Last Sunday, The Walking Dead returned for its final eight episodes. There has been a lot of tension among those in the Commonwealth, because of what Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson), Governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins)’s son, is being accused of. In last week’s episode, Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) talked to Pamela about what was transpiring, seemingly giving her the benefit of the doubt that she didn’t know everything her son was involved in. During a recent roundtable, SciFi Vision talked to Matsuura about Yumiko’s true feelings on the matter. “What was so disarming about Pamela is that she also has these moments of vulnerability where she'll share with me her feelings about Sebastian,” the actress told the site. “That can be quite kind of discombobulating for two women who are supposed to be in this professional relationship. I think I'm afforded this sort of privileged time with Pamela behind closed doors that not many people get to see. It's not as straightforward as you might think. I think that's part of what makes the storyline so interesting is that it's not that Pamela's just like this out and out there baddie…It's more nuanced than that. I think the way Laila plays Pamela is that you can see the struggle. You can see her belief in this system, and Yumiko has belief in a system; I want to believe in laws and a system. So, I can respect that point of view, and that's familiar ground to me. That's why I think the scene is interesting to play, because it's like two really smart, intelligent human beings, who are also very, very good at twisting words and manipulating things.”

Would Milton be willing to give up power in the Commonwealth if she needed to in order to resolve what’s happening? Robins doesn’t think so. “I don't think she's ready to do that,” the actress told SciFi Vision. “She may feign doing that; as Eleanor says, some of the vulnerability that maybe I show in the scene also can be manipulative. It's like with any two powerful women who might be able to help each other out. You’re kind of testing each other, and since that person is very smart and intelligent and talented at what they do, you could use that for your own goals. Yet, how do you sort of maintain the upper hand in a super subtle way where the other powerful woman doesn't feel like she's being overwritten. It's a little dance. It's a very delicate dance, because nobody wants to be someone's underling. So, you appeal to someone's ego. You appeal to someone's strength…because that might make the relationship actually work. It's an interesting game.”

As it’s moving towards the end of the series, we also asked the cast what their characters have taught them about themselves through the process of playing them. For Michael James Shaw, who plays Mercer, it’s his discipline. “I think Mercer reinstilled discipline in me in a way that I hadn't felt in many, many years,” said the actor. “A lot of that discipline was handed down from my father who was ex-military, and to step back into that, it brought me closer to him, definitely.”

For Okea Eme-Akwari, who plays the character of Elijah, it’s the character’s devotion to others and his ability to be still. “I think the dedication Elijah has to the people around him is something that really stuck with me in my personal life,” he said. “There're lessons in the power of silence, I think, that I've been able to adapt to my personal life as well, where being still and just evaluating the craziness around you could really find you avenues into a new perspective.”

Matsuura also learned from the strengths of her character. “I think Yumiko’s probably taught me to be more courageous, quite simply,” said the actress. “I think trusting my own voice in the way that she trusts her own voice and trusting herself to find the courage to speak up and use that voice in the right way. I think that's something that I've probably learned from playing Yumiko, particularly this season.”

Lastly, Robins talked about finding balance between work and life. “I think Pamela's very work oriented, and in some ways, I am as well. So, how do you balance that sort of professional ambition or whatever with just life and smelling the roses along the way? I think Pamela has a very difficult time with that. So, it's been fun to sort of have that at the forefront and see what happens to a person when that is the case, as maybe a warning to myself.”

During the interview the cast also teased what’s to come as well as discussed the huge fanbase of the series, why the show has had such an impact on people, which characters they most connect with, and more. Read the full transcript below and watch an all-new episode, tonight on AMC, or stream it now on AMC+.
   

***Edited for length and clarity***

SCIFI VISION:  Obviously, a lot is going to kind of come to a head in these episodes in regard to what Pamela’s son has been doing. It just kind of all comes to a big blowout. Can you all kind of tease a little bit about what fans can expect in that regard?

LAILA ROBINS:   I think you got it right, big blowout. We put in some good long hours to come to the climax of eleven years. So, who knows what's going to happen?

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   We've been revving the engine for sixteen episodes, and it's about time to take off, so we'll see what happens.

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   Yeah, that's a good way of putting it, Mike.

OKEA EME-AKWARI:   Oh, is it my turn? There's a lot of exciting stuff. I guess that's the best way I can put it.

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   Sneaky question there.

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   Imagine if we just told you the ending. You'd be like, “Oh, actually, I didn’t want to know that.” It's like no, you don't want to know.

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   We all escape on an ark spaceship and land on Mars.

SCIFI VISION:   Well, everyone would be surprised. That's for sure.

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   It’s a For All Mankind/Walking Dead crossover event. It's going to be awesome.

QUESTION:   All of you have such a great body of work. I mean, you guys are part of some of the biggest shows around…How does The Walking Dead fanbase differ from all your legendary shows, and also, what attracted you to this franchise?

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   Wow. I don't know about you guys, but I've never experienced a fan base like the fan base of The Walking Dead. It was a complete eye opener for me. I think I was very nervous when I joined, because The Walking Dead had already been established for so many years. I don't know; I felt like, “How are they going to be with newcomers?” But the amazing thing about this fanverse is that they go all the way. They've been here since day one, and they're going to be here to the very final episode. They are diehard lovers of the show, and I just think it's an incredible thing to walk into that kind of community and sort of just be embraced by the community. I've never felt anything like it, truly. I don't know why it always surprises me, but it does, like how far reaching this show goes. It's worldwide. I'll be in the weirdest places and people come up to me like, “Oh my gosh, I love your show.” It never fails to surprise me. I don't know. Do you guys have anything you can compare it to? Because to me, I'm like, nothing.

LAILA ROBINS:   No, it feels like one of the original shows that had such a huge fanbase, that kind of loyalty, because it’s years old. It just seems like one of the first, where there were super fans. I know when I got the job, I live in an apartment building here in New York City, and I had no idea, but the super of our building is a humongous fan. Boy did my status just go through the roof [laughs] with his smile. Then, later I'd come back from shooting; once a while I'd have a break from Georgia, and I’d come back, and I looked into his office, and it's completely covered in Walking Dead paraphernalia. I'd be doing my laundry in the basement, and he’d come walking in with one of the masks or something. I mean, it's changed my life, and now he always says, “Good morning, Governor.” That's what he says every morning! [laughs] He’s like a super fan. So, if I have any plumbing problems, it's a piece of cake. [laughs]

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   That's a win-win situation.

LAILA ROBINS:   Certainly. Yeah. Anyway, Michael, you were going to say something, sorry.

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   Well, for me, like, walking into The Walking Dead, it was surreal. I didn't believe it at first, but then you get to set, and you realize that everyone around you, we're all fucking weirdos in our own special way. I think that's what makes working on the set, working with the crew, working with directors and people that come through, the other actors, and then interacting with the fans, we’re all of that same quirkiness. It just allowed me to live in that part of myself a bit more. The love that the fans show is immense. I've been to a few conventions, and it's just nice to hear how the show connects with their life, and how it may be keeping a loved one alive, or it helped them through a really tough time. It helped me through a really tough time as well. So, it's nice to share in that experience of the show really uplifting your spirit in whatever way that touches you. But to hear it touch that many people or to feel that love, like being in Hall H at Comic-Con just this summer, it was an immense wave of love coming from that, and I don't think I'll ever experienced anything like it ever again. I'm so grateful to have had this journey. Even coming into the last leg, I'm so grateful for touching this legacy.

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   Well, because the fans are part of the show, right? Sorry, I know I've already spoken, but just to add [that] it just hit me that you don't get to eleven years without the fans. We wouldn't be making this show for eleven years if it wasn't for the fans. So, they are as much a part of this celebration of it getting across this milestone, [as] all of the cast and crew too, because they wouldn't just be making this for eleven years for fun. Absolutely driven by them. It is extraordinary. Laila is right. It's like before having a fan base and social media was even a thing. This was one of the original fanbase shows. It's so cool.

OKEA EME-AKWARI:   I feel like that really, to Eleanor's point that really shows how dedicated this fanbase really is. It's so broad and far reaching. Like, as Mike was saying, going to a convention, you can see anyone from a toddler dressed as one of their favorite characters, all the way up to somebody's great great grandmother, the love that this fandom has for this show. This universe as a whole has just been overwhelming in the best of ways to experience. It's a very welcoming community. When they say The Walking Dead family, they really mean it.

QUESTION:   Going into the final run of episodes, and this is for each of you, what's one thing about your character you would want viewers to keep in mind as they return for this final run?

LAILA ROBINS:   As far as from our character's perspective?

QUESTION:   Yes.

LAILA ROBINS:   I would like everyone to know that I lost my second son and that has an effect on a person. I mean, negative things can create toxicity.

OKEA EME-AKWARI:   I think on the flip side of that coin, just the amount of loss that Elijah has experienced up until this point, coming to a new community out on the heels of his old community being destroyed and and still looking for community and his found family, I guess, is the best way to best way to put it.

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   I would say that I think there is a relentlessness to Yumiko that I think will prove to be like - I know that this can go for so many of the characters on the show, just like the idea that we never give up, but I think, particularly this season, we might find Yumiko in places where her back really seems against the wall, and she will always, always, always try and look for a crack and try and find the way out. However that may be, she's relentless in her task.

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   If you look at the bigger picture of things, I would say the Commonwealth and its inhabitants are at a disadvantage compared to our newcomers, because they have been in this survival hustle for so long. I think the Commonwealth in general [has] an air of complacency, because life is cushy. There're not many variables that we have to deal with. But I think in this last part, everyone has to kind of tap into that animalistic survival mode to figure out what the next horizon brings.

SCIFI VISION:   What has each of your characters taught you about yourselves? What have you learned from them?

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   It's a really good question. I actually have been thinking a lot about that, as we try to unpack the year and deal with the loss of the show. I think Mercer reinstilled discipline in me in a way that I hadn't felt in many, many years. A lot of that discipline was handed down from my father who was ex-military, and to step back into that, it brought me closer to him, definitely.

LAILA ROBINS:   I would say maybe kind of a work and life balance. I think Pamela's very work oriented, and in some ways, I am as well. So, how do you balance that sort of professional ambition or whatever with just life and smelling the roses along the way? I think Pamela has a very difficult time with that. So, it's been fun to sort of have that at the forefront and see what happens to a person when that is the case, as maybe a warning to myself.

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   I think Yumiko’s probably taught me to be more courageous, quite simply. I think trusting my own voice in the way that she trusts her own voice and trusting herself to find the courage to speak up and use that voice in the right way. I think that's something that I've probably learned from playing Yumiko, particularly this season.

OKEA EME-AKWARI:   I think the dedication Elijah has to the people around him is something that really stuck with me in my personal life. There're lessons in the power of silence, I think, that I've been able to adapt to my personal life as well, where being still and just evaluating the craziness around you could really find you avenues into a new perspective.

QUESTION:   There were scenes that I found particularly notable through the series, one of them was the first meeting between Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Pamela Milton, which is almost like a meeting of two power alpha females. So, what was that like to shoot?...And also, Michael, the first time you met Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)…what was that like to shoot?

LAILA ROBINS:   So, you're referring to the scene where I meet Maggie and we have the walk in the woods, and we have a little heart to heart chat. I mean, Lauren Cohan has been such a huge part of the show since the very beginning, probably. So, it is a little intimidating to kind of deal with a character who's so established, but in some ways, because Pamela doesn't know who she is, it takes the onus off it a bit, because she's nothing to me. I mean, she is the leader of this [community], but she's no one particularly special to me. So, in a way, that ignorance almost helps the scene, because Laila the actress is also ignorant of this person, you know, this character, or even Lauren herself. I didn't know her very well when we worked on the scene together. So, it was really kind of a cat and mouse thing that played out very organically, because we didn't know each other. So, I enjoy that aspect of it. It's like a little chess game that we had in our little walk, and I really enjoyed doing that scene.

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   Man, working with Negan, I was shitting a brick the whole time. Oh, my God, I turned into a little schoolboy, like the whole process getting to that scene day, and then had to bottle it in. I love Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his body of work. I even went as the Comedian one Halloween. So, it was it was a fanboy moment for me, working with Jeffrey, but also kind of cool to see, like Laila was saying, these characters are ignorant of each other. So, to go in knowing nothing and figuring it out from there, it was kind of fun to negate the history of Negan and see who he is right now.

LAILA ROBINS:   Yeah, sometimes it's hard to remember what you don't know. [laughs] “That's right. I don't know that about you.” You know what I mean?

SCIFI VISION:   This is this is for Eleanor and Laila. The first part, Eleanor…I kind of almost got the impression - I just kind of wanted your take on it - that when she was talking to Pamela in the one scene, she seems like [she] does believe that [Pamela] wants good things, and that maybe she isn't involved in everything, that kind of thing…How much does she actually trust her? And then for Laila, do you think that, in the end, she would be willing to compromise if she had to give up some of her power?

…

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   Well, I suppose I can say this, and I hope this answers your question. I think whenever we would do a scene, testament to how well they were written, but also just how brilliant Laila is as a performer, like, she's the master politician. She's my boss, and she's fearsome. Both as Eleanor and as Yumiko, I was genuinely terrified. Sometimes doing those scenes. I was like, “Oh my God, I've got to be on it. I've got to be smart; I’ve got to be strong and brave and whip smart.” But what was so disarming about Pamela is that she also has these moments of vulnerability where she'll share with me her feelings about Sebastian. That can be quite kind of discombobulating for two women who are supposed to be in this professional relationship. I think I'm afforded this sort of privileged time with Pamela behind closed doors that not many people get to see. It's not as straightforward as you might think. I think that's part of what makes the storyline so interesting is that it's not that Pamela's just like this out and out there baddie, and it's not like Yumiko’s just like, “I'm absolutely not going to work for her,” or “I am.” It's more nuanced than that. I think the way Laila plays Pamela is that you can see the struggle. You can see her belief in this system, and Yumiko has belief in a system; I want to believe in laws and a system. So, I can respect that point of view, and that's familiar ground to me. That's why I think the scene is interesting to play, because it's like two really smart, intelligent human beings, who are also very, very good at twisting words and manipulating things. So, you know, who's right and who's wrong?

SCIFI VISION:   …Laila, for you, I mean, could she give up some control if she had to?

LAILA ROBINS:   I don't think she's ready to do that. She may feign doing that; as Eleanor says, some of the vulnerability that maybe I show in the scene also can be manipulative. It's like with any two powerful women who might be able to help each other out. You’re kind of testing each other, and since that person is very smart and intelligent and talented at what they do, you could use that for your own goals. Yet, how do you sort of maintain the upper hand in a super subtle way where the other powerful woman doesn't feel like she's being overwritten. It's a little dance. It's a very delicate dance, because nobody wants to be someone's underling. So, you appeal to someone's ego. You appeal to someone's strength, and you say, “how fabulous you are,” because that might make the relationship actually work. It's an interesting game.

QUESTION:   We're going to start seeing, in fact, we're already starting to see, a lot of pieces that are going to post about the impact that The Walking Dead has had on television in a pop culture for over a decade…You're in the middle of it. So, why do you think the show and the franchise has so connected with folks for so long, you know, [with] eleven seasons and various spin offs? Why is it still as alive and vibrant today as it's ever been?

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   I'm going to jump in quickly…I really feel like the show, for me, it's about relationships. It's a good drama. I know Walking Dead, we think of it so much as a genre show about walkers and zombies, and, of course, with all of that comes characters that we get to develop over all this time. That's the joy of what a show that gets to go this long, is that you get all this time to to see these characters grow and change and shift. When do you ever get that? I mean, as an actor, it's an absolute gift. I've said this before, but it all comes down to these relationships. We've all invested now in these relationships with these people, who they love, what drives them, what they've lost. I think that's deeply, deeply compelling. I feel like we've got such a beautiful, wide[ly] diverse, huge cast. So many different people have walked through the doors of The Walking Dead, that at some point, every fan must have seen themselves in some character or parts of themselves, maybe in lots of different characters. I think that's what keeps people coming back for more. I really do. I know that's what compelled me when I first saw the show, that really at the heart of it, it's all about human drama and relationships.

LAILA ROBINS:   Yes, and I would say living in a in a very odd and violent and scary world. I think a lot of us feel that these days, generally speaking. So, you're watching these people survive, and you're also watching them survive within mother nature, because it's in the woods. It's a survival kind of story of can man still glean from the earth what he needs, what she needs? Because mother nature is a big character too; it seems to be in the show. It's not in a super urban setting. It's in nature. We're in the bugs; we're in the trees. We're in the heat. There's something super visceral about it, as well, like can a human being as an animal on Earth survive? There seems to be some sort of very basic thing about it that goes back to almost being a caveman again or something, I don't know. They're living in all these super strange environments and having to kill for their food and do that. Can human beings survive, and are we killing ourselves with our stupidity, as human beings? You know, it’s an apocalypse.

OKEA EME-AKWARI:   Absolutely, I absolutely agree with that, too. I think a show like this, that is very character and story driven, it really gives the audience an opportunity to almost live vicariously through the situations that they get to watch here. For those of us that might not want to be living in the thick of the bugs and the woods and mother nature at large, you get to sit back and think what would I do in XYZ situation, because it's really fun to watch people overcome adversity and see people at their worst, and happy moments at their best, and see what they can do with their new perspectives in those times too. think it's really enthralling for an audience.

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   I really love what Eleanor brought up about relationships and the circumstances that these characters live. The circumstances are so high, that the definition of what it means to be a father or brother really gets questioned and reinforced or broken. I think the tension is so high in the world, that these relationships, they have to be experienced and expressed at the highest level. I think that's kind of what ties a lot of the fans in, because you can relate to that. Everyone has their relationship with their father, their mother, their brother, their sister, and to see how these people love each other, even in these out of this world circumstances, it kind of reinforces the love that you have for your family.

QUESTION:   This is this is based on something Eleanor said. She said that a lot of us see ourselves in a lot of the characters on The Walking Dead. So, who is your favorite character, except for the one you're currently portraying? Who is that one character maybe you feel a sense of kinship or connection with?

MICHAEL JAMES SHAW:   I really envy Jerry (Cooper Andrews)'s apocalyptic life. He seems like he's always having a good time and enjoying his experience in the world, regardless of what's happening around him. I could use a little bit of that.

LAILA ROBINS:   I love Ezekiel (Khary Payton). I love it. He's always so positive. He has such a beautiful aura. I mean, Khary, really, just as a human being on the set, is always super positive and keeping everyone in a team spirit, and I just find him like a light. I enjoy his luminosity.

ELEANOR MATSUURA:   I'd say Princess (Paola Lazaro), just because I really love like the sort of unabashed just vibrancy that she just throws herself into her life. Like, “This is what I'm going to wear. Here's my pink jacket. Here's my gun; here's my goggles. I'm going to be loud. I'm going to make jokes,” but she's also just funny and loyal. And I love Paola so much who plays Princess. So, yeah, I'm going to say that’s the person I'd probably most aspire to be like, in my real life.

OKEA EME-AKWARI:   I might be a bit biased, but I feel like I'm leaning towards Maggie's character. I think seeing her go from the more gentle farm girl into the absolute badass that she is on screen right now has been just a really fun thing to watch. Even for me as a fan before coming on the show, I was a big fan of Lauren Cohan's portrayal of Maggie.