Lennie James on how the McCanns inspired Save Me and why he was sure that The Walking Dead was going to kill him off
Lennie James's relentless schedule would turn a less dedicated actor into a zombie. The 52-year-old has just bowed out of The Walking Dead after eight seasons as stick-wielding fan-favourite Morgan Jones and will now transition, along with his character, into the upcoming fourth series of spin-off Fear the Walking Dead.
That comes on the back of his critically acclaimed Sky Atlantic drama Save Me, which he wrote and starred in, describing it as a "love letter" to the hard-knock south London of his youth.
A streetwise, suspenseful thriller about a father (James) searching for his estranged missing daughter, Save Me captivated audiences. It also saw James reconnect with the gritty sensibility with which he forged his reputation in UK productions such as Buried, Snatch and The State Within, before pursuing his career in Los Angeles.
But an ambivalent final episode – in which charming rogue Nelly failed to find the abducted Jody and viewers were deprived of the happy ending many had anticipated – divided opinion. Here James talks about embarking on a new adventure with Morgan, last seen enjoying some much needed alone time at the Garbage People's landfill at the end of The Walking Dead’s latest run. And he reveals that he had planned Saving Me's contentious conclusion, and the second season it hints at, from the outset (and which James has since confirmed).
You wrote and filmed Save Me, then went straight into The Walking Dead season eight and from there directly into Fear The Walking Dead. Is that as gruelling as it sounds?
I had six days in between The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead. I'd been on The Walking Dead for seven months and, the five months before that, I was in London shooting the television show I wrote. I was looking forward to a break. That wasn't to be. I am not not going to get a break for another three months. Yes it's been gruelling. But it's all good. Does it drain me psychologically? Not really.
Morgan has already been killed off in The Walking Dead comic books and fans have speculated he might be next for the chop in the series. When Walking Dead boss Scott Gimple ("chief content officer" for the franchise) summoned you to a meeting did you worry it was curtains for the character?
It was in my mind when Scott phoned me up. We'd already had our meeting, which we have at the start of each season, where he talks to the regular actors about what their arc is going to be. And then Scott called and said, "Can we meet again? There's something I forgot to talk to you about." And at that point I obviously thought that the thing he forgot to talk about was that Morgan was going to die in season eight of The Walking Dead.
Were you devastated?
It's always there. It's always a possibility. The few days before we met…I 'd be lying if I didn't say I'd kind of reconciled myself – and justified to myself – why Morgan's time was done. He'd had a good innings – survived longer in the show than in the comic books. It wasn't necessarily the thing I was wishing for. But you are constantly thinking – "do I want to do more? Where is this taking my character?" I'm very proud of my work on The Walking Dead and the position Morgan holds for fans.
You must have been relieved when he told you that he wanted you to move to To Fear The Walking Dead? (The prequel series chronicles the downfall of humanity after the walker virus strikes and jumps forward in the timeline for series four.)
It was like my head exploded. That was the last thing I expected.
Did you say "yes" on the spot?
It took me a long while to figure out whether or not it was the right move for me, the right move for Morgan, and the right move for the franchise. Talking to all the right people: friends, family, other members of the cast and the showrunners about 17 times, I came to the position that I like a challenge. I like to be surprised. This is certainly a challenge and surprise. It's a unique opportunity for me as an actor and me as a character.
You were filming in America when Save Me was on TV in the UK – were you aware the series had become something of a phenomenon back home?
I have a healthy distance from it. But I was very much aware of it – and very chuffed by the reaction. I wasn't bombarded with it in a way I might have been had I been back home. And I don't have a social media presence. I don't do Twitter and all those. So I wasn't waking up to to that. The cast and crew and director Nick Murphy kept me well aware of the response. It was more that we could have hoped for and exactly what we wished for.
Nelly, your character, doesn't find his daughter at the end. Some viewers were slightly miffed as they were denied closure and that the whole series had been a glorified set-up for a second season.
I expected that reaction. In fact, I expected more of it than ended up being the case. I'm not saying that people who were jolted by it were having the wrong reaction. But one of the things that was really important to me when I was writing Save Me was that I wasn't writing TV about TV. Had it had a different ending, the expected ending… that would have been the television ending. The one everyone expects, everyone wants.
You wanted it be truer to real life?
I read one article about a family who lost a child, years ago… the McCann family… there are regular stages along the way where her disappearance is revisited. The family think they've got a lead, they've got closer, they're constantly going through that up-and-down. There's that disappointment but they're still pushing on, believing they are going to find their kid. I didn't want to make it too easy for Nelly… I didn't want to make it too easy for the audience. We're in a time where there is a possibility of making sophisticated television. Audiences's expectations have risen. I wanted to try and match that.
The big reveal that weedy student Luke (Alexander Arnold) had masterminded Jody's disappearance to get back at Nelly struck some as implausible. He just didn't seem to have the makings of a villain.
Luke is absolutely implausible if we believe what he planned is what ended up happening to Jody [who fell into the clutches of sex traffickers]. Luke did a particular thing that led to other things. A lot of what he says after that in the pub is about bravado. One of the things that is really good about Alex's performance in the pub is that he's almost playing the part of the baddie. But you can see in his eyes how frightened he is.
To return to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead... it's been a difficult 12 months for the franchise. The departure of Chandler Riggs [aka Carl Grimes] outraged many fans. And stuntman John Bernecker died from injures suffered on set. People on different shows talk about how their show is one big happily family and how close everybody is. Maybe they are. I know I've said things like that before and it's not been true. It is true [with The Walking Dead]. It is a good bunch of people all pulling in the right direction.
The way the show gets made… people look after one another. In both those instances – the loss of John and the end of Chandler on the show – the family of The Walking Dead showed themselves to be who they are. We looked after each other and made sure the right thing was being done by everybody. And that everybody had an opportunity to speak about what they felt about the situation. People were supported – that's what we did because that what's we needed.
The ratings of The Walking Dead have fallen sharply over the past two seasons [Fear the Walking Dead is also nowhere near as successful as its sibling series]. A lot of fans have seemingly given up on the franchise. Is that a concern?
It may well have a lower number or not have a lower number. On one level that's for other people to contemplate. What I measure it by is… are we still telling interesting stories, are we still challenging ourselves and challenging the audience? I would have to say that yes we are.
The Walking Dead is such an unusual and surprising success. I was right there at the beginning. I know what people were saying about the idea of AMC, this young cable network, taking on this graphic novel about bloody zombies… for Chrissakes! Nobody gave us a chance in hell – including ourselves. It turned into, at that point, the biggest television show in the world. It rose to the calling – it took it on and stayed true to itself and won out.
Save Me is a valentine to the South London of your youth. You and your wife are raising three daughters in Los Angeles. Was it important for you that your children know where you come from?
We're happy being based in LA. But when we talk about home we mean England and specifically London. Save Me is a love letter. In a strange way it's a celebration of that part of London that, when depicted, is more often than not depicted for its faults and foibles. I wanted to tell a different story – one that championed the people and makes them real, beyond stereotypes and cliches.
Fear The Walking Dead season four begins on AMC UK on BT TV on Monday 23 April at 9pm
