I mean Christopher resents the other family…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: I know.

Lorenzo: Christopher hates those other kids.

Elizabeth: I know you do.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: Because you’re a teenager. That’s because you’re a teenager.

Lorenzo: No. It’s… [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: I don’t. As a parent, I ask him question. I ask about the kids and if he’s okay and what’s going on there. So these worlds come together, these families come together and along the way we pick up a third family which they’ll tell you about themselves later.

So we end up under a certain roof, and there’s parents and children and who’s going to protect whom and how is this going to sort of work along the way?

Question: How do they realize that it is the apocalypse and that the zombies are coming?

Elizabeth: We don’t. It takes a long time.

Lorenzo: You’re going to have to find out soon.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: We get information and then we get a little more information and then we get the trade and then things happen.

Lorenzo: You’re just going to have to watch. [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Yeah, things start out slowly and then things happen really fast.

Lorenzo: It gets insane. It’s like lighting a cigar. Burning slowly.

Elizabeth: Yes. It has a slow burn and then things like this in real life take a trajectory that then things happen and we realize things really fast. In the later episodes but you see in things that if you know “The Walking Dead,” you’re like, the signs are right there, people! [giggling] But our heroes don’t watch “The Walking Dead,” so we are clueless.

[Chuckle]

Question: Do you watch “The Walking Dead”?

Elizabeth: Yes, but we can’t talk about that right now. [Giggle] We do but the thing is that it doesn’t inform the story we’re telling. It’s…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: It’s completely – if you would have watched both shows side by side, they’re completely different…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Yeah, ours is definitely a family drama with that as a backdrop, with Los Angeles being a big character. And the greatest thing I think is just that. It’s not having the rules, the fear is in not knowing who’s alive, who’s not alive. What is this? How? Is it your neighbor? Is it your friend? Is it just a sickness? How do you make…It’s not just this person, oh, okay. Take that one out, take that one out, take that one out. It’s all struggling with the humans…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: It’s got a lot of layers.

Elizabeth: With knowing people only as human beings. How do you get from that mentally to they’re not? How does one do that, you know, and hold on to your values and not lose your mind and not still survive and take care of your loved ones.

Question: So it’s basically a story about the characters and they happen to be living the zombie apocalypse. As a viewer we know it’s going to happen. We know like, there’s the killer. It’s going to get to you but for you, how is it to play this strong woman who has to take care of the family and then has to hear about this what all these walker zombies and…? [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Well, because I’m a nursing student, I end up sort of learning more than some of them at some point. They start out knowing more than I do and then because that’s my instinct, I end up helping. I am more privy to information sooner than they are and so I think for my character, I love playing this. It’s incredible to be able to play. Oh, this woman is going to school that’s independent that is also single mother. That is no BS. I think that her thing is being able to help and how could she help? She can help because she can put her nursing skills to use and so I think any time – we don’t ever feel helpless. So you find ways to do that, however you can, and my character ends up doing that in a greater context.

Question: You talked a little bit about the family drama.  When we watch, how soon do we get to some action and how soon do we get to…? [crosstalk]

Elizabeth: You got…You do…[crosstalk]

Lorenzo: You’ve got to watch it.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: You do…you get glimpses of it you will get things where you will be like, well, everyone was like, what just happened? You know, you guys, are like, people come on!  You do get that. You get that in the first episode. You get that going along the way and then it all falls apart the way apocalypses do. [Laughs] I mean I could only compare it to what were talking about this in detail before our principal day of photography, we were going to talk about in reference we know so it would be to me like a natural disaster, like you know, Katrina where you think oh, your government is going to take care, oh, and then you watch this on TV and you’re like, this is impossible that we’re not equipped and this is happening. So it’s that sort of idea like 9/11, where you’re just watching this thing and your brain can’t process it so you’re like, oh, this is a movie and I’m watching anything but what’s really happened.

And so it’s that sort of natural phenomenon to try to make sense of something within the realm of what we understand. Not we can jump to, this must be – this must be walkers, you know. [laughing] It’s that kind of thing and like along the way, making choices between bad choices and worst choices and how do you live with yourself and how do you redefine yourself every step of the way.

Question: What bad choices and good choices?

Elizabeth: There are no good choices, there is only…in the situation everything we do, you…

Question: The fact is you guys want us to survive, it’s a good choice.

Elizabeth: That’s just your natural instinct.

[Laughing]

Question: That’s good.

Elizabeth: Of course it is. That’s why we’re all here right now. [laughing] Survival of the fittest.

Question: Will there be much humor in the show?

Lorenzo: What is that?

Elizabeth: Humor.

Question: Will there be any like moments or is there a character that brings in humor with them?

Elizabeth: Well, I bring a lot of humor off camera. [laughing]

Lorenzo: There is some humor.

Elizabeth: Is there humor? That’s a good question.

Lorenzo: Yeah. There is humor.

Elizabeth: I don’t. I can’t ever remember the differentiation between the camera is on or off because I’m such a clown. [giggle]

Lorenzo: She’s the best worker.

Elizabeth: Let me see. Is there humor?

Question: Don’t worry.

[Laughing]

Elizabeth: No, I can’t tell you whether there is humor or not. I don’t remember.

[Laughing]

Question: It seems like you genuinely have a motherly son bond…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Oh my god it’s so easy. Look at this one. It was so easy.

Lorenzo: She’s the best.

Elizabeth: I’m like he’s the sweetest thing and the great thing is that he gets to play this sort of good, innocent, the same energy and it’s so much easier. [chuckle] Like a guy showing up just like [laughing] and he has to play this little sweet guy and I love you. He makes it so easy. And immediately there was like this nurturing aspect to him. I find myself talking like, don’t’ do that! Oh my god, I’m sorry. I’m not your real mom.

[Laughing]

Question: Are the zombies still called walkers?

Elizabeth: They are walkers. They are infected. We don’t even know they are walkers. They are infected at first because that’s all we know that they are infected. We had no idea anything other than that.

Question: So how does it feel to walk on an infected set?

Elizabeth: It’s interesting because at times there were like it’s not…you don’t always feel like you’re in. Sometimes, it’s like this family stuff and other times I do these scenes where I’m like, oh my God, this is the genre. And other times I’m like I’m in an action film. [laughing] There are times when I’m like – it’s a total like action.

Lorenzo: It’s pretty surreal because you go home at night and you’ll be like, wait, what did I just do?

Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah.

[Giggling]

Lorenzo: And I try to fall asleep. What was I looking at?

Elizabeth: Yeah. There are days where it’s long and things happen and you literally have to come home and wash the day away of what you just experienced all day because they do a really good job of making it feel really real, all the chaos.

Question: Does it give you nightmares?

Lorenzo: No.

Elizabeth: Kim had some nightmares. Ask her about them.

Lorenzo: I don’t have any nightmares.

Elizabeth: I do have nightmares but I don’t have children in real life and all I keep thinking is if I did, I would be the worst mother right now because I would be like, you’re not going anywhere. You can’t go anywhere [laughing] I would be to my child to be like, you have to go a therapist [laughing] and get away from me. I need to go live with someone else, because there is no way not to bring that home. Like I drive now and in L.A. you sort of – like even in Vancouver, you see homeless, you don’t know whether they’re mentally challenged, drugs and you are like all these people could be walkers. Like you just can’t help it. What’s differentiating them? And I think the fact that it’s in L.A. it makes it interesting because you just assume that they’re just part of the characters of L.A. streets, much easier.

Lorenzo: Just go down to Santa Monica, and you’ll find…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: Yeah or downtown, you know what I mean, they sound a hell of a lot more in Atlanta than they do in the streets of  L.A. We could be walking amongst them now.

Question: No one would notice.

Elizabeth: Yeah. No one would notice in L.A. for the most part.

Question: So how does it feel, working in this environment than being in the city that’s so cynical in a way that people don’t really believe in this stuff and they are like, oh, we need hard science and we’re not going to believe these shenanigans and stuff like that? How do you feel about that environment? How do you feel especially you dealing as teenager with all this stuff that I know as a teenager? Your character must be going through a lot of things. How do you react to the zombie apocalypse?

Lorenzo: The fear really describes it perfectly because you really don’t know what it is and Christopher wants to put something to it but he can’t because he doesn’t know what it is and the only people he could turn to are his parents and he doesn’t really want to turn to his dad for the advice. So it’s the unknown, its the fear, the unexpected that you really just don’t know how to – it’s like going in cold water of the first time. You’re so shocked that it takes you a few seconds to really absorb what really happened. So it’s a lot of mixed feelings. It’s a lot of ultimate fear, right?

Elizabeth: I feel like the thing that these walkers in the apocalypse – the only part of the genre that you could literally replace that with anything. With ISIS, with – you get a place in you know, any war, you can replace it with terrorism and I feel like when I think about it – I would think that all these people are subdued on a day to day with these things. The only thing that they think is that it’s going to end. You know, that there’s an end date.

Question: So you can identify more with these characters than you do with the ones that you do in “The Walking Dead” for example?

Elizabeth: Right now we do because it’s about understanding. So we identify more with these characters than the ones we haven’t become them yet.

Lorenzo: And I think…[crosstalk]

Elizabeth: We haven’t gone to the place of it being okay and being able to go, they’re human or not. It’s that trace of going from being one of us to becoming – they accepted this is the world we are living in and these are the rules and this is it. This is how you take them out. [laughing] And this is how you keep living. So it’s that transition of us watching us become that or not.

Lorenzo: Thank you.

Elizabeth: Thank you guys

Question: Thank you.

Question: Thank you so much.

Elizabeth: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on August 23rd. Looking for more of the talent? Here are the rest of the conversations:

-Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason
-Kim Dickens and Alycia Debnam-Carey
-Frank Dillane and Creator Dave Erickson
-Cliff Curtis and Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd