October 4^th, AMC premieres its newest series in The Walking Dead franchise, World Beyond. The series follows the first generation of those growing up in a post-apocalyptic world. In Nebraska, there’s a community that has been thriving during the zombie apocalypse for ten years. There is a new normal, but life moves on; children go to school and don’t know the world beyond their walls.

Two sisters, Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour), leave their safe haven to find answers they seek while braving the world of the undead, or as they call them, "empties." They are joined by their two classmates, Elton (Nicholas Cantu) and Silas (Hal Cumpston). With danger around every corner, will they make it to their destination and find the answers they seek?

Royale, Mansour, Cantu, and Cumpston recently talked to journalists about the upcoming series in a virtual press junket that SciFi Vision was invited to attend.

The cast first talked about joining the iconic universe of The Walking Dead. Cantu told journalists, "Joining something like this TV universe, with the amount of scale that there is with The Walking Dead, I mean, the original show's been going for ten years, and since then, it's branched off to many different stories that you can tell in this one world. I feel like our new show is a great new look into this world that we've all grown to love over the past ten years through a new set of eyes. It's going to be very fun."

Royale recounted their panel at New York Comic-Con, "We walked on stage, and just the amount of love and excitement that flooded into the room, it was the most insane welcome. I just remember being like, this is going to be one of the coolest rides of my career, easily, and it was awesome from that moment on."

The actors talked about the fact that the new series deals with younger characters and what that can bring to viewers. According to Mansour, "I think all the younger fans are going to see a part of themselves in these characters, a struggle that they're going through. They're going to see something they can relate to. Maybe one character is going through something that that person is going through something similar to, and they'll be able to speak up and talk about the way that they're feeling and not feel so alone in whatever it is going on inside their minds."

Cumpston expanded on how that makes the show different. "It's unlike the other shows [where] the characters are already formed, because the adults are anywhere from twenty-five to fifty-five; they already know their moral code and that type of thing. At least for the teenagers, it's pretty easy to resonate with the characters…It's interesting in that they don't even know how they should be approaching the apocalypse from certainly different levels, partially because they don't know what they're doing, and also because they don't know who they are."

Actor Cantu added, "There's a theme of identity with the show. As we're going out on this journey, we're finding out things about the world, but we're also finding out things about ourselves. I think it's very interesting.

"As to what it brings to a younger audience, I mean, for me, watching the main show, everybody's got that character that they relate to. For me, it was definitely Carl (Chandler Riggs), just because I was the same age as him when I was watching the show… It was fun to play in the imagination and to take away inspiration from a piece of media, either TV or movies. I think that's the best part about it. So, if we could have kids that maybe didn't get that chance in the first show be inspired by our characters or by just the story and the majesty of it all, I feel like that would be the best takeaway."

That’s not all of it. According to Royale, "I think it actually relates to youth and adults on different levels…it is a step by step process in learning ourselves, but also, we have a strong sense of direction. I don't think we know what to expect on the road and all the dangers that lie ahead, but we know that we're going to get through it. We make a choice very early on that, regardless of what happens, we would rather be out here in the field then be in the sheltered community and never know anything else.

"But at the same time, in terms of the adult audience that World Beyond is going to bring, you're dealing with characters with a lot of trauma, a lot of secrets. There's heartbreak; there's confusion, and then there's also family and love and togetherness. I think anybody of any age range is going to be able to relate to the World Beyond."

World Beyond, unlike the flagship series, is a limited event. You also don’t have to have seen the original series to enjoy it. Cantu told journalists, "Our story stands by itself. It's familiar in the world of The Walking Dead…As a viewer of the show, you might understand the world more, but what's cool about our show, is that it's a two-series limited event, and we have a complete story that wraps up quite nicely, and we know where we're going."

The series will also serve to answer questions about the original show, potentially even about those who took Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). Royale teases, "It’s definitely a good insight into what those three rings (from the helicopter) are all about and the people who wear those three rings. That's why I think World Beyond is going to be so interesting to people who are invested in those earlier storylines, because you get some more answers and then some more non-answers to the questions that were posed in the other series."

There’s also a lot of physicality in these roles for the newcomers. Royale said, "The moment we landed, it was like four hours a day of hand-to-hand combat of working with different weapons, because we didn't have our own weapons yet. We weren't sure exactly what they [would] look like or the right dimensions of them. So, we were just pretty much picking up anything and everything and figuring out how to move with it…Then when we got our actual weapons, it was a whole other thing, a whole other beast."

The stunts were one of Cantu’s favorite parts, and Cumpston found it enjoyable, but also a way to be childlike, saying that it was "like being a little kid pretending to [run] away from zombies."

They also grew as actors from the show. According to Mansour, "It definitely took me out of my comfort zone and showed me that I could do things I never thought I’d be able to do. For that I'm very grateful."

For the full interview, read the transcript below, and be sure to check out the interviews from day two. Don’t forget to check out The Walking Dead: World Beyond on AMC on October 4^th, following the season finale of The Walking Dead.


Zoom Call
The Walking Dead: World Beyond
Aliyah Royale, Alexa Mansour, Nicholas Cantu, and Hal Cumpston

September 22, 2020

QUESTION:   What was it like coming into an iconic franchise and then taking it into a completely exciting and new direction and making it your own?

ALIYAH ROYALE:  I think the first time we got a glimpse of what it looked like to be a part of The Walking Dead franchise, was at New York Comic Con, and I remember, The Walking Dead panel was before ours. Of course, they had this incredible welcome, and I was like, "Oh, I hope we get something halfway to that point," considering they don't know us. They don't know our characters. I don't think we even gave them the name of the series at that point. We walked on stage, and just the amount of love and excitement that flooded into the room, it was the most insane welcome. I just remember being like, Oh, this is going to be one of the coolest rides of my career, easily, and it was awesome from that moment on.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Yeah, I mean, joining something like this TV universe, with the amount of scale that there is with The Walking Dead, I mean, the original show's been going for ten years, and since then, it's branched off to many different stories that you can tell in this one world. I feel like our new show is a great new look into this world that we've all grown to love over the past ten years through a new set of eyes. It's going to be very fun. I am so thankful to be a part of it.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  Yeah, me too. And it's crazy how welcoming everyone was. The fans are so loyal to the show that it's like you enter this family, and they welcome you with open arms. That was incredible and absolutely amazing.

QUESTION:  There's a scene in the opening the second episode; I think it's the most emotional you've seen a walker, because you hear this heavy breathing. It's almost like a human being, almost like a Whisperer dying. I was curious what you thought, because there's a bit of sensitivity to it; it seems like almost like an elderly person passing away rather than a traditional walker.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  The walkers in this show, you see them, and you almost feel sad for them, and I don't think that was the first walker for me that I actually felt pretty bad for. You're right; it is a real person that's dying. They're decaying, they're sad, and they're alone, and that's kind of the way that I saw them on the show, as opposed to like seeing them as like these huge, scary things on all the other shows.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  There's a consistent theme for Iris, as evident in episode one and a little bit on, of her feeling dead, I guess, is the way I would describe that. [laughs]
 
When that first empty is taken out, it's this moment of, is this a fate that we all are going to have anyway? Like, why go on this journey? Why figure out who we are, if this is how we're going to end up regardless. That first moment is pretty impactful.

NICOLAS CANTU:  I think that encounter almost mirrors Rick (Andrew Lincoln)’s first encounter with the walker when he's exiting the hospital [in the original series]. He's trying to get on that bike, and you just see this lady who's been torn from the bottom. You just really feel for both characters in that moment, because really, on our show, the walkers are characters too. They're called "empties," and because it's through the eyes of much younger people who have not been accustomed to this new world, it's like walking into the apocalypse for the first time again. So, really feeling that sadness when you see what's happened to these people - because they were once people, no matter how scary they might be [and] how much of a threat they pose, at one point, before everything went bad, they were just walking the streets like you and me. So, seeing them for the first time, it really just shows you how much care and detail has been poured into the empties on our show. I think it's incredible. That first encounter was awesome.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Yeah, even to the older characters. It's like, you can learn about it in books, how to kill these empties or whatever, but it's different when you're actually faced with one.

QUESTION:  When it came time to prep for this post-apocalyptic world that you've been thrust into, did you read any of The Walking Dead comic books? Did you watch any older zombie movies or even any anything else? What was your point of reference for this, aside from The Walking Dead TV show?

NICOLAS CANTU:  I can say, for me, I've always grown up around zombie media. I mean, in 2010 is really when we saw that boom. There was Zombieland the movie, and there was, of course, The Walking Dead. There was so much zombie stuff.

HAL CUMPSTON:  The Last of Us.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Yeah, The Last of Us. I was going to say, that me growing up playing video games, zombies have always been a part of my life. So, kind of having that point of reference as an audience member, being a consumer to these pieces of media and then going to being a part of something like this, it was a journey. For me, it was like stepping into these worlds that I'd been playing around with in video games or watching on my couch, like watching The Walking Dead. It's crazy. It's a crazy experience. It's really awesome.

HAL CUMPSTON:  They forced us to play The Last of Us. It's hard work. [laughs]

ALIYAH ROYALE:  I spent my entire life away from anything related to walkers, empties, and zombies. The undead, we don't have a relationship. Which is why [laughs] going out because for this, the audition process for the series was really interesting, because the whole time I was like, "I'm not going to get this. I'm never going to see an empty [or a] walker. It won't happen." And the moment that I actually booked it, I was mortified. [laughs] I realized, I'm going to have to get my shit together, because there're going to be so many of them. And, of course, day one, first day, first night shoot, there they are twenty, thirty of them, just chilling, two in the morning in the full four-hour makeup process of it all, and it was mortifying.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  I love blood and guts, so I was just waiting for my moment to shine.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Exactly. I mean, for me, going from like mulling through rounds and rounds of zombies on [Call of Duty:] Black Ops, me and my friends would all just play zombie video games, so now it's like a more involved kind of process of that. So, it's fun. The world of zombies is awesome. I’m glad to be a part of it.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  The fear is real when you see it on my face in the show; it's real. [laughs] I was terrified.

HAL CUMPSTON:  It definitely did sort of freak you out the first time you saw one. I didn't think it would, but then I just got a weird chill and sort of freaked out and didn't want to be in the room with them.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Even though it's just, you know, nice Michael. He's like a really cool dude.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  The only time Michael was cool was when he was holding an iced tea. That's the only time you want to be around a walker is in the daylight, maybe at lunch, then it's okay, but like during the night shoots when you're already delirious, no, no.

QUESTION:  As you guys continue to develop into these characters, was there anything you were surprised to learn about yourselves as actors? And also, a second part of the question, are there any more clues or details that you could give us about just how World Beyond will tie into The Walking Dead universe as a whole? Where we are in the timeline?

HAL CUMPSTON:  Oh no, dangerous question.

[laughter]

ALIYAH ROYALE:  It’s definitely a good insight into what those three rings are all about and the people who wear those three rings. That's why I think World Beyond is going to be so interesting to people who are invested in those earlier storylines, because you get some more answers and then some more non-answers to the questions that were posed in the other series.

HAL CUMPSTON:  I think it's safe to say every question is answered in the show. It's all in the first episode.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  Oh, yeah, in the first episode everything is revealed. Just watch it.

[laughter]

NICOLAS CANTU:  For the first part of the question, saying what we learned about ourselves as actors, I've never been in such an involved action series before. The amount of stunt coordination and the physical nature of it totally caught me off guard, because I kind of come from the realm of voiceover. I grew up doing cartoons, just showing up in the booth. My job was showing up to a booth, sitting in front of a microphone, making voices, and then that was it. On this new show, it's this huge involved process with ginormous set pieces, and just this huge amount of scale and the physicality of it all, definitely made me learn this is so much more involved. This is so much more exciting; I really like this. I guess it kind of solidified the thing inside of me that was saying, "I really love my job." Being able to be a part of this world, I'm very thankful and lucky. It just kind of cemented the great feelings I have towards the world of entertainment.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  It definitely took me out of my comfort zone and showed me that I could do things I never thought I’d be able to do. For that I'm very grateful.

SCIFI VISION:  Nicholas, you had started to mention about the physicality. Can you guys talk a bit about the stunt and weapon training and just that kind of whole area of the show, and if you enjoyed it?

HAL CUMPSTON:  We started doing it as soon as we got there.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  Yeah, the moment we landed, it was like four hours a day of hand-to-hand combat of working with different weapons, because we didn't have our own weapons yet. We weren't sure exactly what they [would] look like or the right dimensions of them. So, we were just pretty much picking up anything and everything and figuring out how to move with it and not just in a way where it's like, that looks like a good sequence. It actually was all about making sure that it looks good on camera. So, what you might actually do if you were really in the situation of hand-to-hand combat isn't how you would do it, because you need to make sure that you look like a badass.

And then when we got our actual weapons, it was a whole other thing, a whole other beast.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  And they were a lot heavier than what we had practiced with. [laughs]

NICOLAS CANTU:  There's a very physical nature; I can say for myself. My character, Elton, is a black belt in karate. So, before getting out to all the stunt training on the show in Richmond, I actually found a dojo close to my house. I was training there for two months leading up to the show just to kind of immerse myself in the world and knowledge of karate and kind of get into that bit of the character. Super-duper fun. Stunts were one of my favorite parts, a very standout experience. I love the stunts.

HAL CUMPSTON:  I think it was really funny that it was everyone's sort of biggest job, and we were really ready to be serious. This is such a big break for everyone, but then we're doing four hours of like, "All right, so when you get a knife, you've got to go like that" and all these ridiculous [things]. Even though it was going to be all these serious acting jobs, it was still so childlike, like being a little kid pretending to start running away from zombies.

QUESTION:  Obviously, we're not living through a zombie apocalypse right now, but we are living through something that looks a lot different than what we were used to, especially I assume when you started production on the show. Has that changed how you think about the show and its themes?

NICOLAS CANTU:  I feel like if there's anything this whole quarantine situation has made me do, it's think, and I think, tying it back to our show, it almost gives it more of the thought process of what it's like to actually live through an event like that. They're very different situations. I mean, thank God we don't have walkers roaming our actual streets, or we'd be in a real pickle, but on the show, just living day by day through a situation like that, it gives you insight into that. And it's not just the threat of the walkers. It's, how are we going to find food? How are we going to do this?

Even though it's an adventure, and we have a set mission on our show, we're going point A to point B; we have a goal that we want to reach. There's still that fight of day to day of how are we going to get through just another twenty-four hours out here in this world? It's crazy.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  I don't think any of us really related to an apocalypse before Corona. Now that we've been through it, I think we have a lot more in common with these characters and maybe the fear that we show or how brave we are and how we perceive things. It’s definitely going to change a little bit. We're going to take it a lot more seriously, I'd say.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  The apocalypse factor, it's a major element to the series, but it's also just another element, I think. Although we didn't live in pandemic or apocalypse circumstances before, the the biggest problem isn't necessarily the walkers; it's who we are when we're encountering one. It's are we fight or flight? It's who we are when there aren't any walkers near and we have to deal with the four of us, and we're young, and we're afraid, and we don't know if we can trust each other yet. Different dynamics grow.

There's a sisterhood between Hope and Iris that changes and grows, and then it's finicky, and then it grows again. The scariest part of the show isn't just the walkers; it's who we are when that threat is presented.

QUESTION:  How would you best describe the characters that you all play?

ALIYAH ROYALE:  It'd be so much cooler if we had to describe each other.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Oh, yeah.

QUESTION:  Do that then.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  If I have to describe Nicolas, Elton is the genius of the group, I'd say. He's a genius. There's a scene where he says some line [in Latin], and all of us look at him like, "Did he just speak Latin? Are you okay?" [laughs]

NICOLAS CANTU:  Terra firma. I sound like a nerd. That's what it is.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  But it's so much more powerful than that, because sometimes you'll be the character that has the comedic relief, and sometimes you'll be the character that shows us you go through things even as young as you are, because I think you're the youngest of the group. You go through shit just as powerful as what we go through.

I think you're one of the most important parts of our show.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Oh my gosh, this has turned into like a bonding exercise. I love the way you flipped this question, Aliyah. Wow, thank you for that very, very great description.

Let's see if I can sell Hal's character. So, Silas is a very lonely dude in the life that he lives in between the walls of our community. He's got some big secrets that you're definitely going to want to watch the show to see what it's about. He's got something to hide and something that he wants to escape from. So, when he's presented the opportunity to leave the walls, he's all onboard. He just wants to get away from his world in between the walls where he doesn't feel free. He doesn't feel safe; he doesn't feel himself, his real true self. So, when he goes out into the apocalypse, you get to kind of see how an outsider of a very strict society - I mean, we've basically gotten back to the normal world in some way. So, when you take that all away, and you let really the outsider of a situation like that just be free, you get to see how his character reacts to the apocalypse.

He's one of my favorite characters on the show. He has a big old wrench, so yeah, love to see his stunts. We got a crazy big wrench for killing empties; it's so nuts. That's Silas; that's Hal's character.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Thanks, Nick.

I'll do Hope. I don't know if I'm as good as you guys are.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Hope is a chill dude. That's it.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Hope is a stinky poopoohead.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  Are you kidding me right now?

HAL CUMPSTON:  No, Hope it is a bad ass.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  Thank you.

HAL CUMPSTON:  She doesn't follow the rulebook. The rules are out the window when Hope's involved. She's super intelligent, even though she probably doesn't give herself the credit.

It's so funny with all the different lines. We'll have different lines where we're all being nice to each other, and then Hope will just have some line where, I don't know, it's just her lines are just a lot cooler all the time on the page…Hope is a very cool character. There's no way you're not going to like her. She's a badass.

...I'm trying to think of nice things to say and make it not sound really dumb, but obviously I haven't spoken intelligently in a very long time. I'm sorry. I do actually really like Hope.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  Iris is really just good to a fault. She cares about others so much that she really forgets to put herself first. And she's so smart; she's so intelligent. I mean, sometimes she's got some stupid ideas -

ALIYAH ROYALE:  Did we survive? Did we make it through?

ALEXA MANSOUR:  I don't know. Watch the show and find out.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Anyone could die any episode.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  That's kind of scary, too.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  But yeah, Iris is Hope's rock, and I think, without Iris, Hope wouldn't become the person that she does at all.

QUESTION:   Just because the fans know the characters from The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead the most, who would you say your character is most like?

ALEXA MANSOUR:  Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus).

NICOLAS CANTU:  For me, I'd say Elton is very similar to Eugene (Josh McDermitt) on the main show. He's very analytical; he's very curious, and he kind of helps out the crew in unconventional ways. Eugene and Elton are both kind of, I would say, super geniuses. I'm going to put that out there. They're kind of super geniuses. They’ve got the bright ideas to keep the group going when things are looking dim, and they also just have this great sense of optimism. They like to pick up others when they're down there. They're both great characters, and I think Elton's like Eugene.

HAL CUMPSTON:  I'd say, Silas is like that little girl that gets lost right at the start of the show. [laughs]

ALIYAH ROYALE:  I think, I'd say, "Iris is -"

ALEXA MANSOUR:  You're Rick Grimes.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  [laughs] Am I Rick Grimes? I was about to say, "I think I might be Rick Grimes."

NICOLAS CANTU:  You can give it yourself.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Nico always refers to himself as Rick Grimes.

…

ALIYAH ROYALE:  But in terms of Iris being like, "Hey, would you all like to go on this deadly adventure with me?" Yeah, I'm Rick Grimes.

…

QUESTION:  There's a portion in the first episode where Dr. Kay tells Iris - I'm paraphrasing, essentially - "You’ve got stop focusing on the future so much and start living the present." I'm wondering, for you, considering the series was delayed at one point, you kind of had to reverse that in real life and focus on the future instead of the present.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  Yeah, that was actually really really hard. You know, I was really, really proud of the work that we had done on the show. It fits right into The Walking Dead universe, but it's so different and distinct, that I think people are going to find things to love about it.

So, I was all in it, and I was present, and I was here, and then we got to leave, and I was like, "I think things are going to be okay." It's still an amazing project. I'm so thankful that it's coming out now, and I think that even though Dr. Kay teaches Iris that it's okay to live for the now, I think the show getting delayed taught Aliyah that it's okay to live for the future too.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  It showed me all the patience I didn't have.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Oh, it's so hard.

ALEXA MANSOUR:  Yeah, it was hard.

SCIFI VISION:  You guys talked about seeing the empties for the first time, and a lot of times on the different shows, it obviously gets very bloody and disgusting. So, was there either an empty, or maybe just another part of something, that really grossed you out or freaked you out during filming?

ALEXA MANSOUR:  Putting all this stuff on you, like the pig's blood and the fake blood, it's really sticky. So, every time you touch it and you move your hand [away], it follows your finger. So, you really cannot get it on your hands, because it'll be on there until you get home and shower that night.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  I remember the empties, they have these mouthpieces that they wear to complete the full look, and when it's in their mouth, they can't necessarily close it. I remember doing this one scene. I have several of them around me - and I have a really cool BTS video that I'm going to show one day - but I remember talking to them or trying to get them to speak, and it's really hard to speak in it. As they would speak, drool mixed with blood from the mask and everything else was coming right out of it, and it looked like this giant loogie. It was just swinging back and forth. [laughs] I was like, hell no. That was probably the grossest thing that I've ever seen.

HAL CUMPSTON:  I think, more than anything, when you saw the empties, you were just like, thank God, I don't have to do that makeup. That would take so long. It was just so uncomfortable.

NICOLAS CANTU:  I feel like everybody's got a story with this stuff that grosses them out, but for me, I'd say mine was like - I mean, as a lover of all things zombie and the blood and guts and stuff, I think it's kind of gross, but it's also cool. I really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into making our empties look as disgusting as they do. It's really an art form.
 
For me, one of the coolest things, is we had the specific set piece a little bit later in the show. I can promise you, it's very cool. It's very gory, and the only thing I can say about it, is that it's almost like a nest, and you're going to have to look out for that. I think it's really cool.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  That is really cool. Our special effects team is incredible. You're right, Nick. Dear God.

QUESTION:   The Walking Dead has been around for ten years, so the audience obviously is a little bit older. What does your show bring to younger fans of The Walking Dead universe?

ALEXA MANSOUR:  I think all the younger fans are going to see a part of themselves in these characters, a struggle that they're going through. They're going to see something they can relate to. Maybe one character is going through something that that person is going through something similar to, and they'll be able to speak up and talk about the way that they're feeling and not feel so alone in whatever it is going on inside their minds.

HAL CUMPSTON:  …It's unlike the other shows [where] the characters are already formed, because the adults are anywhere from twenty-five to fifty-five; they already know their moral code and that type of thing. At least for the teenagers, it's pretty easy to resonate with the characters, because they don't even know how they should be reacting to the situation or who they are. So, I guess we invite the teenage audience, because, obviously, you want to see yourself on the screen. It's interesting in that they don't even know how they should be approaching the apocalypse from certainly different levels, partially because they don't know what they're doing, and also because they don't know who they are.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Right. There's a theme of identity with the show. As we're going out on this journey, we're finding out things about the world, but we're also finding out things about ourselves. I think it's very interesting. As to what it brings to a younger audience, I mean, for me, watching the main show, everybody's got that character that they relate to. For me, it was definitely Carl (Chandler Riggs), just because I was the same age as him when I was watching the show. I was like, that's my guy. I love Carl; he's the best. It’s like I can really put myself in this apocalypse. It was fun to play in the imagination and to take away inspiration from a piece of media, either TV or movies. I think that's the best part about it. So, if we could have kids that maybe didn't get that chance in the first show be inspired by our characters or by just the story and the majesty of it all, I feel like that would be the best takeaway.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  I think it actually relates to youth and adults on different levels. In terms of youth, World Beyond is an incredible example, just because you're watching these young adults make decisions for themselves, split decisions in the heat of the moment, life or death decisions, without needing an adult to tell them, "This is what you should do," or without needing some sort of guardian or older figure to say, "This is what I would do," or, "This is what we did back then. So, this is what you should do about it." We're all approaching this; it is a step by step process in learning ourselves, but also, we have a strong sense of direction. I don't think we know what to expect on the road and all the dangers that lie ahead, but we know that we're going to get through it. We make a choice very early on that, regardless of what happens, we would rather be out here in the field then be in the sheltered community and never know anything else.

But at the same time, in terms of the adult audience that World Beyond is going to bring, you're dealing with characters with a lot of trauma, a lot of secrets. There's heartbreak; there's confusion, and then there's also family and love and togetherness. I think anybody of any age range is going to be able to relate to the World Beyond.

HAL CUMPSTON:  Also, the acting is exceptional.

ALIYAH ROYALE:  Honestly, very talented.

NICOLAS CANTU:  Silas, oh man, you got to watch out.

HAL CUMPSTON:  I think it's actually officially the best acting ever; I'm pretty sure.

NICOLAS CANTU:  You heard it here first, Hal Cumpston.

…

QUESTION:  Once the teaser trailer dropped on YouTube, a big reaction was, "Do we have to watch The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead to get the grasp of World Beyond?" What do you guys think about it?

ALIYAH ROYALE:  No.

HAL CUMPSTON:  No, you don't have to. You can; we're not going to not let you, but you don't have to.

NICOLAS CANTU:  You do whatever you want, but our story stands by itself. It's familiar in the world of The Walking Dead, so if you watch, if you were a viewer of the first two shows, you might find things in there that will be like, "Oh, man, that's cool." As a viewer of the show, you might understand the world more, but what's cool about our show, is that it's a two series limited event, and we have a complete story that wraps up quite nicely, and we know where we're going.

HAL CUMPSTON:  And questions...we answer all of them.