“I’ve never been able to kill a character and let them die and experience that with them in a very traumatic way”
Tyler James Williams in ‘The Walking Dead’ (Credit: AMC)
The Walking Dead star Tyler James Williams has said he “collapsed and sobbed” after filming the death of his character.
Williams, who played a survivor, Noah, until the show’s fifth season, recounted how the final scene was particularly difficult to shoot.
Recalling the shoot alongside Steven Yeun, who played Glenn opposite Williams in the crucial last moments, Williams told Collider: “I’ve never really had an experience like that.
“it’s one that kind of bonded Steven Yeun and I for, I think, life – in the sense of, I’ve never been able to kill a character and let them die and experience that with them in a very traumatic way.”
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“And that has to play all the way out because we would talk and I was like, ‘There’s no way I can jump and cut into just [a] scream. This is somebody’s last guttural death. We have to play this whole beat out.’
He continued: “And we played the whole beat out. They called cut. And then I just kind of collapsed and sobbed for two minutes on set.”
The actor also explained how Yeun comforted him in the aftermath. Williams said, “He put a hand on my back and he just started kind of whispering in my ear, ‘You’re letting him go. It’s a beautiful thing. You really gave him a death.’
“And it was a mourning process that came immediately after we [called cut]. Because there’s only one take at that. You only get one.”
The season 10 finale of The Walking Dead is set to air on October 4.