Melissa McBride as Caron in ‘The Walking Dead’ (Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC)
(Spoiler Alert: This interview discusses plot details from Sunday’s March 8, episode of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Bookmark this link to come back to if you haven’t watched yet.)
No one in Rick Grimes’ group in “The Walking Dead” knows more about keeping up appearances than Melissa McBride’s Carol Peletier.
When audiences first met the character, she was keeping her head down in the hellish early days of the zombie apocalypse by washing clothes and looking after her daughter Sofia, pretending her bumps and bruises had to do with accidents – anything other than her husband Ed. So when it came time for her confession cam interview with Alexandria’s Deanna in a recent episode, based on her experience and after the events of Terminus and Grady Memorial, Carol turned on her own poker face – one from her old life.
“It’s a tactical move on Carol’s part to be able to see what’s really going on in there, and again, to be invisible,” Melissa told Access Hollywood of Carol showing off a sweet, somewhat helpless side to the Alexandrians, and omitting truths as a form of protection.
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On Sunday night though, despite donning a floral crew neck sweater and slacks, and chatting with Alexandrians about her (not really) lack of weaponry knowledge and secret ingredients in her cookie recipes, Carol wasn’t as invisible as she’d hoped. While attempting to sneak out of Alexandria with a stash of guns (to put away as part of a backup plan), Sam, a youngster desperate for more cookies, caught her stuffing a bag full of weapons, and she had to tell him a terrifying story in the hopes of keeping him quiet. In a new interview with Access Hollywood, Melissa addressed Carol’s latest problem with a child, her character blending in and the Daryl/Aaron horse scenes.
AccessHollywood.com: How many casual pants did you have to go through before they decided on Carol’s first Alexandria look?
Melissa McBride: Well, let’s see… we probably tried six or seven different pairs of casual slacks before we found just the right ones.
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Access: Did you have a say in which ones you wanted or did they make that decision for you?
Melissa: Eulyn [Womble, Costume Designer for ‘TWD’] and I work pretty well together picking out — it’s comfort, it’s the vibe to get across and what I feel like when I look in the mirror at this character, yeah. And comfort (laughs).
Access: What did it feel like to look in the mirror, knowing everything Carol has been through and the first look you’re in is the blue sweater, the look in Sunday’s episode [was] a floral sweater? That must have been interesting for you as an actress, to see Carol like that.
Melissa: Yeah, it was really interesting and also just to think of her willing to go back to that place. It means to me she’s done a great deal of processing. It’s an interesting theme in what’s going on here at Alexandria, you know, pulling who we were, the then, and the now, and what is now? And what is normal? … There’s so much wonderful writing in this episode about that – [what does] ‘what is now?’ mean, ‘who are you now?’
Access: Does Carol feel safe in invisibility? She keeps telling Rick [as they] plan, ‘I can get away because I’m invisible.’
Melissa: Yeah, ‘The best part about this place is I can be invisible again.’ Yeah, there’s a certain amount of safety in her feeling that nobody’s eyes are really on her and she can do what she needs to get done and again, it’s bringing stuff up from then. ‘If I just… if Ed just doesn’t notice me, I’ll be fine. If I don’t do anything out of the ordinary, I’ll be fine.’
Access: I have to ask you what you think about when Carol threatens Jessie’s son — where that comes from and do you think that’s just what comes to Carol right away, or is it because of what she’s learned? And do you think it’s the right or wrong move?
Melissa: In that moment, it’s – obviously, for her, she thinks that this is [the] right move because there’s a lot at stake if she’s found out, as far as she’s concerned and it’s story time. … First of all, oh gosh, another child, you know? So… her backing him into a corner is gonna put a wall between them, hopefully some sort of – ‘keep your distance.’ By getting close, keep your distance. … And this story that she’s telling him — it’s true. And we know Carol to be a bit of a realist and thinking you know, she’s teaching the children how to defend themselves, and are the people in here so naive? It’s really trying to get a grasp on something very bizarre — an opportunity for normalcy, but what is normalcy? And is everybody in here so naive or are we just so jaded, you know? It’s wonderful if we can make this work and that’s where she’s coming from. We’re gonna try to find out what the threats are, we’re gonna secure the place and people need to know that the threats out there are real, and the other thing too is when she’s telling this story, ‘You’ll be tied to a tree, far, far away. No one will hear you, they’re going to eat you alive,’ and by the way, Sam, I’m not talking about the walkers. Let me tell you a story about a guy named Bob–
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Access: Awww… Bob!
Melissa: But yeah, this is our reality, and to really drive that threat home is, in Carol’s mind, helping secure, helping, in some way, gonna make it better.
Access: I think after the episode a lot of people are going to be concerned for your character simply because you threatened the child of Pete and obviously, everybody saw the episode where Pete was sitting on the porch, smoking, and gave a very weird little greeting to Rick and then pretends to meet him the next time he sees him at the party. So were you worried about Carol after reading the script for that episode?
Melissa: Well, yeah, there was a concern because, how is that going to be perceived? I know where Carol’s coming from and I know her intent behind what she’s doing, but how is that going to be perceived? We just have to play it out and is this all gonna back fire? Who knows?
Access: How many takes did you and Norman do where he looked you up and down the first time you came out of Rick’s house in your new outfit?
Melissa: (Laughs) I don’t remember. Maybe three? Three.
Access: Were you able to get through it–
Melissa: With a straight face?
Access: Yeah.
Melissa: (Laughs) Yeah, but we had fun after, you know, when she goes walking down the sidewalk and Norman always had some little — something to say after the actual dialogue, but they kept that in. He yells down, ‘You look ridiculous,’ and Carol yells back, ‘Thank you,’ … but they kept it and it was great. It worked and read a whole lot more into that moment than had it not been said or kept.
Access: I wanted to ask what you thought of the Daryl/Aaron bonding session? They went off and found Buttons together and Buttons died. And it was just–
Melissa: Oh my gosh, those are some of my favorite scenes — between the two of them, and [I] love their work in this episode and just that whole sequence, and the horse, and the dialogue between the two of them is powerful, powerful stuff and… what they’re saying and what it means. There’s so much that’s represented, so much about the horse. ‘He always ran,’ and here he is getting eaten and what does that say about Daryl even? … What is his place, like where do I fit and I go? Who am I? The longer you’re out here, the more you become who you are – [there’s] just so much going on in that. I love watching it. Love watching it.
“The Walking Dead” Season 5 continues Sunday at 9 PM ET/PT on AMC.
— Jolie Lash
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