Fear The Walking Dead: Interview With Frank Dillane On The Upcoming Finale And Season 2

Is Nick the new Rick?

By Michael Potts /

AMC

Fear The Walking Dead is boiling up to the season finale with a whole load of questions yet to be answered. At the heart of everything is actor Frank Dillane, a British 24-year-old who you might also recognise as 'orphan Voldemort' from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - and is also the son of Steven Dillane a.k.a. Stannis Baratheon from the world of Game of Thrones.

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WhatCulture exclusively spoke to Frank Dillane, the man behind walker-discovering, heroin addict Nick, about the upcoming finale, the plan for Season 2, and what life is really like on set, filming the end of civilisation.

WC: Fear The Walking Dead already has an audience that numbers in the millions. What's it like to be a leading man on a show that size?

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FD: I don'€™t really see myself as a leading man as such. Nick is certainly not conventional, bog-standard leading man material. Yeah, I suppose he's a bit of an anti-hero at the moment. I've just never really thought about him as a leading man. And I try not to think about it to be honest.

WC: How important is it for Fear to break away from The Walking Dead and become its own show?

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FD: Well, it'€™s called Fear The Walking Dead, so we'€™re really just one word away from actually being The Walking Dead. One of the very first things I had to come to terms with was that this was a companion series and it would therefore share some similarities. It€™'s a lot to live up to in one sense. It all sort of comes under the one genre. Also, in this day and age, in TV and film, it'€™s about recycling and using something that is definitely good rather than just remaking anything. It€™'s not too different from the prequels or sequels to Star Wars, I suppose. I don'€™t dwell on it too much, after all it€™'s just my job.

WC: Do you take any inspiration from The Walking Dead at all?

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FD: Is Nick the new Rick? I'€™ll be absolutely honest with you here, I haven€™'t actually watched The Walking Dead so I don'€™t know. I've never even heard of the show... Maybe I will get onto it, but I'€™ll admit I haven€™'t actually got through watching this one either. It's all very good though isn't it? It's all good.

WC: You€™'re on a set full of zombies walking around and the world is ending. Is it surreal at times?

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FD: Yeah, what really is incredible is when you really look at how much stuff is going on around your little scene that you€™'ve spent weeks scrutinising, and then you see everyone, all the zombies, all the helicopters and everything and you realise actually that you€™'re just a very small cog in a huge operation. So yes, it can be quite daunting when you think about how much money they'€™re throwing at things around me. That can be quite scary.

WC: The end of the world is a pretty grim subject, what is the mood like on set?

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FD: The mood€™'s great on set, but it'€™s television so we do move so fast and we€™'re not always on set together. There'€™ll be weekends where we€™'re all on there together and we can properly mix, but I was actually on a different set to a lot of the others for a time. It€™'s also pretty boring on a television set if I€™'m honest. It certainly isn'€™t all fun and games, and at times it can be dull, you know what I mean? Sitting there repeating about three words. But no, it's good.

WC: Things aren€™'t going well for your real-life dad in Game of Thrones, is there a Dillane rivalry going on?

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FD: Oh yeah well I'€™ve never watched Game of Thrones either. There€™'s certainly no rivalry with me and my old man, he does his own thing and I've never shown any rivalry, I hope he doesn'€™t...

Continued on the next page.

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