‘Dead’ crowns new monarch
This monarch is both merry and menacing while managing the zoo around him
Khary Payton’s dreadlocked King Ezekiel rules a zoo of post-apocalyptic humans with a cool head
All hail King Ezekiel! The ruler of The Kingdom, who made a theatrical debut in an October episode of AMC’s The
Walking Dead, gets a bigger stage for the second half of Season 7, which opened Sunday with Ezekiel turning down Rick Grimes’ plea to partner against Negan and his Saviors.
Georgia native Khary Payton, 44, who plays the intriguing monarch, granted USA TODAY an audience to discuss the character, his royal dreadlocks and his scene-stealing tiger, Shiva. Q How did a pre-Apocalypse zookeeper become king ?
“A zookeeper is not necessarily an ordinary guy. He works closely with wild animals and when a crisis came up, Ezekiel jumped into a cage to save a tiger. This apocalypse made it that he’s using skills he’s always had. His motivation has never changed. It’s to help where he can. If he can be a little theatrical while he does it, all the better.” Q How does Ezekiel’s authoritative yet playful persona play into his regal aura?
“I think it helps this community. When you’re a dude with a tiger and everybody’s wondering who’s in charge, they just assume, ‘How about that guy?’ People like having a king on their side. It gives them purpose. And it turns out to be working. He’s the only leader of a community that hasn’t lost people to The Saviors or
Negan.” Q Did you base Ezekiel on any real kings? “No. I modeled him on my Great-Uncle Nesbit. He was a big, 350-pound security guard, but he spoke with almost a royal air. He reminded me of Ezekiel, a regular guy working a regular job but he didn’t carry himself that way.” Q Do you wish you had a real tiger instead of a computer-generated one?
A film set “wouldn’t be good for an actual tiger, and it would slow down production immensely. I think half of the cast and crew wouldn’t be there.” Would he have reconsidered if he had to work with a real tiger? “My wife definitely would have.” Q What do you think of King Ezekiel’s majestic gray dreadlocks? “It’s probably a $50,000 wig. It’s amazing. I still can’t believe
that when I run around this doesn’t go flying off of me because it’s heavy (about four or five pounds). … I shaved my head when I went to get fitted, because I knew it was going to be hot in Atlanta,” where Dead is filmed. Q In the midseason premiere, why did Ezekiel reject Rick’s request to partner against The Saviors?
“I don’t know this dude! I realize (viewers) know Rick, but Ezekiel doesn’t. It’s, ‘I know you’ve got problems, dude, but I’ve been running my game over here and I haven’t gotten anybody killed, so maybe you need to rethink how you work your stuff.’ ” Q How does Ezekiel relate to these outsiders?
“He’s got a cool head. He’s taken in the two people who insulted him the most, Carol and Daryl. He sees their insults as a defense mechanism. He can see pain in their aggression and find a way to
work around it.” Q Is romance with Carol a possibility?
“I think you can expect that there will be more interaction over the second half. There’s a connection there. He definitely sees a kindred spirit.” Q What did you like most about Sunday’s premiere?
“I loved the way they had Ezekiel doing (Martin Luther King Jr.’s) “I Have a Dream” speech as a bedtime story. My mom was a teenager marching in the civil rights movement in the ’60s, so just the idea of her watching me reciting that speech was cool.” Q What
did you think of Rick & Co. using speeding cars and steel cord to slice hundreds of zombie walkers to bits?
“Was that nuts? That’s some good old-fashioned Walking Dead porn right there.”