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The following comprises spoilers for Tales of the Walking Dead Season 1, Episode 3, “Dee,” which aired Sunday, Aug. 28 on AMC.
The title of Tales of the Walking Dead‘s third episode, “Dee,” won’t ring any bells for The Walking Dead followers, however the protagonist of the episode will. Samantha Morton is again as Dee within the must-watch episode, years earlier than she turns into the twisted Whisperer named Alpha. Morton portrayed the long-lasting villain in Seasons 9 and 10 of the primary collection, however her return to the anthology spinoff hints that Alpha’s story is not over but.
“Dee” takes place roughly a 12 months into the apocalypse, and after Dee kills her daughter’s (Lydia) father. The mother-daughter duo has supposedly discovered a protected haven on a riverboat that’s eerily paying homage to the Commonwealth — fancy events, jobs to maintain individuals in examine, and even train lessons to maintain survivors match towards the undead. Dee is perhaps skeptical of the neighborhood and its individuals, however her love for Lydia forces her to place up with the charade. As individuals’s true intentions are uncovered, nevertheless, Dee finds herself placing her daughter’s survival first, even when Lydia disagrees together with her mom’s rationale. In an interview with AnimeFillerLists, Morton revealed the method behind portraying Dee/Alpha in a distinct mild, the function of parenting in dire conditions, and what a part of Alpha’s story she’d prefer to discover subsequent.
AnimeFillerLists: You’re again as Alpha, however this time in a distinct a part of her life. Did you ever really feel any sort of strain going into this, particularly since you’re persevering with this iconic character and her legacy?
Samantha Morton: I believe I felt a little bit scared of constructing positive I acquired Dee proper as a result of, within the flashback episode in Season 9, they had been Lydia’s recollections of what it was like within the basement together with her mother and pop. So they weren’t from Dee/Alpha’s perspective. They had been all simply Lydia’s nightmares or dangerous recollections, and everyone knows what can occur in trauma. We’ve all been by means of a world pandemic now, so it is sort of fascinating wanting on the present, having gone by means of that. So this was actually thrilling to go and go to who Alpha was earlier than she was Alpha, [and] to play Dee. So yeah, there was a accountability and in addition pleasure and nerves.
One factor that notably struck me about this episode is that Dee is battling her obligation as a mom together with her obligation as a survivor. How did you discover a stability between these two elements of your character?
I believe that I’d all the time play that, actually in The Walking Dead. They’ve been years now on the street, and that the traits in Lydia that I noticed to be a weak spot had been a reminder of her father, and her father — so far as I’m involved — wasn’t a really fascinating man. It wasn’t simply because he was weak. He did issues that weren’t fascinating. You have this in my monologue as I’m speaking and because the episode is airing. You get senses of issues which have occurred to her which have made her crack. On high of that, you have got a state of affairs now the place they’re within the apocalypse. So the depth of all that was fairly extraordinary, with each characters going by means of PTSD, each characters attempting to outlive, and the humanity inside that.
I believe for girls, particularly single moms as Dee is, when you have got all of the accountability and nobody’s serving to you or sharing the load — whether or not it is financially [or] emotionally — and there is no person to share that with, that may get robust for some individuals. Then throw in a world pandemic or an apocalypse. She’s not the nicest individual in some methods. Sometimes she’s a bit quick, and he or she needs to be merciless to be variety and really environment friendly together with her emotion and environment friendly together with her time. I believe that she discovered Brooke — Lauren [Glazier]’s character, somebody who hadn’t had youngsters, somebody who romanticized childhood — sort of annoying, actually. It’s like, “It’s alright for you to consider these items. You do not suppose like a mom thinks.” Dee’s very paranoid concerning the males on the boat and attempting to guard her daughter, whether or not that be from — I’ve to say this fairly quietly as a result of my children are in the home — whether or not that is from sexual assault or whether or not that is from something dangerous taking place to her from a walker. She’s simply attempting to guard her daughter.
I hope that folks can see a distinct facet to who Alpha was previous to [becoming] Alpha and the explanations for it and the way exhausting it’s to all the time be tender and compassionate, and [also] when that little one is blaming you for the whole lot. How many children had been indignant with their mother and father within the pandemic that they weren’t allowed to exit to play? It wasn’t the mother and father’ fault. You cannot exit to play, and children want somebody in charge. They want a protected individual in charge and to be indignant with. So I believe there is a little bit of nuance there with the mom and daughter relationship.
You talked about Dee feeling this accountability as a mom, however there are occasions when she will get pissed off with Lydia. She is a mom attempting her greatest, however there may be that pivotal second the place she contemplates killing Lydia on the finish of the episode. What precisely is driving her to even take into account this selection within the first place?
Well, to start with, it is a murder-suicide. She’s going to kill herself after that second as a result of she does not wish to stay with out her daughter. She does not need her daughter to stay in that world anymore. It’s nearly like euthanasia. It’s not like I need to kill my little one. It’s, “I wish to take my little one away from this world.” This world is horrible. Sadly, when individuals do kill their youngsters, once they’re interviewed by psychiatrists, it is actually because they imagine that the world is harmful. It’s dangerous. The air they’re respiratory is poisonous. People lose their minds. People get very, very, very poorly, and it is extremely unhappy. So that storyline, I believed, was actually exhausting, however one which I perceive primarily based on analysis that was finished to do with horrible situations and the psychological well being points concerned.
It’s simply fascinating to observe your and Scarlett Blum’s dynamic on this episode. Piggybacking off the final time you two had been seen as Alpha and Lydia on-screen, how did you two develop this relationship for this episode?
First of all, working with Scarlett is sensible. She’s an actress that listens, that has an enormous quantity of empathy, and is not afraid to react to a state of affairs versus simply studying to say her strains the best way that her mom has instructed her or a chaperone or a trainer or an appearing coach. She’s actually gifted and actually in a position to be within the second and in addition be capable of step out [of] the second and say, “Are you okay?” I’ll be like, “I’m okay. How are you?” I really like working with Scarlett and her sister. I labored together with her sister as nicely on The Walking Dead.
I believe that, hopefully, it is about belief, and [Michael Satrazemis], who directed the episode and masses of episodes of The Walking Dead, is a really delicate, variety man who simply permits us the area and is not intrusive and simply permits the performances to occur. I’ve labored with many actors, very profitable actors, through the years, and so they have a variety of ego. It’s quite a bit about their photographs and their close-ups and all the remainder of it. It’s fairly humorous, male or feminine, working with youngsters is commonly unimaginable as a result of in the event that they’re the best children, they do not have that ego. They’re simply within the second with you, and it is stunning.
If you had the prospect to proceed Alpha’s story, as a result of I believe there’s extra that might be mentioned about her time with the Whisperers, what a part of her life would you be open to portraying?
I’d prefer to see early Beta and Alpha. I’d prefer to see a little bit of that. I believed that relationship was actually fascinating and sophisticated — how she was the chief of the Whisperers and the way all that occurred and who’re the Whisperers. I had all these concepts once I was taking part in Alpha that Dee’s background was one of many wilderness. Certainly, due to her accent and the place she grew up, she was from a army household, [and] she spent a variety of time outdoor. So she felt at residence in nature, and he or she wasn’t afraid of the woods or spiders or the bugs or the critters. She’d go tenting as a child. She knew survival expertise. So I’m actually within the religious facet of Alpha and sort of the place that comes from as a result of I’ve acquired my concepts. Who is aware of? I’d by no means hear what the writers and the those that create the present suppose.
New episodes of Tales of the Walking Dead air each Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and stream every week early on AMC+.
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