James Gunn’s reboot of Superman is gearing up to be the comic book event of 2025. As filming continues for the new addition to the DC Universe, casting announcements have been rolling in. The latest news is that Gunn has found his Jonathan and Martha Kent in Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell, respectively. Vince is mostly known for being a character actor with a wide range of recurring roles as good or bad guys, but The Walking Dead fans will recognize him as the short-lived Otis from Season 2.

Gunn has been more than generous with allowing fans to witness the behind-the-scenes process for Superman, including videos on set and frequent casting news. Every cast member so far has been a welcome sight to bring the comic book world of Superman to life. While there’s a lot of excitement surrounding David Corenswet as the American hero and Nicholas Hoult as the villainous Lex Luthor, the grounded characters’ casting also shows the immense consideration Gunn has taken into portraying Smallville’s citizens. Once upon a time, Vince portrayed another farmhand. Only before, his accidental actions had a great effect on The Walking Dead‘s plot.

Pruitt Taylor Vince Portrayed Otis in The Walking Dead Season 2

Otis Was a Small Character Who Tries to Make Up for Almost Killing Carl

Before he was Clark Kent’s adoptive father, Vince was Otis, a friend of the Greene family who worked as a ranch hand on their farm. Otis made a blast of an entrance in Season 2, Episode 2, “Bloodletting,” when he accidentally shoots Carl Grimes while hunting a deer (although this event happened as cliffhanger in the Season 2 premiere). Otis took no time to apologize profusely, helping Rick and Shane bring the injured boy to Hershel Greene’s home.

While it was a near fatal event that took episodes to solve, Otis was easily forgivable. He expressed clear remorse for the injury, as he was aiming for a deer that was hiding Carl. Both of Carl’s parents didn’t assign blame to Otis for the accident. They both instead blamed themselves for not being more attentive. Rick even gave Otis his Colt Python revolver to protect himself on a run, an unspoken act of forgiveness. But Rick’s best friend and soon-to-be enemy, Shane Walsh, wasn’t as forgiving.

Shane was growing incredibly jealous of Lori’s relationship with Rick, and his impulse issues blinded him from making sound decisions. Otis volunteered to go with Shane to a high school where a medical triage was set up, unaware that Shane would do a premeditated act of aggression in order to save Carl’s life. The two get trapped and chased down by walkers in the school, with only windows being the escape route. Otis falls behind eventually, to which Shane shoots him in the leg and leaves behind as walker bait. Shane would later lie to the group that Otis sacrificed himself so that Shane could escape, which not everybody completely believed.

Otis Was the Secret Catalyst for The Walking Dead’s Future Storylines

Otis’ Presence on the Series Was Limited, But It Began a Domino Effect of Disasters

Otis was only on The Walking Dead for three episodes, and compared to 11-season regulars like Daryl Dixon or Carol Peletier, that’s not a whole lot. But without Otis, the events of Season 2 and even Season 3 wouldn’t be the same. Otis accidentally shooting Carl introduced Rick’s group to Hershel Greene and his daughters, Maggie and Beth. Considering the Greene farm was miles off the highway, there was little chance Rick’s group would come across them. Without Rick and Shane interfering in Hershel’s poor management of walkers, the Greene family would’ve died a long time ago. As horrible as it is to admit, Carl’s accident needed to happen for Rick to understand that walkers weren’t the only danger in the new world, and for Hershel to finally realize that walkers weren’t just sick people.

Otis was also instrumental in Shane’s character regression, albeit he was also an unwilling participant. While Shane didn’t kill Otis, he put the bullet in his leg, knowing that it would directly cause his death. It was his first time killing a human being, which no other person had done on the show before. It was still only mere months after the apocalypse began, and people wanted to hold onto that humanity. But once Shane pulled that trigger, the act of killing a person was no longer hard. He removed the mental block that kept his humanity intact, making it easier for him to try to kill Rick later on. Shane became the complete opposite of Otis and Rick, who both struggled with the notion of killing a person, whether on accident or on purpose.

After Otis’ death, the group found they needed to prove their worth to Hershel and his family. By extension, they also slipped into a conflict about the need to kill people, which was left unresolved for some time. The group’s moral compass, Dale, was suspicious of Shane’s testimony about Otis’ sacrifice from the get-go. He had no faith in Shane, partially because he witnessed Shane fantasizing about killing Rick in the woods. In a domino effect — all due to Otis being killed — Dale was killed by a walker and Shane fully committed to murdering Rick but was killed himself. During these events, it was revealed Otis put the zombified Sophia in the barn before the group arrived, which created several episodes of pointless searching but vital character development.

Pruitt Taylor Vince Will Make the Quintessential Pa Kent

Vince’s Portrayal of Otis Proves That He Can Pull Off Jonathan Kent’s Role as a Moral Compass

As of this writing, fans don’t have a detailed idea of how Pa and Ma Kent will play into Superman‘s story, only that it must be a considerably important one. The film’s premise is that Superman will “reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his adoptive human family in Smallville, Kansas.” Without a heavy emphasis on Clark’s parents, that premise would instantly go down the drain. Jonathan has always been portrayed as one-half of Clark’s moral compass in his life, the other half being Martha.

Even when Clark shows interest in exploring his Kryptonian side, Jonathan is supportive of his son and plays a big role in Clark’s adult life. Zack Snyder’s version of Jonathan (portrayed by Kevin Costner) in Man of Steel didn’t abandon this trademark (although with an added touch of strict parenting), but there was some critical backlash for killing Jonathan. His death acted as a means for Clark to continue his father’s good-natured legacy, but it also fell into the common overly-melancholic trope of a person needing to lose a parent in order to be a superhero.

Hopefully, Gunn’s version of Jonathan won’t bite the dust so that Vince can properly explore Jonathan as the righteous role model that Clark deserves. Vince has already proven he can do such a thing in The Walking Dead, even just in the three episodes he was given. Otis and Jonathan are very similar in that they make selfless decisions to protect others, despite the world crashing down on them. There’s no doubt that Vince’s Jonathan will be a place of comfort for Clark. It’ll be very interesting to see how both Gunn and Vince bring Pa Kent to life, and hopefully, it starts with good moral ground.

Superman is expected to be released in 2025. The Walking Dead is available to stream on Netflix and AMC+.