‘Walking Dead’s’ Ross Marquand Talks Fan Reaction, Daryl & Aaron & ‘Impress Me’

Ross Marquand as Aaron in ‘The Walking Dead’ (AMC)

No stranger danger at all, Ross Marquand’s newcomer Aaron on “The Walking Dead” is quickly making himself a real friend to many in Rick Grimes’ gang.

The smartly dressed earnest Aaron, who turns to humor in difficult situations, is a character that is finding favor with longtime “The Walking Dead” watchers. And while Ross knew last fall that he had signed on to one of television’s biggest dramas, the response since his episodes have started rolling out, has still managed to surprise the actor.

“It’s pretty mind blowing,” Ross told Access Hollywood. “I had some concept of what it was gonna be like obviously, because so many of the cast members gave me some advice and buffered me a little bit, but you can hear all that and you can shake your head and say, ‘Okay, uh-huh. I think it’s gonna be like this,’ and once you actually experience it, that’s a totally different thing.”

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In his first few episodes, Ross’ Aaron has already had several major moments with Andrew Lincoln’s Rick. Last week’s episode though, saw him acting opposite another Season 1 alum – Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon.

“Oh man, so cool,” Ross said, when Access asked about working with Norman as Daryl. “He’s incredible. … And he’s a fantastic actor, a fantastic character, so for me, I mean, that was pretty wild… and he gave me some great advice too on what to expect and it was wonderful.”

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In those Daryl/Aaron scenes from last Sunday’s “Forget,” the two characters found out they are not so different as they tried to do something good – save a horse named Buttons. The moments (that, at first, seemed to serve as a metaphor for Daryl’s journey) had a deadly conclusion when the beautiful mare the characters were hoping to bring back to Alexandria, was lost to the new world. But the experience allowed for bonding.

“During that whole scene, both men are in danger of dying and both men, in effect, save each other at two separate occasions. So that, I think, initially, right off the bat, ‘Okay, you didn’t try and kill me when you easily could have, thank you.’ ‘And you didn’t try to kill me when you easily could’ve, thank you.’ So that, right there, it raises the trust level exponentially just by that alone. Then you couple in the fact that they’re working together to capture this horse and bring it back to Alexandria, in the hopes that they can take care of this horse, and of course, use it for runs and everything. But ultimately, they look at this horse as a bit of hope, I think,” Ross told Access. “Both of these men are saying, ‘This horse represents hope and a return to normalcy too, to some degree.’ But, of course, everything goes awry and that’s horrible, and Aaron feels extraordinarily guilty for that.”

As the episode ended, there was a new opportunity for Daryl. Instead of settling into Alexandria and (almost) going to cocktail mixers (in clean shirts), Daryl was asked (after a spaghetti dinner) by Aaron to be his fellow recruiter. Behind the scenes, the two actors joked about pairing these two characters, who seem different, but have a lot in common.

“I think it’s kind of like ‘The Odd Couple’ in many respects. I think we made that joke several times on set, which is that these guys couldn’t be more different and they don’t necessarily trust each other off the bat either,” Ross said. “They’re not necessarily entirely sure that they can really let their guard down, but for whatever reason, Aaron puts his trust in Daryl because he believes he’s a good guy, and Daryl, at least for the time being, is putting his trust in Aaron as far as he can, as much as he can.”

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There’s a positive spirit to Aaron, and Ross said his character has that built in.

“He is, for whatever reason, a guy that genuinely wants to help people no matter who they are or what background they come from,” he said. “As long as he thinks they can contribute to his community of Alexandria, he wants to help them out.”

A regular Boy Scout on screen, Ross confirmed in his own life, some of his earliest acting roles actually came as a result of being in the Scouts.

“From a very early age, I remember doing campfire ceremonies with Boy Scouts and we would always – we’d go camping once a month and every month we would have these skits that we would do at our Friday night camp outs, so it was always kind of expected that my buddies and I would write new skits for the camp fire ceremonies,” he said. “It’s so funny, it was a life time ago, but [those were] some of my favorite experiences as an actor, just getting a chance to work with a live audience and a live audience that is very open and honest about their feelings on whether or not they like your material. So, that was a great kind of test run as an actor to try out jokes and try out skits and see if they work, and you learn very quickly in that moment if people are laughing or not, whether or not they like you.”

Those early acting experiences lead Ross to continue performing, eventually getting a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater.

“I was double majoring in marketing at first, to have something to fall back on, and then I just said, ‘You know what? To hell with that. That’s not my passion and I’m not gonna waste my time with it,’ so [I] went solely into theater in university and then shortly thereafter… I moved out to LA,” he said.

“I’ve been out here for about 10 years. This is my big break,” he laughed, referring to his “TWD” gig. “They always say, ‘The overnight success story that took only 10 years to cultivate.’ That’s very true. You always hear it takes about 10 years and I said, ‘Oh no, for me, it’ll happen in less time, hopefully. I’ll make it faster, I’ll work harder.’ And it doesn’t matter how hard you work, sometimes it just happens when it’s meant to happen.”

The wait for fans enjoying Ross’ work on “The Walking Dead” to see other projects from the actor will be short. His incredible ability to impersonate voices (like Matthew McConaughey) features into the storyline of “Impress Me,” which was recently acquired by Pop TV (formerly TV Guide Channel).

Premiering next week, the series, from Rainn Wilson’s production company SoulPancake, will include six episodes that debuted on SoulPancake’s YouTube channel and seven additional episodes that haven’t been seen before.

“It’s continuing on the original storyline of our two protagonists, Jim and Ross. They are two impressionists who have always wanted to be serious, dramatic actors, so Jim and with the help of Ross, develop a 12-step program to stop being impressionists and become serious dramatic actors,” Ross said of the project, which stars Jim Meskimen as “Jim.”

“It’s a continuation of that and after they get what they want, is this really what they wanted? I think it’s a really great exploration of… knowing in your heart of hearts that you’re good at something and saying, ‘I’m good at this and I’m making money at this, but is this really what I want to do? Is this really my passion?’ And that’s – that series basically started because both Jim and I had expressed those very concerns to our creator – writer/director Ben Shelton — and he just thought it was an interesting storyline. He said, ‘I think we have a show there, you know?’ … And as time has gone on, and we’ve seen the progression of these characters, you realize that it is — it’s a universal discussion on career vs. passion and I think anybody who has ever struggled with that, whether they like impressions or not, I think, can definitely relate to the story.”

“Impress Me” premieres on Wednesday, March 18 at 10:30 ET/PT on Pop TV. Catch Ross as Aaron on Sunday night’s at 9 PM ET/PT on AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”

— Jolie Lash