Showrunner Angela Kang explains the decidedly retro vibe of “Rogue Element.”
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sunday’s episode ofThe Walking Dead,“Rogue Element.”
Vertigo.The Third Man.The Walking Dead.
Josh McDermitt on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
What does that last one have to do with the first two?
Only it turned out she wasn’t even Stephanie at all.
(Losing both your girlfriendandyour innocence ouch!)
Josh McDermitt on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
And neither is actually named Stephanie?
Pour two fingers, all youse mugs and dames, and join the ride.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s start with the big picture.
Lauren Ridloff and Angel Theory on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
They’re just waiting for, ‘What is it specifically?'"
And he actually even pitched it further than we had it on the page.
And so I feel like he really found ways to make that feel come through so specifically.
Michael was picking perfect pieces of temp music that felt great.
And we thought that this neo-noir feel was something that was fun that we haven’t really done before.
Let’s get into a little bit of the nitty-gritty.
What is it that finally makes Stephanie/Shira finally extract herself from Eugene?
It’s getting a little too close.
And from Hornsby’s perspective, he’s like, “What’s even the problem?
I mean, aren’t we all working well together?”
So that’s his mindset.
Because as far as they’re concerned, all’s well right now.
Tell us about this scene of Eugene just losing it to Hornsby after he learns the truth.
Josh has had some big emotional beats before, but this was kind of next-level.
We left that to him and Cudlitz to figure out how big to tone it.
And I really loved how he played it.
But it was really cool to see him just lose his s— like that in anger.
And it all turned out to be true!
It’s his nightmare.
And for him, it’s that feeling of, “No one will ever love me.”
So that was really cool for me to watch him do.
Hey, if anyone should appreciate a good ruse or lie, it’s Eugene, right?
And I think all of that’s crashing down on this poor guy.
We talked a lot about, “When does she emerge into the story?”
Let’s get this thing out!
This is news to me.
So I hope so.
I knew you would notice!
And it’s going to just lead our people down some paths as the story unfolds.
Let’s talk about the Hornsby situation here.
He’s got this thing with the poppies and Moto [William Mark McCullough].
What does how he handles that situation say about him?
He listens to Carol.
He thinks she’s smart.
Maybe that’s all real and he’s not purely some kind of maniacal evil puppet master.
So I think that’s the balance that we’re finding out.
He has one line where he tells Carol he proved himself to the Milton family a long time ago.
Are we going to learn how he did that or get some insight into his backstory at some point?
So we will start to learn little bits and pieces of that as we go.
