Felix is great, says Tortorella.
Felix is loyal to a fault.
He is a protector at heart.
Sarah Shatz/AMC
He is determined to keep the people around him safe and keep his community safe no matter what.
He wears a lot of hats in this community.
He teaches self-defense classes and survival classes.
He has a troubled past, notes Tortorella.
Unfortunately, not an uncommon story for queer people.
Hes a full-blown queer superhero, and I’m here to play this role.
The show changed my life in so many ways, they say.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Tell me your casting story.
How did you end up onThe Walking Dead: World Beyond?
NICO TORTORELLA:It all happened very quickly.
I didn’t even know that there was a newWalking Deadseries in the works.
I was actually in Indonesia.
I was in Jakarta doing some work with Queer Youth.
I was there for a month.
They’re trying to find one of the main characters, Felix.
I was like, “All right, fine.
Let’s just jump on a call.”
I had about a day to prep for this call.
The only thing that I knew about Felix was that he was gay.
That’s literally all I knew about the show and this character.
I’m quite theoretical.
Always living through the existential.
So I prepped for this call and I had a lot of big questions for them.
Why is this show important 10 years later?
What are we bringing to the table?
Especially given the political landscape, what are we saying here?
Who we talking to?
Everything else kind of goes away.
And I was in.
I mean, it was kind of a no-brainer for me.
And within a week, I was in Richmond starting my fight training.
What was your familiarity level with theWalking Deadfranchise before landing the part?
This is kind of piggybacking off the last question.
First series, religious fan.
I watched probably the first six or seven seasons.
[Laughs] I just don’t like watching things that I auditioned for.
I don’t know what it is.
I just don’t need to see it.
I mean, not everything, but this was one of those instances.
And then I booked this job and I’ve gone back and I’ve done some research.
Of course, you could always die before then.
You could die in episode 4 and it doesn’t matter how many seasons it goes on for.
Thats how I took the news.
So we didn’t know that going into the project.
It kind of came to fruition a bit later.
But like you said, that’s exactly right.
Look, I’ve died on a couple of TV shows, multiple movies.
People love watching me die for some reason.
I’ve gotten very used to being either written off shows or series getting canceled, especially in television.
There is no normal.
S— changes on the drop of a dime.
And the big question remains is what is normal or already non-normals in a newly not normal world?
You with me, Dalton?
There’s no normal anymore, and that is f—ing freedom.
I get to kill a bunch of zombies?"
It was a mix between the two.
I mean, there’s an innocence, right?
There’s a naivete that exists in youth, about the hunger or thirst for life.
That unfortunately, as we get older, some of us, not all of us, we lose.
We forget that feeling.
This story is being told through that perspective.
How can we hold on to life?
And if that’s not art imitating life currently, I don’t know what is.
Well, I’ve seen your wedding photos.
You definitely have not lost the zest for life.
I said not all of us.
[Laughs]
Its a young cast.
Do you notice a different vibe on set when you got a lot of young actors on there?
OnMake It or Break It, wewere all the same age.
I was young as s—.
But I’m used to being the youngest person on a set.
Now, I’ve been put in that position, and I am so grateful for it.
It is really a chance to help.
I mean, they’re not kids, but to show them things that aren’t taught.
This industry isn’t taught anywhere.
There is so much more that goes into our jobs than being on screen.
We’re on screen probably less than 10 percent of our days, if that.
I know they don’t like spoilers on this show and in this franchise.
Did they give you the talk at some point about, “Listen, don’t say anything.
Here’s what you’re allowed to say, and don’t say anything else?”
Yes, absolutely, they exist.
But I’ve been doing this for a long time.
I don’t think I’ve ever told the story to anyone.
And I got in so much f—ng trouble.
I almost lost the job actually.
So I’ve gotten really good at almost giving information.
But you got to feed the beast.
You got to give the people what they want, but also ensure everyone’s happy.
You all were supposed to debut in April.
How bummed were you to have your new baby be delayed by six months?
I mean, whenContagionwas the No.
And I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
I think this is the perfect time!”
All that being said, I think this show is coming at the perfect time.
There’s some real medicine in these characters, in this story.
So lets talk about this last episode ofWorld Beyond.
What did that do to Felix?
How did that in either a good way or bad way make him who he is today?
How did these flashbacks we see form the person we see now?
I think it builds character.
He was already on the streets, fending for his life.
The doors were still locked, and it just breaks my heart.
How any sort of love can never be denied.
I think finding the forgiveness is really where the redemption lives.
I don’t blame Felix’s father for kicking him out of his house.
I don’t think that that was his fault.
That’s our world’s fault.
That is what he was taught to do.
That is what colonialism and coercive religious indoctrination really enforced upon us.
Finding that forgiveness is kind of where we find Felix in present day, going back to the house.
We don’t really know what he’s going back to the house to do.
I would like to believe that it’s the latter.
That was my interpretation of it.
But he sees empties in there, and then he walks away.
So what’s going on there and why does he not go through with it?
I don’t think that he needs to.
I think that he is relinquishing some sort of control and forgiving himself even.
I can’t imagine killing my parents, let alone if they were zombie parents.
That’s really hard.
It’s really hard.
It’s definitely both.
I have a certain access to my emotionality.
I don’t have to dig that deep for any of it, to be honest with you.
But the most difficult part is having to match every take.
You’re sometimes shooting a scene for four or five hours.
I mean, I’m so exhausted by the end of those scenes.
