‘Fear The Walking Dead’: Keith Carradine Discusses Joining The Zombie Western

Few actors alive could stand as a serviceable replacement for Garret Dillahunt, whose character John Dorie was shockingly killed off AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead a few weeks back. But if you’re going to bring in someone to fill that gap, you certainly couldn’t do much better than living legend Keith Carradine, who popped up on this week’s, titled “J.D.”

Spoilers past this point, but Carradine isn’t playing some random post-apocalyptic survivor, either. He’s John Dorie, Sr., the long absent father of Dillahunt’s character. Over the course of the hour, which was written by Nick Bernardone and Jacob Pinion, and directed by Aisha Tyler, Carradine’s character meets June (Jenna Elfman), the wife of the departed John Dorie, reveals he’s been tracking the homicidal Teddy (John Glover) since before the zombie apocalypse began, and ultimately joins forces with Morgan (Lennie James) to try and stop Teddy’s crew before they bring about the end of whatever little life is left on Earth.

“There’s something about Garret’s presence and how he presents himself on screen and how he played this character, and they felt that what I would bring to it would echo that in some regard,” Carradine told Decider. “So I think that I was fortunate in that whatever I brought to the party was already there, and they knew that that would be a good fit.”

It isn’t exaggeration to call Carradine a legend, either. Part of the Carradine acting dynasty, he’s known for his role in Robert Altman’s Nashville, which won him both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. He’s also appeared in dozens of Westerns, including HBO’s Deadwood with none other than Garret Dillahunt. And more recently, he’s had recurring roles on FX’s Fargo and CBS’ Madam Secretary.

Decider spoke to Carradine about filming the episode, joining a zombie Western, and whether his musical chops will come into play, going forward.

Decider: How did they first approach you about coming on Fear the Walking Dead?

Keith Carradine: You know, I think it was kind of a typical industry process. I think that there was interest expressed. There was a conversation that the writers of the showrunners had with with my agency, and then it was mentioned to myself and my manager, and we thought it sounded like a terrific fit, like it would be really a good thing to do and conversations were had and questions were asked and answered, and son of a gun, here I am.

Well, that said, the first time you ever were on screen was in a Western, you’ve done Deadwood, hosted Western marathons, and the show definitely aims for the Western vibe. So did it feel like a return home at all?

It was very much a feeling of getting back to my roots and yes, I am fortunate in that, generationally, when I began in this business, I did my first film in 1970 and we were still making a lot of Westerns. Much more so, than now. So having done as many of them as I have, I’ve always had this kind of Western patina about me, this little bit of dust, and I’ve done a lot of stuff within that genre. I’ve done a lot of other stuff, too, and I’ve enjoyed my forays into different periods and different genres and different atmospheres.

But the Western one is certainly part of my own cinema heritage, and it’s a big part of my family heritage. My father was in some of the great westerns ever made, Stagecoach among them. So it did feel as though I was kind of coming back home, and it was very comfortable fit. And particularly in the subsequent episode, when they actually put me on a horse and turned me loose. Where the series has gone now has taken on a very Western feel, which I think works a trick for the stories that are being told, and the atmosphere in which all of this is taking place. The idea of this post-apocalyptic world, where modern conveniences are now a rarity, and the exception. The fact that the Western genre lends itself so well to that, because that was obviously a time when those conveniences didn’t exist and they hadn’t even been invented yet… It works really well.

Then you take zombies and you throw them into the middle of it… What does that change, if anything about the genre for you?

Well, throwing zombies into it… it’s interesting. This show, they are the backdrop, they are the ever present existing danger. Drama is always heightened, when there is a danger that is present, that is basically always present. When you go out into the wilderness, there are different dangers that exist. If you’re on the ocean, you have sharks, you have inclement weather, that can sink your ship. If you’re in a jungle, you have tigers and boa constrictors and poisonous snakes and things. And so whatever world you’re in, there are those perils, there are those things that can kill you, if you’re not paying attention.

In this particular genre, that’s the walkers, and you have to watch out for them, they’re always there, they can suddenly appear if you’re not careful if you make too much noise that attracts them. So you want to use a knife rather than a gun if you can. You learn all of these rules of how one survives in that world, and so their existence is just another layer. We have walkers in this particular Western genre, as opposed to the old classic Westerns where the greatest danger was the you know, the native peoples whose land had been invaded and who were hostile. You had to watch out for them.

Well, in this Western, we don’t have so much a Native American population that are hostile to our presence as this presence of walkers, who are rather mindless, and will just go after you because that’s all they know how to do. So I think that adds immeasurably to the sense of danger that exists that is always there. Then within that world, we tell these wonderful stories that are all character based and the interaction of these different characters and these different people and the issues that they have, and the things that they want, the things that they’ve lost. It’s classic storytelling in that regard, and then that classic storytelling is put against the backdrop of this world where you have these zombies that are omnipresent.

Jumping into the episode, the big reveal here is that you are John Dorie Sr., but at the same time, you don’t get to act opposite Garret Dillahunt at all. Did you look to his performance to create any sort of continuation between Junior and Senior, or was it very much its own thing?

I think it’s very much its own thing. However, I think that when they thought of me for this role, Garret and I have worked together a couple of times, obviously, we were together on Deadwood and then I did one episode of Raising Hope where Garret was playing my daughter Martha’s husband for all those seasons. So it’s not like we haven’t worked together. I was certainly disappointed when I learned that I was gonna play his father, but I’d never get to actually see him or work with him, when I realized what the nature of the story was, that I wasn’t going to get the opportunity to work with Garret again.

But I think that when they chose me, they felt that there was something kindred in terms of our inherent natures. There’s something about Garret’s presence and how he presents himself on screen and how he played this character, and they felt that what I would bring to it would echo that in some regard. So I think that I was fortunate in that whatever I brought to the party was already there, and they knew that that would be a good fit.

You have essentially three major relationships with this character. You’ve got Jenna Elfman’s June, of course. But the other two are John Dorie, Jr. who is dead at this point. And John Glover’s character, Teddy, who is completely off screen and you don’t interact with. So as an actor, how do you forge those relationships in your mind, or otherwise, without the people actually being there?

Well, it’s interesting in terms of the scenes that I had with Jenna where I’m learning about her relationship with my late son. And from her, I’m learning about who he became as a man, because I haven’t seen him since he was a child. As an actor, just the nature of those conversations carry layers of emotion. As one’s having the conversation, as I’m having those conversations about my long lost son with his now widow, the emotion is just there. All you have to do is listen and it’s there. In terms of relating to the John Glover character, I did meet John and had conversations with him. We didn’t actually work together, but we were hanging out and chatted a bit. And so I had a feeling for what he was going to be bringing to the role, just from talking with him and getting to know him a little bit.

And then it’s the history as written by Ian [Goldberg] and Andrew [Chambliss] and the writers who wrote this script, the history of who this guy was and what he’s done to people and the horrific crimes that he’s committed. That’s about all an actor really needs, is to be hearing that in the reveals as his character’s being talked about, and particularly when I’m having these conversations with June and she’s looking at my newspaper clippings and realizing what I’ve been doing all this time, and how I’ve been pursuing this guy.

I wanted to talk about one scene in particular, which is the big gross out scene with the zombie stuck under the RV. What was it like filming that for you?

It was disgusting. Oh my God. That was my initiation into the world of gore that Fear the Walking Dead can present. I mean, when I read it in the script I thought, How the heck are they going to do this? Then when I saw what special effects came up with in the prop department, and then and the stunt woman that they had down there playing that Walker who’s twisted up under the RV, and as her intestines are wound around the drive shaft, and viscera is spraying here and there… iI was just, it was gross and very effective. That’s part of the world that we are slogging through as survivors of the apocalypse at this point.

I gotta tell you the most nerve-wracking part for me wasn’t even the zombie, it was the fact that you were cinched up against the wheel of the RV and then having June rev the engine. I was like, “no, get out of there. She’s gonna run you over.”

[Laughs] I know, that produced a lot of anxiety. I think that was a very effective scene. I would think that a lot of people have had prickly skin with that one.

Ultimately, both June and John Dorie, Sr have very parallel arcs over the course of the episode, going from thinking they have to be loners, thinking they have to do these things by themselves, to ultimately, at least in certain sense, becoming joiners. What do you think was important for your character in particular, in this arc?

Well, in this arc, my character has been thoroughly isolated for decades and it’s been a self-imposed isolation. It was his choice of penance in a certain way, he was doing this penance for what he felt was a crime that he committed as a law enforcement person. In a way, an emotional crime that he committed in terms of abandoning his wife and child, what he thought he was doing was best for them.

But it’s been a long life of having a big hole in his heart and in his soul. Then, to have it transpire that circumstances put him together with June, he doesn’t know who she is, at first, he begins to learn that she’s kind of a badass, and then he finds out, oh, my goodness, this is my daughter in law. It’s the beginning of a redemption for John Sr., that he now once again, has the opportunity to have family, to be a part of a family, and that she actually is now his daughter in law. The beginning of that healing process for him, and beginning to maybe once again, become a more complete human being. Then by the end of the episode, to realize that there’s a whole group of people that he can be a part of, work with, and interact with, and not be so alone anymore. Also, get a lot of help, in terms of completing his task of bringing this maniac to justice.

You, like a lot of other folks on the show, have a pretty strong musical background. Is your introduction eventually leading up to the highly anticipated Fear of The Walking Dead musical episode?

[Laughs] They have not mentioned anything like that to me. I do always have a guitar. I’m still still songwriting. I’ve kept my head in that regard. I think, actually, the last song I wrote was a lullaby that I wrote for my child who’s now two and a half. So it’s always a part of my life. I’m not quite sure how they would find a way to lace that into who John Dorie Sr is. I mean, this is a former Texas Ranger law man, chaser of bad guys. Everybody has their little side things that they do for hobbies, I suppose. But we’ll have to wait and see if they feel as though that’s something that can be revealed about Dorie Sr.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

Where to watch Fear the Walking Dead