Zombie shows can teach a lesson or two, says actor Andrew Lincoln

SINGAPORE — There are grosser things than zombies.

Because even if zombies aren’t your bag, they can still clue you in on a thing or two, said Andrew Lincoln star of The Walking Dead.

“When I read the script, I realised that when sci-fi and fantasy are good, they can be cautionary tales; they can say something hopefully a little bit bigger about the human condition that you otherwise don’t get to do in a law show or a cop show,” he said.

Seeing as the show’s new fourth season promises even more zombies in the midst of another mysterious, looming threat, it looks like we’ll be learning quite a lot. In fact, for viewers who aren’t initially drawn to the concept of a post-apocalyptic world laced with flesh-eating undead, Lincoln said the show is really a bit of a Trojan Horse.

“We come in under the guise of a zombie show, (but) hopefully we make you cry, because of a character losing somebody, or you feel an engagement with a character that you wouldn’t otherwise imagine you would be doing watching a zombie show,” he said, adding that he thought of The Walking Dead as being in the vein of William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies.

But would Lincoln like his character Rick to be more of an anti-hero like Breaking Bad’s Walter White or Homeland’s Nicholas Brody? “There seems to be such an interest in anti-heroes,” the 40-year-old mused. “Certainly, last season, Rick found a darkness within himself that scared him and probably scared a lot of the family. But I do think he is a good guy, and he is driven, and maybe the world is ready for some heroes again.”

That sounds glamorous — but Lincoln affirmed that working on the set is anything but. For example, because they were filming for this season in Georgia, the Love Actually actor found himself a victim of some real-life blood-suckers.

“I had some tick incidents, especially hanging around a lot of pigs — they have ticks on them. I had a day when I was up close and personal with a lot of pigs and no one sat next to me on set, because I stank to high heaven! And I had a crowd of flies around my crotch for most of that,” he said.

“I looked like Pig-Pen (from Peanuts). And I got home after this ridiculous day full of blood and pig poo, and got in the shower, and just to top it all off, I had the biggest tick in my chest that I had to pull out, and it was just, like, ‘Eww! That’s my life!’

See? There are grosser things than zombies. TRANSCRIPT COURTESY FOX

Catch the fourth season of The Walking Dead starting Sunday (Oct 20) at 10pm on FOX Movie Premium (SingTel mio TV Ch 414 and StarHub TV Ch 622).