We will have our full The Walking Dead write-up shortly (although, you can view the best GIFs from the season premiere right now), but in the meantime, some casting news: I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, nor how many more times I will continue say it, but perhaps the best show no one watched in the past five years was TNT’s Southland, an engrossing, emotionally powerful, naturalistic cop show that ran for five seasons until it was cancelled earlier this year. It was, at times, an absolutely devastating series, and much of that devastation could be attributed to the brilliant performance of Michael Cudlitz, who was criminally overlooked again this year in at the Emmy Awards. He may, however, soon get another chance with a key role in the fourth season of The Walking Dead.
Cudlitz has been cast as Abraham Ford, a pivotal character in the series, and a character that the book readers will certainly recognize. I don’t want to reveal too much about the Abraham from the book series (and besides, the television series barely resembles the graphic novels at this point) except to say that he meets and joins the prison gang during a trip to D.C. Cudlitz will be joined by Josh McDermitt, who will play Dr. Eugene Porter, Ford’s traveling companion in the comics, who also claims to know what was behind the zombie outbreak.
I should also note that, the way in which Cudlitz was introduced at NY Comic Com was pretty awesome. From EW:
The Southland actor stormed up to the audience mic disguised as an angry fan, demanding showrunner Gimple include Sgt. Abraham Ford on the series. He then revealed his identity, in fully bearded and muscle-toned character. The producers also confirmed the casting of Christian Serratos (Twilight) as Rosita Espinosa and announced actor/comedian Josh McDermitt as Eugene, who, according to Nicotero, is sure to be “fully mulleted.”
I don’t know too terribly much about the Abraham character besides what I’ve read on the WD Wiki, but this I can assure you: Michael Cudlitz will do it proud. He’s a phenomenal actor, and I’m glad that he will finally be in a show seen by enough people to afford Cudlitz his due.
(Source: Deadline)
