Author: Dave Nemetz

July 29, 2016 10:30am PT by Dave Nemetz

 Gene Page/AMC

Andrew Lincoln and the cast examine the shocking way season six ended … without giving away the victim.

No, we still don’t know who Negan killed with his baseball bat Lucille, and we won’t know for sure until The Walking Dead returns Oct. 23. But the cast and producers of AMC’s hit zombie drama are happy to discuss just about every other aspect of that crucial scene — including the backlash surrounding it.

Season six ended on an agonizing cliffhanger, with Negan murdering an unseen member of Rick’s gang, and many fans reacted with anger and frustration at being left dangling all summer. But TWD showrunner Scott M. Gimple insists that the writing staff can’t let fan reaction alter how they tell a story. “If you care about the fans… you have to respect the reaction, no matter what,” he told reporters during a press conference at San Diego Comic-Con. “But I think it’s important to not be afraid.”

And the passionate reaction from fans can be viewed as a positive, executive producer David Alpert says: “If a character is killed off the show and… it doesn’t upset somebody, obviously we weren’t doing our jobs making a show that people care about.”

The biggest challenge of resolving the cliffhanger in the season seven premiere, according to executive producer Greg Nicotero, “is, you know it’s coming. Ever since Issue 100 [of the Walking Dead comic]… I remember reading it and just thinking how brutal and how unexpected and senseless it felt. That’s the trickiest aspect of the first episode: living up to the expectation of that moment… and how that changes the direction of the survivors forever. It’s a fascinating exercise in emotion. Shock, denial… all these things play into it. It was a master class in acting from these people here. But it’s agonizing to think about the fact that we’re changing the landscape of our cast.”

Josh McDermitt, who plays the mullet-sporting Eugene, says fan response to the cliffhanger has been more supportive than anything: “It’s kind of beautiful… everybody has their favorites, but really, they just don’t want to see anybody go. The fan base is really rallying around everyone.”

Rick Grimes might not end up being the victim of Lucille’s wrath, but Andrew Lincoln (Rick) says he’ll be in terrible shape even if he survives. “He’s powerless for the first time since he woke up from the coma,” Lincoln says of Rick’s mental state. “He’s truly terrified for his child’s life, and for his fellow family. Everything that he’s fought and bled for, had family members die for… has been shattered in 24 hours. So yeah, he’s not in a good space. And I think if he makes it through the first episode, he will be a different man. He can’t help but be.”

And don’t expect Carl to become all buddy-buddy with Negan if he survives the premiere, either, Chandler Riggs (Carl) hints. “He doesn’t like this guy. At all. Just from him trying to kill his friends and his family… they kind of got off to a bad start.”

The man who plays Negan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, might have charmed Walking Dead fans with his foul-mouthed bravado in the season six finale — but he isn’t expecting them to like him once they find out who Negan’s victim is. “Right now, this Comic-Con is going to be okay. I think next year, it could be a little different,” he says with a sly smile. “I think it’s gonna be a salute of middle fingers and language when I come out onto the stage.”  

For more Walking Dead coverage, go to THR.com/WalkingDead.

July 23, 2016 7:14pm PT by Dave Nemetz

 Courtesy of Fox

Will Forte and his co-stars look back on the funniest moments from season two of the Fox comedy.

The Last Man on Earth has proven to be quite a survivor. The Fox comedy, starring SNL alum Will Forte as the only human left after a worldwide pandemic, is alive and well and returning for a third season of post-apocalyptic hijinks this fall. Forte and his co-stars (no, he’s not really alone anymore) joined San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday to look back on the craziest moments from last season.

A quick refresher: season two ended with a tear-jerking death — Phil’s astronaut brother Mike (Jason Sudeikis) succumbed to the virus that wiped out the rest of the planet — and a new danger for the Malibu gang, as they spotted a boat full of well-armed marauders led by anti-government nutball Pat Brown (Sons of Anarchy’s Mark Boone Junior) headed straight for their beautiful beach house.

Forte confirms that season three, premiering Sept. 23, “will pick up right where season two ends.” Boone Junior is back as Pat, and one of the other guys in hazmat suits has been cast, but Forte isn’t ready to reveal who that is just yet. But don’t be surprised if you see more Saturday Night Live alums on the show in the future, Forte says: “There are a lot of people on the [writing] staff who used to work at SNL, so we’re always looking at those people.”

The funniest sight gag from last season had to be Phil getting half of his hair, beard, and eyebrows shaved off in a prank war with Mike. Forte really committed to it, even sporting the hairstyle in real life, but “I don’t think anybody especially liked the look,” he says. Except one Oscar-winning actress, that is. Forte recalls going to an awards show and discovering a surprising admirer: “We were sitting right next to Helen Mirren, and she kissed my bald head.” (That alone makes the prank worth it, right?)

We nearly witnessed a Miller sandwich in season two when Carol almost pulled off a threesome with brothers Phil and Mike. Kristen Schaal (Carol) remembers shooting that scene fondly: “I’m saddling Sudeikis, and I’m getting Forte just eyeing it all… I didn’t quite get how funny it would be. I was actually bummed we had to move on, because I could’ve filmed that scene for a week.”

Mike’s death was surprisingly touching for such a juvenile comedy (remember the fart jars?), and Forte says that twist mostly came about just because Sudeikis is so in-demand as an actor. “We didn’t think we’d be able to get him for as long as we did, so we had to come to some sort of conclusion for his story.”

Not every hilarious thing that happens on the Last Man set makes it into the final product. Forte reveals there was a deleted scene where Carol delivers a heartfelt eulogy to the last piece of cheese after the gang’s cow died. “Carol just makes a ceremony about it before they eat it,” Schaal remembers. “It’s some really good acting work.” (Please include this on the season two DVD set, Fox.)

Of course, with a cast of six regulars, the title The Last Man on Earth doesn’t really make a lot of sense anymore. A fan brought this up during the panel, and Forte has heard this complaint many, many times, so he had his answer ready: “You know the movie Rocky? Are there other people in the movie besides Rocky?”

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The Last Man on Earth

July 23, 2016 5:28pm PT by Dave Nemetz

 Photofest/Paramount Pictures

The showrunner of the new “Trek” series weighs in on the decision to make Sulu gay in “Star Trek: Beyond,” and George Takei’s criticism of the move.

A furor has been brewing in the Star Trek universe: The new film Star Trek: Beyond will portray Lt. Sulu (John Cho) as a gay man, and George Takei, who played Sulu on the original Trek series, called the decision “really unfortunate” — despite being gay himself.

As the showrunner of the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery CBS All Access TV series (and a gay man himself), Bryan Fuller weighed in on the controversy Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con.

First, Fuller defended Takei’s right to feel defensive about his character. “I think when you’re an actor, you’re playing a role from a specific direction,” he told The Hollywood Reporter at a press event following the Star Trek 50th anniversary panel. “It is that interpretation that you worked with, with the creator of the show, that has been cemented in your mind. So I think he is absolutely entitled to feel that way, because I absolutely understand why he feels that way.”

But he does think the decision to reveal Sulu as gay is a step in the right direction: “I think the bigger picture is that we need gay representation. And the fact that they embraced that idea and made John Cho’s portrayal as Sulu a gay man was a lovely move of inclusivity.”

Plus, to get totally geeky about it, both answers can be right, technically. “With the science-fiction extrapolation of one universe to the other and the fluidity of sexuality, it feels like there’s an explanation that both of those things exist,” Fuller says. “Because George Takei’s Sulu in the prime universe is a heterosexual man, and John Cho’s Sulu in the Kelvin universe is a homosexual man, it proves that sexuality is not a solid-state situation.”

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