Is Glenn going to die? No really, are they going to kill Glenn?!?
Millions of fans of "The Walking Dead" asked themselves that in a panic during the season five finale thanks to Nicholas' murderous intentions. Fortunately, it didn't come to that, and our fan favorite Glenn Rhee is safe (for now). But we couldn't blame you if you thought Nicholas wasn't long for this world after that. He had shown his cowardice several times before, most notably with Aiden and Noah, and now had crossed the line by trying to kill one of the show's most popular characters.
Surely this guy was just another face in a never-ending lineup of enemies, right? Wrong. As we learned this past weekend in the season six premiere, there's a lot more to Nicholas - and to the show itself - and it's up to actor Michael Traynor to express that.
"When I signed on for this role I had no idea what it was," Traynor told HNGN in an exclusive interview. "It could have been some dude lurking in the background for an episode or two who stumbles and gets bit by a Walker, and that would have been great. That would have been awesome...But the fact that it has turned into such a beautiful and complex story arc, I'm really stupidly pleased. It's amazing."
Traynor's season five performance was a mix of subtle and distinct movements: a shift of the eyes, a growing look of fear. His face was a window into the weakness and disloyalty his character exuded in every scene. Simply put, you hated him from the get-go. But season six's premiere saw a drastic change; suddenly where there was apathy and evil you saw determination and humanity. Traynor believes it is this mix of different positives and negatives that generated such an impassioned response from fans.
"I think that one of the reasons people despise his acts of cowardice so much and are so quick to shun and damn his character for what he did in the revolving door is because, at our core, I think there are a lot more Nicholases in the world than there are Rick Grimes or Glenn Rhees or Michonnes," Traynor said. "Who are these two strangers in this revolving door? I have a chance to save myself or save them. We all hope we can do the brave thing, but..."
Traynor, despite cracking jokes often and speaking with a warm and intelligent voice, is no stranger to morally corrupt characters. He played George on the little-watched but much-beloved "Rectify" (seriously, check that show out on Netflix if you haven't already). On the surface, there couldn't be two shows more radically different than "The Walking Dead" and "Rectify." One deals with a zombie apocalypse while the other focuses on a man and his family after his release from prison. One show is a critical darling with a small audience and the other is a ratings behemoth. Yet Traynor draws a unique connection between the two.
"In the day-to-day work of both shows, it's very similar in that you have a team of producers and writers who are just so focused on what is the human, the very specific human reaction to these circumstances," Traynor said with palpable enthusiasm. "And I view both of these shows as, essentially, family dramas. With 'Rectify,' it's the re-release of their son and brother which allows all of these reverberations to echo throughout this family unit and let alone the societal implications and the mystery surrounding it. The same goes for 'The Walking Dead.' With Rick Grimes, he's cobbled together a bunch of orphans to add to his actual family, and it's them vs. the world. Both showrunners, Ray McKinnon ['Rectify'] and Scott Gimple ['The Walking Dead'], are both like 'What's the truth of this moment?'
"What's daring about Scott Gimple is that he'll have moments that echo the pace and are very much rhythmically parallel to what they might do, or how they tell a story or how they might let a moment linger on 'Rectify.' And that's brilliant, man. That's balls, that's like some big, old, fat narrative cojones, you know?"
Believe it or not, I do know. I was an outspoken critic of "The Walking Dead's" middle seasons. The show seemed more interested in devouring our brains than testing them. But Gimple has sharpened the show's blade to a point that it can rival Michonne's Katana. In lieu of mindless violence, he's injected a sense of character development and cinematic storytelling that revels in the smaller, more restrained moments. But that doesn't mean he can't ratchet up the action when need be.
Season five saw Rick Grimes and his merry band of zombie slayers run through opponents in rapid succession. Gareth and the cannibals at Terminus, Dawn and the nightmare hospital, Pete and the reluctant Alexandrians, all were dispatched with gleeful haste. Although Traynor wouldn't tell me who the next to get it is (or who was blaring that horn in the end of the premiere), he did say that fans should be ready for anything this season.
"It's bigger and more outrageous than anything before," he said.
"The Walking Dead" will never cut its lifeline of adrenaline-soaked action, but Traynor's Nicholas is yet another example of the show's changing focus. There are real, fully formed people on this show, not just reanimated corpses or characters who share a similar lifelessness. The fact that we're even debating Nicholas' character is proof that "The Walking Dead" has evolved from a simple-minded Walker aimlessly shuffling from meal to meal to a more complex and interesting entity. In that sense, Nicholas is a microcosm for the show's development as a whole.
And I, for one, can't wait to see what they do next.
