Speaking to Digital Spy in a new interview ahead of the premiere of Fear The Walking Dead, Cliff Curtis speaks about playing the character who steps into the joint leader role on AMC's new zombie series, and admits that the person he plays couldn't be more different to Rick Grimes.
Credit: AMC
"Now the show is such a huge juggernaut, a successful show; the expectations on us to live up to that franchise is a little bit daunting. But I really found the concept that they came up with and the scripts a really fresh take on it all... It's just a totally different show.
"That means that either people will like us or they'll prefer to stay with the other show - it's a pretty simple choice. I don't think you can watch our show and even compare us to the other one. There's nothing to compare."
Chatting about the differences between a zombie outbreak series as opposed to the one we've already seen in The Walking Dead, he continues: "I think it's a fresh start. It's a reboot. It's just so different that I don't even relate it to the other show to be honest. It's a completely different universe.
"I think it's really about the characters and the show feels very real and believable; so the take on this show is how believable everything is. You read the scripts and you think, 'if this is going to happen, it would feel exactly like this' and that adds an element of realism to the genre."
He adds that it's the "grounded" characters in Fear The Walking Dead that set the show apart from its parent series, especially his character Travis Manawa.
"I think the characters are very empathetic and grounded in reality - not that the other characters aren't - but we're not cops. We don't run around with bows and arrows and swords and machine guns - that's a totally different action type character.
"I'm an English literature teacher and my girlfriend's a high school counsellor and we're good at what we do. So I think we're really empathetic and we're not at all prepared for the outbreak or what's about to happen; and also we're dealing with a very normal family situation.
"The secret sauce of these shows is that the audience likes to experience through the characters an avatar/surrogate type relationship that they can wonder what it would be like to be in their shoes; which is a lot easier to do when they can empathise with these characters."
Fear The Walking Dead premieres August 23 on AMC, coming to the UK on August 31 on AMC UK.
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