Frank Dillane Talks “Fear the Walking Dead” and Preparing for Fandoms

Fans of both Harry Potter and The Walking Dead eagerly await the arrival of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, spin-off of the channel’s already big hit television show. To psych everyone up for its premier in a week and a half, Entertainment Weekly took the chance to interview one of its stars, Frank Dillane (teenage Tom Riddle, HBP).

He was first asked about how familiar he was with the original Walking Dead, a show spun from Robert Kirkman’s comic book creation – his answer may shock some hardcore TWD fans:

I actually wasn’t familiar at all. I haven’t seen it yet at all. I’m trying to stay clear as much as possible. My understanding is it’s a very different show and certainly different characters, so I’ve stayed clear of it. Also, I think it could be detrimental if I start to watch something I’m supposed to be a part of, if I start to imitate at least the style of that kind of show or whatever, so I stay clear.

He goes on to give his opinions about how it may be, being involved in something that is acting as a spin-off to an already popular show:

People forget things very quickly, don’t they? So I imagine that 10 years down the line when people look back on [t]he Walking Dead era, or the companion series, that they’ll just seeing The Walking Dead. It’s like Star Wars, isn’t it? I remember when they started remaking Star Wars, the fury that surrounded that whole thing, and how dare they? But now that’s just a common denominator. People are going to keep making stuff. Things are going to be spin-offs. Also, […]  it’s still the creator [who] is involved. I certainly was very concerned about it originally, but I’m trying not to think about it too much.

He was also asked about how he is on watching his own work, to which he replied,

Oh very, very, very bad. Yeah. I haven’t watched it. I said I may. I don’t know if I … I really don’t want to watch it, but I think I’m coming to an age now as an actor where it’s time to start actually looking and analyzing and going, ‘Right, well, that didn’t work’ or ‘Right, this did work.’

Of course, he was asked an inevitable question about Harry Potter and if being a part of such a huge fan base has prepared him for what’s to come in another massive fandom:

Yeah. […] it’s interesting. I think it might have. I think it has because I was exposed to that kind of hysteria quite early on, so I kind of expect it. It’s not going to be a surprise at least. I don’t really like it, but I kind of expect it, at least.

When asked what he means by that, he replied with the following:

I’m sure there will come a time when I won’t be able to […] walk around so easy sometimes, or it’s just things that I don’t necessarily want. I don’t really necessarily want to be famous. It takes away from the craft a little bit, but I think it’s part of the job these days; it seems to be.

But Harry Potter and The Walking Dead are not the only fandoms to have surrounded the Dillane family – his father is actor Stephen Dillane, more commonly known to a lot of people as King Stannis Baratheon in Game of Thrones. EW asked him if his father had prepared him for any of the craziness that is being famous, especially in something so hugely popular, to which he answered

My old man[…] he’s done it very differently from me. He had years of honing his craft and years of doing all that stuff before he even had to worry about Game of Thrones. So he’s absolutely established himself as an actor without the fear of having to have a personality as well. I sort of started a different generation, so all this fandom and all this […] interviewing before the show[‘]s even come out and all that stuff[…] I think it would be unfair to compare it to my father. He’s had a different run of it.

You can read more from this interview right here.

The spin-off will not be following The Walking Dead’s location of the state of Georgia but will instead be set in Los Angeles and will take us right back to the beginning of the outbreak, something new and exciting for avid fans to see. Dillane will be playing Nick, messed-up son to guidance counsellor Madison Clark (who was originally to be called Nancy Tompkins). The trailer to the much-awaited series was released back last month at San Diego Comic-Con, and you can watch again here.

US audiences can catch Fear the Walking Dead when it starts on AMC on Sunday, August 23!

Are you a fan of The Walking Dead? What are you expecting from this new show? Are you looking forward to seeing Dillane in this role? Let us know with your comments!