Tonight, AMC premieres the third episode of the second season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The series follows teens as they try to survive the apocalypse, as well as the CRM. Nicholas Cantu stars as Elton, the analytical one of the bunch, while Hal Cumpston stars as Silas, who was brought to the campus colony after being arrested of a violent crime. At the end of last season, Ted Sutherland joined the cast as Percy. While Elton and Percy are currently navigating the world together, at the end of last season, they were separated from others, as well as Silas, who was picked up by the CRM.

The three recently talked to the press during a roundtable interview.

The actors also talked to SciFi Vision about some of the things that surprised them about their characters in the first season. Cantu was surprised by his character’s reaction to Hope (Alexa Mansour) killing his mother. “I thought he was gonna flip. I was like, ‘He's gonna go evil. He's gonna be the evil one. This is gonna be the change of the season.’ I guess it says more about me and how rage filled I am, but Elton just accepted it. He just internalized it, and he went on this long journey, and he found Percy [and Silas] because of it. He found both of his friends, because he was able to, I guess, not kill the killer, because…I was making the movie in my head, and it wasn't the movie that we were making. So, I was surprised by Elton's lack of action, or introspective action. His intellectual brain power just took over…He just ran away with his problems, which is a good message for the viewers.”

Cumpston told the site that he was surprised when he thought at first that his character killed Percy and Percy’s uncle (Scott Adsit). “I mean, initially, I was like ‘Whoa, okay, you've just spent all this time setting up that I'm a friendly giant.’ ”

It turned out that it was actually Huck (Annet Mahendru) that shot them. Sutherland was just surprised and happy that his character lived. “I got a giant hole in my chest. That was a shocker for me. I didn't think I was making it, so I'm glad I did.”

The three told the site that they learned a lot during the two seasons working on the show. Cantu said that he had never been part of a project of this size before. “I learned what it was like to be on a TV show for the first time and make friends and go on this journey. There're a lot of people involved. It was a huge set. It was a massive production. I mean, the first season we crashed a plane into a little town in Virginia; I'd never been on a set of that scale. So, being a part of something so large and seeing all the moving pieces of what it takes to put something like this together, I guess I learned the appreciation of every aspect of it, of everything - set decoration, sound design, everything. Everything comes together to make this thing, and I got to see that for two seasons instead of just a one-off thing. So, it was fun.”

Both of the other actors agreed, and Sutherland added that everything that happened with COVID helped them to appreciate it better. “I think you do gain a greater appreciation for each piece of the process, and how hard everybody works and all the time that people put in. And I think that was a great lesson from this, especially [as] we had ten-hour days, so we're working in smaller amounts of time; we were block shooting, and it was serious business.”

The actors talked more with SciFi Vision about some of the difficulties they had while working during COVID. Cantu, however, still enjoyed himself. “We were shooting around COVID precautions [and] the number one priority on set was safety, so everybody had the masks on and these shields and goggles…It made the day shorter, but, honestly, it was still a good time for me. I still had a blast. It was great.”

Cumpston told the site that the challenge was wanting to work more with everyone. “When we were on the COVID restrictions, we weren't really able to do anything when we weren't at work. So, you'd rather just be on set shooting faster, because then you get to hang out with everyone, instead of just being in your apartment or your house by yourself.”

Sutherland agreed but said the positive was it brought them closer as a cast. “Because of the COVID precautions, we had to have a bunch of time off, or you'd have a couple of weeks off. I think if anything that kind of strangely brought us closer together as a group, which was great, and delightful. That was really one of the joys of working on this project, kind of getting close to everybody.”

For the rest of the interview read the full transcript below, and be sure to watch The Walking Dead: World Beyond Sunday nights on AMC or a week early on AMC+.

***Edited for clarity and readability.***

Zoom Interview
The Walking Dead: The World Beyond
Nicholas Cantu, Hal Cumpston, and Ted Sutherland

September 23, 2021

SCIFI VISION:   Since we've only seen Silas in these first two episodes, can you guys maybe tease a little bit about the reunion? I mean, I assume there's going to be a reunion at some point between at least some of you. Is there anything that you're allowed to tease about that?

NICHOLAS CANTU:   What can I say without getting in trouble?…It's a good time. It's a good reunion. It's fun.

HAL CUMPSTON:  If it does happen, their reunion, it's worth it.

SCIFI VISION:   Okay, well, how about this, then? Let me ask you, Hal, since we have seen part of something you did, can you maybe talk about how him being in this new place and what has happened to him getting to that point, how that's going to change him in the way he acts this season?

HAL CUMPSTON:  Well, I mean, that's part of the show's magic that you don't know how it's going to change him. I mean, it's not a very good thing for a young person get arrested by any police force, let alone the CRM. So, I think it's a little bit up in the air. Is it going to go well, or is it going to go badly? Because also, by the same token, Silas might need a little bit of structure. So, it's gonna be interesting to see how he comes out of it. That's for sure.

QUESTION:   You guys have such great chemistry as a group, even though right now you're kind of separated in season one. How did you establish that? Did you have a chance to kind of talk and meet beforehand?

NICHOLAS CANTU:   Season one, we really didn't do much, which is funny. Well, actually, there was one thing. We had our director on the first episode [Jordan Vogt-Roberts]…He put together this improv thing for the main four, and we were just all in a room. And I think the first thing we did was ridiculous improv games, which is a great way to break the ice if you're an actor, because you just go around and you do stupid things for an hour, and then you're all friends.

…

QUESTION:   My question is for Nicholas. So, Elton gets to know the truth about Hope killing his mother, and then in the next episode, she’s seen saving Percy and killing walkers. I just was wondering, do you think that knowing the truth has made him much stronger and much more resilient in the later episodes and even in season two?

NICHOLAS CANTU:   I think when you find out that somebody killed your mom, you just kind of have a “I don't care” attitude. So, maybe he threw away all of his fears, and started killing zombies. I'm kind of glad though, because before that he didn't do anything. He needed to know the truth about his mom dying so that I [could] kill a zombie on the zombie show! So, I'm glad that that happened, but I think he is stronger. I think it just opened up his worldview. You know, his his mother's not the woman he thought she was. So, it kind of broke everything in his psyche. So, he needed to push through the trauma. It's a good message for the viewers.

SCIFI VISION:   Can you guys talk about what you still find challenging this season now that you've been there for a while?

NICHOLAS CANTU:   …Well, I mean, we were shooting around COVID precautions.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Yeah, COVID’s really annoying,

NICHOLAS CANTU:   The number one priority on set was safety, so everybody had the masks on and these shields and goggles sometimes. I didn't know that there were goggles, but they had us in goggles. So, it made the day shorter, but, honestly, it was still a good time for me. I still had a blast. It was great.

SCIFI VISION:   Hal? Ted?

HAL CUMPSTON:  I mean, if anything, the only challenge was wanting to work more. When we were on the COVID restrictions, we weren't really able to do anything when we weren't at work. So, you'd rather just be on set shooting faster, because then you get to hang out with everyone, instead of just being in your apartment or your house by yourself.

TED SUTHERLAND:   Yeah, I’d really just echo the same thing. Because of the COVID precautions, we had to have a bunch of time off, or you'd have a couple of weeks off. I think if anything that kind of strangely brought us closer together as a group, which was great, and delightful. That was really one of the joys of working on this project, kind of getting close to everybody. So, ultimately [it was] a positive out of a very shit situation.

QUESTION:   Besides what was in the script, did you guys have a good idea who these characters were beforehand, or did you just kind of read the script and kind of [work] with the producers and the director, kind of fleshing them out?

NICHOLAS CANTU:   Sometimes the clash between what you think your character is and what the actual scripted thing is, it kind of switches around. I remember when I read that Elton was going to be a black belt, I thought I was going to be like 360 kicking zombies like it was nobody's business, and then come to find out I killed one guy in the first season. But then, other than that, a show goes on. This was my first experience on a TV show. You definitely get to grow with the character. I've never had that experience before. That was really cool to kind of see how that worked, but, I mean, from season one to season two, you see a lot of change in Elton. You see a lot of change in these other characters. So, it was fun for all of us to portray the kind of starting point and ending point for all of these dudes. It was fun.

TED SUTHERLAND:   And they were very flexible in those conversations, like, with the directors and writers. If any of us had a better sense we felt of what the character would be doing or saying or wouldn't be doing or saying, and I know all of us had those discussions, they were very open to that. So, it was, like he said, fun to grow with the character.

HAL CUMPSTON:  …Sometimes you have your own idea of what the character is. Then, someone on set said something that was pretty funny and also sort of true, that everyone's making their own movie or their own TV show when you're on set, which comes down even to the actor. Sometimes until the next episode is released, you think the character is going in a completely different direction, but it is interesting that you're often reminded by the writing team that they have more of an understanding of this character than you at times. But yeah, as Ted did say…you’d just be able to talk to Matt [Negrete] about the character for as long as you wanted, like several hours. Even if there was something that you were slightly hesitant on, you’d just talk to him enough, and then you'd be like, “All right, yeah. You convinced me. That makes sense,” which is not something that you get to do on many other shows, partially why the acting is so good, probably.

QUESTION:   Hal, so we saw [with] Silas how he had to kill his own father and his mother, but that ended up backfiring on him. So, I was really wondering if there's a chance that the other survivors might become more accepting of him once they actually get to know the real story behind all of it. Is that something that happens in season two?

HAL CUMPSTON:  I can't really say what happens in season two. I mean, you’ve got to remember, it's been a little while, but at the end of season one, Silas is getting arrested, so there's any number of things that could happen. I mean, who knows? Let's hope first of all, he's okay at the start of season two, the poor guy, but, yeah, I mean, he probably does want his chance to be able to explain what happened, so he doesn't seem like a murderous guy. He's also not very good at explaining himself until he’s aware of the situation, so I think he's just gonna go actions over words.

SCIFI VISION:   You were saying how sometimes they do things that surprise you with the characters, and it's not what you expected. So, my question is, for each of you, what is something that happened in season one to your character that when you read the script were really surprised with? I know Ted you weren’t in the whole season, but hopefully you can still think of something from the end of the season.

NICHOLAS CANTU:   One, Elton found out that Hope was the one that killed his mother. I thought he was gonna flip. I was like, “He's gonna go evil. He's gonna be the evil one. This is gonna be the change of the season.” I guess it says more about me and how rage filled I am, but Elton just accepted it. He just internalized it, and he went on this long journey, and he found Percy because of it.

HAL CUMPSTON:  And Silas.

NICHOLAS CANTU:   And Silas. He found both of his friends, because he was able to, I guess, not kill the killer, because in my head, I was like, “Oh, immediately there's gonna be a big fight, and it's going to be like, ‘What's going on brother?!’ ” I was making the movie in my head, and it wasn't the movie that we were making. So, I was surprised by Elton's lack of action, or introspective action. His intellectual brain power just took over…He just ran away with his problems, which is a good message for the viewers.

TED SUTHERLAND:   I was surprised that I lived. I got a giant hole in my chest. That was a shocker for me. I didn't think I was making it, so I'm glad I did.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Me, by the same token, I was shocked when it said that I killed [Percy and his uncle]. I mean, initially, I was like “Whoa, okay, you've just spent all this time setting up that I'm a friendly giant,” and again, with the same thing as Nick, I was probably super excited for them to be like, “Okay, well, here we come, Silas is going to go on a rampage.”

…

QUESTION:   A good place to go on a rampage is killing walkers. Talk about your walker killing experiences, and I will say that, no spoiler, but Silas has a unique weapon he's going to be using this year. The way to go around it, is was it cool to use it? That's all you need to say.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Yeah, I mean they don't beat around the bush with the name of it as well. They get straight to the point, and, I mean, it's very CRM, and it's an extremely efficient tool. I'm not going to go into it too much, but this is a tool everyone's gonna love. All the kids are gonna be buying this come Christmas.

QUESTION:   What about you guys as far as your walker escapades and killing them?

TED SUTHERLAND:   I mostly to stab people in the head, which is pretty anticlimactic. You want it to be a fun thing, but it's really not. It's not it. You want to swing [something].

…
NICHOLAS CANTU:   …My experience killing walkers in the first season was just one guy. I mean, if I didn't get that one kill with the wrench, my kill count would have been for kneecaps, because I was just like kicking them in the legs, but that one kill was fun. We finally got some use out of the pocket fisherman. The whole season I was carrying that thing around and Hal would make fun of me for it, like, “What are you gonna do with that thing?” and I finally wrapped it around a zombie and didn't kill them. I guess I just wrapped it them around and left them on the ground, but then I whacked the other one with his wrench. So, I think I got the upper hand on that argument.

HAL CUMPSTON:  …Sometimes you don't get a zombie kill for a couple episodes, and then you get one, and you're like, “There's like zombies to be killed.” It's just a there's a lot of storyline within this show that sometimes you go, “Wait a second, is this about zombies as well?”

SCIFI VISION:   What's something that you each learned about yourselves after having worked on the show?

NICHOLAS CANTU:   …I learned what it was like to be on a TV show for the first time and make friends and go on this journey. There're a lot of people involved. It was a huge set. It was a massive production. I mean, the first season we crashed a plane into a little town in Virginia; I'd never been on a set of that scale. So, being a part of something so large and seeing all the moving pieces of what it takes to put something like this together, I guess I learned the appreciation of every aspect of it, of everything - set decoration, sound design, everything. Everything comes together to make this thing, and I got to see that for two seasons instead of just a one-off thing. So, it was fun.

HAL CUMPSTON:  I mean, yeah, Nick, Nick really encompassed the whole thing, that there's a lot of moving parts…We joke around and stuff, because it seems so ridiculous, but it is an incredible opportunity for all of us that you do just really come out of it being like, “Well, I feel like so happy that I get to be in the position where all this comes together just basically at the end of the day so we can wear funny little suits and say things.” But, yeah, I feel like you also just realize like that you're a beast. That’s what I came out of the thinking.

…

TED SUTHERLAND:   Hal really encapsulated what Nick said so well, and I would really just say the same thing. [laughs] No, I think, especially with this particular production, and with all the COVID stuff, like we've talked about ad nauseum, I think you do gain a greater appreciation for each piece of the process, and how hard everybody works and all the time that people put in. And I think that was a great lesson from this, especially we had ten-hour days, so we're working in smaller amounts of time; we were block shooting, and it was serious business.

QUESTION:   What was your first reaction when you all came to know how they wrapped your characters in season two? Let's start with you, Nicolas.

NICHOLAS CANTU:   …I mean, I was happy. I like to see the growth of the character. I don't know what else I can say other than like, “Yeah, I thought it was dope,” because then you get into the nitty gritty, and you just give it all away, and then people don't watch the show. So, Cantu endorses Elton's arc; watch the TV show.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Yeah, it's a little bit hard to talk about things like arcs when we're not allowed to talk about anything.

…

TED SUTHERLAND:   I was pleased with with how it went. It's an interesting journey for Percy emotionally, like growing up and becoming a man, and he's in this unforgiving environment and yet he has feelings for [Iris (Aliyah Royale)]. I just thought it was a really interesting arc, and I was I was really pleased with it.

QUESTION:   So guys, being what we've been doing so far [because of COVID], what are the table reads like?

TED SUTHERLAND:   They're on zoom.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Being on Zoom is not the same thing. It takes the fun out of it having to wait to hear someone and then being reminded how bad your internet connection is.

TED SUTHERLAND:   And Hal’s on mute while he speaks a whole paragraph.

NICHOLAS CANTU:   All the time. That’s the most annoying part.

HAL CUMPSTON:  And they can always see that I'm playing PlayStation in the background, and I'm like, “Oh, yeah, Silas says -” It's not the same level of commitment. You can't just be like sitting around waiting for so long, but table reads are awesome. We'd have our own little table reads where there's no script involved, and we're just hanging out around a table reading.

NICHOLAS CANTU:   That's what actors call hanging out. Doing our little table reads in our own time.

TED SUTHERLAND:   In season one you did a bunch of those table reads, that were actually kind of fun.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Yeah, it was like a Sunday gathering. I mean, yeah, there were definitely such great foundations from season one. We were already like a family, if you will, which I don't think that terms used very often in film sets, but we really were a family.