On Sunday morning, the final day of Walker Stalker Con Atlanta, Josh McDermitt (Eugene) strode out into an auditorium full of The Walking Dead fans who were eagerly awaiting Andrew Lincoln’s arrival. “Hello, I’m Andrew Lincoln. It’s very exquisite to be here,” McDermitt called to the cheering crowd in a faux British accent. “I know I might look different. We use a lot of makeup on The Walking Dead. I’ve also gained 250 pounds.”
Then Lincoln quickly stepped on stage, to thunderous screams from the audience, where he was later joined by fellow Brit—and surprise guest #2—David Morrissey (The Governor). After the panel moderators laid out ground rules (no requests for hugs, no questions about season 6), Lincoln and Morrissey spent 40 minutes answering fan questions, reminiscing about good times on the set, and of course, discussing costar Norman Reedus’s quirks. A few highlights from the discussion:
Trick or treat Lincoln celebrated Halloween by taking his two kids trick-or-treating in Decatur with fellow Walking Dead alum Jon Bernthal (Shane) and his children. His costume? “I looked a little bit like a terrorist,” Lincoln said. “It was actually a really nice evening. I didn’t get stopped once.”
Good deeds Unlike the other celebrity panels at Walker Stalker Con, Lincoln’s required an additional ticket fee—100 percent of which went to a charity of Lincoln’s choice. (The name wasn’t revealed, so the actor could donate anonymously.)
Caught in a bad bromance Despite the chill between Rick and Daryl on the show, Lincoln’s bond with Reedus appears as strong as ever. He remarked on his eccentric friend, “This man is very strange. We’re all a bit wacky, but Norman Reedus is officially out there.” He shared anecdotes about the duo’s on-set prank wars, including the time Reedus affixed a Daryl Dixon vanity plate to the front of Lincoln’s car, where it remained for four weeks before Lincoln finally noticed. Lincoln considered getting revenge by filling Reedus’s car with crickets, but was concerned “he actually might go off the road.”
Vetoed Lincoln said he and Reedus wanted to name Reedus’s new motorcycle-centric AMC series The 1 percenters.
Punk’d “I’m not very good with directions,” Lincoln said. “I’m a very good survivor of the apocalypse but with Tom Tom, not so much. I was meeting the rest of the gang for this comedy thing in Atlanta, and I kept circling [the venue]. I couldn’t find it. And then Norman sent six cops to flag me down and escort me to the front. This was very nice of him, I thought, until they handcuffed me and took selfies and said it was Norman’s idea.”
Old school Lincoln remarked that he doesn’t own a smartphone (“Who’s rocking the flip phones!”), but others on the set keep him updated on TWD memes.
On a Rick/Michonne romance “There’s something incredibly cool about these two characters,” Lincoln said. “They’re very independent, they’re fierce warriors, and they do love each other, like most of the family. I think it would be an incredible moment to see that be realized. I’m not sure if it’s ever going to happen, but I would love to see that.”
More from WSC Atlanta: Learn what little Norman Reedus wanted to be when he grew up. (Hint, it wasn’t an actor.)
