“The Walking Dead” is full of mysteries. For instance, how do lawns remain so manicured in the apocalypse? Will Carl ever find more pudding? And is that one character actually dead? (But mostly, what’s up with that pudding?)
In life, most people say they’ll only reveal secrets “over their dead body,” so The Huffington Post found a “Walking Dead” cast member who did exactly that.
(Spoiler Warning! There is no sanctuary!)
Actor Jay Huguley played David on the show, an Alexandrian just trying to get back to his wife and say goodbye. Unfortunately, that didn’t last too long. Huguley’s character met his end when a horde of zombies decided it was a good time for lunch.
Nowadays, the actor is touring the film festival circuit for his movie “Sunny in the Dark,” a story he says explores loneliness, intimacy and connection, and he’s appearing in the new horror movie “Abattoir,” a film from “Saw II” director Darren Lynn Bousman, which Huguley calls completely terrifying.
Dead men supposedly tell no tales, but don’t say that to Huguley. The actor recently took some time from his crazy schedule to chat with The Huffington Post about some behind-the-scenes “Walking Dead” secrets.
Here are eight facts you didn’t know about “The Walking Dead.”
1. The weapons are CGI.
Image: SpoilTheDead
When they film the show, Huguley said, “The tips of our knives are missing. They’re put in later on so we’re not in any danger of actually stabbing someone.”
2. There was more to that emotional note.
One of the most emotional moments so far from Season 6 was Huguley’s character writing a goodbye note to his wife that she never ends up seeing. But there was actually even more to the message.
“I wrote it; that’s my bad handwriting,” the actor said. “I think I came up with the message, and it always said the same thing, and it said more which you don’t see.”
He continued, “I don’t remember exactly, but it was something to the effect of, ‘I want to thank you for giving me life again.'”
3. Walkers don’t actually make the walker noise.
Various sources say that all the growling walkers make is actually added in later, and Huguley pretty much confirmed that.
“That sounds right,” the actor said. “I don’t remember them doing a lot of that hissing.”
4. There might be a simple explanation why zombies are able to sneak up on people.
With all the noise zombies make, it’s hard to believe they could ever sneak up on anyone, but the Internet may have a logical explanation for it.
The theory is that all the gunfire without ear plugs has left everyone’s hearing severely impaired. Huguley was into the idea but also offered his own explanation.
“I’ve never heard that theory. I like it, though,” he said, laughing. “I can certainly see how that can be a thing. I also think that the thing about the walkers, too, is that there are just too many of them.”
“At some point, if there’s that many, you’re in trouble,” he added.
5. Lunchtime is weird on “Walking Dead.”
Huguley said you constantly need to get reintroduced to your zombie co-stars since you can’t recognize them with their makeup off, but the weirdest part of the show is lunch.
“The first time you have lunch with a zombie is very strange, I’m not gonna lie. You know, he’s saying, ‘Can you pass the hot sauce?’ And I’m thinking, ‘I can see your medulla,'” said Huguley. “Very strange, but then you get really into it.”
6. The zombies don’t actually smell bad.
Walkers look pretty gnarly on the show, but that’s as far as comparisons go to the actual undead. “They smell just like anybody else,” said Huguley. “It’s all genius makeup, and it’s an odd thing you’re sitting there with a dead person whose face is falling off, so you’d think they’d smell terrible.”
7. Death scenes are hard for fans and even worse for actors.
Michael Traynor, the actor who plays Nicholas, told HuffPost he actually had to hide his tears from Rick Grimes after his death scene, and Huguley said he had to perform his scene about 10 times, which was also completely draining.
“I’m not gonna lie. It was pretty harrowing, and you just have to turn to someone every once in a while and just be like, ‘Are we okay?’ I was screaming bloody murder, and I think as an actor your mind knows it’s acting, but your heart doesn’t and liver doesn’t and your insides don’t.”
Huguley said Glenn actor Steven Yeun actually led the toast on his last day of filming, making his death a little better.
And speaking of Steven Yeun …
8. Actors in the cast don’t even know Glenn’s fate.
Image: TV.com
When asked if those were actually Nicholas’ intestines on top of Glenn, Hughley admitted he had no idea.
“I was shocked along with the rest of the world when that happened,” said the actor, adding that if those are Nicholas’ intestines on Glenn, “it was certainly not pointed out in the script.”
“The Walking Dead” airs Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET on AMC.
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