We got a chance to catch up with Chad Coleman at a panel over the summer for The Walker Stalker Convention in San Diego. Chad is loved and admired by many fans for his intense acting abilities, most notably in HBO’s The Wire as “Cutty” and AMC’s The Walking Dead as “Tyreese”, who died on the show.
The Walking Dead television series is known for sometimes following along with the original graphic novel series and at other times doing something completely different. This makes the show exciting for the comic readers as well, because no one can be for sure what is going to happen next. In the comic series Tyreese actually dies the way Hershel died, he is decapitated. A young fan asked Chad how he felt about Tyreese’s death in the television series versus the comic series. Chad laughed and replied, “I love my death! I’ll take a whole episode to die.”
Tyreese’s death on the show ( Season Five, Episode Nine, titled,“ What Happened and What’s Going On”) did take a whole episode, as we the viewer travel on a somewhat mystical journey through Tyreese’s eyes as he engaged with those that died before and we are with him as he departs from this world. Chad shared that he appreciated the spiritual aspect of his death in the episode.
Chad said that working on The Walking Dead was intense because, “all of the actors on the show are very intense and passionate about what they do.We are all intense in our own ways, yet we all approach it differently, but we are all passionate about what we do.” They are, and it shows in everything and everyone from the actors to the writers, directors, film crew and make-up.
When asked if he was ever injured on set he replied no, but he did feel bad about an incident that happened on set. In season five, episode one, titled “No Sanctuary”, in the fight scene where Tyreese had to punch Martin, a Terminite, repeatedly while screaming , “I won’t ” over and over, he accidentally clipped the guy for real! Chad shared that he had been on the receiving end before too, but by Shemar Moore on the set of Criminal Minds.
Chad announced that he will be in a new show called The Expanse, a sci-fi drama, based off the series of novels by James S. A. Corey. According to BellMedia the show takes place 200 years in the future after humankind has colonized the solar system. We follow a hardened detective who must join together with a rogue ship’s captain for what begins as the case of a missing young woman, and evolves into a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.
Chad Colman shared he will play Col. Frederick Luscious Johnson. When asked what this character is like, he said, “think Colin Powell, with a dark side.”
And I am sure he will pull that off!
SyFy Channel The Expanse–check out the series before the premiere
Photos by Andy Hodgson
