Nicolas Cantu as Elton, Aliyah Royale as Iris, Alexa Mansour as Hope – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
The Walking Dead World Beyond’s final episode just finished airing a few minutes ago. And I must say, this was a fresh breath of air compared to The mid season finales of the main show and Fear The Walking Dead.
This is because I felt that there was a conclusion rather than using a gimmick to leave the show open ended. With Silas being a full fledged member of the CRM, Huck’s death, Elizabeth’s arrest, and everyone else finding their own path, World Beyond finished on a high note. I was totally not expecting this and I am satisfied that World Beyond grew to be its own show rather than focusing on Rick Grimes.
Speaking of Rick, Jadis finally confirmed why she said Rick was a “B” rather than an “A” and I am glad that she did. Rick would have been a test subject if he was saved as an “A.” Plus the fact that Jadis straight up murdered Huck brought a smile on my face. Let’s hope that we will see this version of Jadis on the Rick Grimes movie.
I will say this. I wished that Elton got his bite earlier in the season. That way, we would see how he will handle this for the rest of the season. That would have been a bigger plot for him instead of what we got of Elton. Having him lose his arm on the final episode must have been a budget issue rather than a story issue. His monologue at the end was really good though.
The acting and the cinematography is also good on this final episode. The cast went out of their way to make every scene matter with some of the best camera work World Beyond has had.
Then we get to the post credit scene. For the first time in about 11 years, we see Dr. Jenner from the first season of The Walking Dead. But that is not the only surprise. There was more context to where the virus originated and the variant that was in France. This is cool to know. But my question is, what will happen now with this information since World Beyond concluded.
World Beyond’s first season was a struggle and chore to get through. But their second season addressed all the issues from the previous season while also setting the roadmap for the future. I hate to say this, but I enjoyed the final season over 11A of The Walking Dead and 7A of Fear The Walking Dead. It is a shame that World Beyond did not get a third season.
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Pollyanna McIntosh as Jadis, Annet Mahendru as Huck – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Chip Jackson/AMC
The Walking Dead World Beyond knocks it right out of the park with another explosive episode.
The fact that everyone is starting to go berserk on the CRM on their own ways makes it even more satisfying. Even during the shootout that involved Will, Elton, Silas, and Indira’s group really brought in the tension in the air. It was much needed after seeing how CRM operates this entire season. If they actually let CRM go forward with those planned executions, that would have been a dark hour!
Much like tonight’s episode of Fear The Walking Dead, I seriously hope that they do not make CRM look weak in the upcoming episodes. But I am enjoying what is being offered here.
During the episode’s beginning, there is an emotional scene with Will. His acting was phenomenal during this scene which was capturing the emotion instantly. however the slo-mo camera went for way too long in my opinion. But it did not hurt the scene at all.
Joe Holt as Leo, Nico Tortorella as Felix – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
Leo and Felix are plotting this plan against Jadis and the CRM very well. I totally did not expect for Joe to be the brains behind the plan. The rest of the characters are going along with it. It is a huge contrast to how they were behind the walls compared to the current time.
The Percy and Iris relationship is growing on me. When I watch them, I do see a connection with the two characters. Could they both make it out alive by the series end, that is another question I have looming over my mind.
Call me crazy, but I have been enjoying World Beyond over the majority of the main show’s final season and Fear’s seventh season. That is something I did not think I would say in 2021. There are two more episodes of World Beyond and I am really curious to see how the show will wrap up.
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Natalie Gold as Lyla – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
This week’s episode of The Walking Dead World Beyond showcased the demise of Lyla Bellshaw. Her death is one of the best executed of the series so far. Here to talk about the big character death is Natalie Gold, who played the character in this brand new exclusive interview.
The theme for this episode is to catch the mice and then when the mice runs out of energy, it gets devoured better. And the next thing you know, the same thing happens to your character later in the episode. What went through your mind when you went through the entire script?
NG: “I knew that Layla was going to go. I just didn’t know how. And so when I read the script, I just thought it was a really cool epic death. I thought it was a full circle moment for Lyla in a way that she gets killed by by an invention of her own creation. Like she killed Barca and its poetic justice for her. In her mind, she started to break a little bit. But she keeps telling herself it’s for the greater good and she ends up being on the other side. So. I felt sad for Lyla. I think she was trying to do her best.”
Your death scene really played out well and I love the gore that came with it. Would you like to tell me some of the behind the scenes work that went into developing that scene?
NG: “Oh, we had an incredible like a whole VFX team. So the special effects team and their whole department took me to the trailer to get that huge bite mark on my neck. And then we had a whole system with the blood and everything. So that was really cool. I hadn’t gotten to see them yet because they work on all the empties and they do all the cool effects and stuff like that. So that was pretty awesome.”
Was that scene done in one take?
NG: “The blood was done in one take because we just did that at the end. But the fight between me and Barca, we did multiple times and that was kind of a beautiful. We had our stunt choreographers creating this amazing fight. And then Al Calderon, who played Barca and I rehearsed it, and then when we went to go do it, we just added 1,000,000 times and it was a lot of fun and totally exhausting. We were both very sore the next day and exhausted. And then we had our two amazing cameramen. Craig and Joel, and they’re with us at some points. So we were jumping around the cameras and over cables maintaining this fight. So that was crazy and fun. Safe, but just a lot of energy. And then we stopped so I could go get the prosthetic on my neck like we would. We would cut right when he was about to bite me and we had just that take for him and for the blood to kind of spread out.”
Do you have any stories to share about working with Pollyanna McIntosh?
NG: “Oh God, it was. We had a great time. We spent a long day like in the interrogation room and we just felt really like happy to be working with each other and it just felt like a kind of cool, incredible energy. We were excited to do those scenes and then work with each other. Pollyanna is so cool and such an amazing actor and so dedicated to the universe and the story and the character Jadis. it was so incredible to have her come on. I was kind of her direct subordinate and her being the one that I had to answer to, all the pressure fell on my character in a very cool way.”
Were you able to take anything home from the set from either season one or season two?
NG: “I did get somebody on our props department made these like amazing stickers that were like comic book kind of photos, but hand-drawn. It is Leo and Lyla being scientists out in the wilderness. That was so much fun.”
Aliyah Royale as Iris, Ted Sutherland as Percy, Nico Tortorella as Felix, Alexa Mansour as Hope, Joe Holt as Leo – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
Jadis made her return to The Walking Dead universe last week on World Beyond. Now that she is a full fledged member of the CRM, things have changed.
Over the last six years since Jadis saved Rick, she told Huck what she was up to in between that time. It is here that I was convinced that Jadis is not the same person she once was. Pollyanna McIntosh brings a unique presence to the show just as Elizabeth does when she first appeared. So far, I like what I am seeing with Jadis. With the revelation that she used her language to manipulate them into working together, they retroactively made the former group The Scavengers on the main show more interesting.
It’s interesting to see Felix and Huck’s uneasy alliance. Even though they don’t trust each other, the two of them still have a connection, and I think that was apparent in the last moment when Huck advised she would be with him. However, if she has the chance, she would still like to be friends with him.
I also figured that Dev was going to die real soon. I however did not expect him to go out with an unexpected death. Will is going to have to continue running from the CRM before they capture him.
Natalie Gold as Lyla – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Chip Jackson/AMC
As World Beyond continues, it seems like everyone is going to die trying to spread the word about the CRM. Iris and Hope will get to the truth without being killed by the CRM, but it won’t be in time to stop them from using chemical weapons on them.
World Beyond has achieved an intrigue level that meets my expectations. I believe the series should have started out in the same way as it is now. After wasting so much time on a coming-of-age survival adventure story, the plot turned completely away from it. I am happy to say that the series has finally found its footing!
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Julia Ormond as Elizabeth – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
This week’s World Beyond picks up right where we left off last week. Now with everyone reunited, it does not mean that everything from the previous season is settled.
This episode was made worthwhile by Huck’s presence, in my opinion. Specifically, the flashback scenes and her interactions with Elizabeth and Felix were the only thing in this episode that changed the story/characters. Moreover, it was the only thing to change, which made it especially suspenseful. Felix was about to damn near kill Huck, but that did not happen at all!
The transformation of Iris still confuses me. I find it a bit amusing how they will just replace characters and not do proper character development on this episode of World Beyond. The plot is being held up by their refusal to reduce the amount of filler. It is the end of the world so why not pair Iris and Percy up as a couple! Silas was treated similarly. His rage blackouts and flashbacks when it comes to killing have suddenly subsided. Trauma doesn’t disappear overnight.
Speaking of Silas, the first scene after the opening with the minefield and fireworks were done better here than how it was done on the main show. I also do like Dennis. My interest in Dennis’ character has me wondering if he’s spending time with his girlfriend in anticipation of a fight with the bad guys. He obviously doesn’t have her anymore. Additionally, I am curious to see which side he’ll be on later, starting from the assumption he will eventually help Silas instead of simply watching over him.
Nicolas Cantu as Elton, Madelyn Kientz as Asha – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
At the end of the day, Today’s episode of World Beyond matches the title as everyone had to question who is family and who is not. That is greatly displayed during the entire runtime of the episode and I welcome it. Sure, there were some dialogue decisions that should have not been on the script. But those lines were not damaging to the plot at all. Overall, Today’s World Beyond is really decent.
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Alexa Mansour as Hope, Will Meyers as Mason – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
If you are dying to know how corrupt CRM are, this episode of World Beyond is a great directory for it.
Like The Walking Dead’s The Commonwealth, the current CRM location has it’s flaws if the characters are not obeying their laws. But how the CRM wants to restore the world is really moving the plot faster than the first season. I also believe that the CRM. is getting more interesting the more people know about it.
Hope is front and center for most of this episode. She is dealing with the other teenagers in class and meeting unwanted friends for the first time. All of this is going on while she misses her sister Iris. I have a good feeling that Hope and Iris will reunite very soon! Plus, Hope’s conversation with her dad gets bonus points for me!
Everything with Percy and Elton is a mixed bag for me. Especially the action sequence. Since World Beyond started airing, the stunt choreography for the most part has not been good. That happened here while they were taking down empties. It visually looked good when that camouflaged empty woke up to try to devour Elton. But the scene followed that could have been done better. Especially since I could not believe the teens took them out the way they did. But when that eye ball was being taken out, I thought that was cool.
Alexa Mansour as Hope – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Chip Jackson/AMC
It also seems like they are having Iris and Percy develop a relationship as their bond gets closer. This could be dangerous down the line as Percy is not a person to be trusted. But we will see how the story unfolds!
I believe this episode of World Beyond is one of the stronger ones of the series. For the first time since late into season one, I am looking forward to the next episode!
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Alexa Mansour as Hope – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
The Walking Dead World Beyond’s first season concluded with a cliffhanger that will be explored on the second season. The reception of the first season has been mixed. I, for one can agree with the reception as I felt like it was a chore at times to get through the first season with the exception of the last half of the first season.
With all of that aside, I got a chance to watch the first two episodes of the second season. Here are my non-spoiler thoughts broken down by each episode.
Episode one titled Konsekans, follows up with the end of the very first episode of the series in a massive way. Although I cannot say what happens at the moment, but there are missing items from the first season about CRM that are addressed right away. The thing here is, why was this moment not shown on the first season of World Beyond? Elizabeth is also heavily featured on the first episode as well as she wants Hope to work with CRM.
My take on some of the dialogue exchanged between Elizabeth and Huck is that the two actresses do not have good chemistry on screen together. But I am sure that it will get better more episodes into the second season of World Beyond. Speaking of following up, Will told Felix and Hope the story of what happened to him prior to the season one finale of World Beyond. It is an interesting story. However, I wished it could have been fleshed out more for me to care about the character.
There are things that do get a bit confusing with one of the character’s hallucination sequences. Get ready because it is there for the majority of the second half of this episode. The end of this sequence is satisfying though. It is just how it begins and what happens in between is what boggles my mind.
Iris became my favorite character on this episode. Especially towards the end when she does something major. In the universe of The Walking Dead, we are used to seeing adults and kids doing this whether if they are in a community, or not. Here on World Beyond, it strikes different because everyone never left their community before to deal with doing what needs to be done at that moment. It is a good scene!
Nicolas Cantu as Elton – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Steve Swisher/AMC
If you take out the hallucination scenes and watch this episode of World Beyond, it is enjoyable. The second episode titled Foothold is better than the first episode. There are a large number of things I cannot spoil, but you will learn more about CRM on this episode than the entire first season of The Walking Dead World Beyond.
I can also say that the plot is moving very fast this time just on these first two episodes alone that is keeping me engaged to learn more. There is also dialogue that is still suited for a high school play. But not overbearing like the first season. Overall, this season starts off stronger than the last even though parts are hard to follow.
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The first official crossover between The Walking Dead and World Beyond is in the horizon.
Pollyanna McIntosh, the actress who plays Jadis on the original AMC’s The Walking Dead, is going to make her long awaited return to the franchise. But this time, the character is crossing over to the second spinoff, The Walking Dead World Beyond.
Starting with the second and final season, Jadis will be a central character on World Beyond. Her appearance on the show will most likely tie-in with the upcoming The Walking Dead films on Rick Grimes. In case if you forgot, Jadis is the one that saved Rick Grimes at the end of the river when she called for a CRM helicopter to pick both of them up. Jadis referred Rick as a “B” when she saved him.
The meaning of “A” and “B” is getting closer as we see more clues play out. On World Beyond, there was a scene where “Test Subjects ‘A'” were being experimented on. Maybe Jadis could give more of an understanding to exactly what “B” means.
World Beyond’s first season ended with a small cliffhanger that will be explored on the second season. With Jadis now on World Beyond, so many things can happen since she is an unpredictable character. This also raises more questions of whether or not if the Jadis character will appear on the upcoming films to at least show what were Rick’s first few days like at one of CRM’s locations.
Season two of The Walking Dead World Beyond is set to premiere on October 3, 2021.
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Nicolas Cantu as Elton, Ted Sutherland as Percy – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Macall Polay/AMC
The first season of World Beyond has come to an end. It has been a rocky road as there has been more bad episodes than good. Believe me when I say that I did not want to come in the series with a negative mindset. But when you have too many inconsistencies and terrible dialouge during the episodes, I cannot let it slip and not aknowledge them.
The seventh episode is their best episode. I was also on the set for that episode and was also happy with the finished product. Every episode before the seventh, has been either mediocre, or just straight up bad. One of those episodes, even featured a wolf that served no purpose, and a top-tier level of cringe during that dance scene. It is reasons like that where fans would look at this as a CW Network show. On this review, I will review the final two episodes of the season into one review. Those episodes are, “The Deepest Cut” and “In This Life.”
I will have to get this out the way right now. Felix’s Boyfriend Will should have been introduced earlier this season. I like the scenes that Will had with the family and Felix. But by the time they reunited, I did not feel that emotional attachment that these two had at the final scene. It works on the other two shows because the characters were seperated for a long stretch of episodes. But here, it did not work as he was introduced at the last minute. But outside of that, I am liking what I am seeing from Will so far.
Speaking about the ending, I am curious to how the second season of World Beyond will begin. Hope is the asset that Elizabeth wanted all along. When Hope solved that CRM cipher, I knew right away that she is what they were looking for. With Hope agreeing to go with CRM for them to transport her to her father, it can finally open more to what CRM is all about. However, The acting between Hope and Huck is passable.
When I watch actors or actresses like Melissa McBride or Alycia Debnam-Carey, they can both have those emotional scenes that I can suspend my disbelief in believeing that they are feeling that emotion. All throughout World Beyond and the final episode especially, Hope has been crying way too much. Alexa Mansour is a good actress, but those scenes do not make me believe what the character is feeling. You do not need to cry for a scene to be emotional. It comes off as trying too hard rather than organic.
While I was watching these two interract, I was eager to see how Hope will deal with the undead in this situation. And her inexperience is still showing on a grand scale. The way Elton handled the undead looked silly when he taped the two together at one point, but it made sense for him. I also believe that the ninth episode is Elton’s best episode. Those hallucination scenes with him and Percy really stood out to me. His own conscious was questioning him whether if he should leave Percy or not. But he believed in himself to do it. And I love how the reveal of Huck shooting Percy was filmed and acted too. Kudos for the production team to give me a jump scare because I totally did not see it coming when he sat back up.
Alexa Mansour as Hope; single – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Macall Polay/AMC
The fight scene between Felix and Huck is great. It is one of the longest, uninterrupted fight scenes in the universe of The Walking Dead. They both were evenly matched at a few points. And the fight choreography enhanced the scene as I was really engaged with the fight. Hope had to stop the fight because she knew that she was leaving. But what will that mean for Iris on the second season? Especially since Huck does not know that CRM took out the Campus back on the first episode.
Of all the episodes, Iris also stood out on the finally as Alicia Royale did a great performance with the character. It was frustrating to even try to like Iris this season. But the last two episodes made up for it. Hope is not the only one that is with CRM. Silas given himself up to CRM in order for Percy and Elton to escape the area. Where he will be placed, is up in the air for the second season. I honestly wish that the entire group did not split up because I have seen it done on both shows. And now on World Beyond, it has happened again. I do not believe that they are all too far though.
I think there is room to fix several of the issues of World Beyond on season 2. There also needs to be more hints on how this will tie into the Rick Grimes movies. The A/B stuff is intriguing, but it did not add to anything after that scene. The Walking Dead World Beyond is a two-season show and things need to pick up fast on the second season. The finale is good. But I did not leave with the urgency of anticipating the second season. But I hope that it is better than the first season.
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Silas’ journey so far on The Walking Dead World Beyond is sad. Knowing that his father was abusive towards him and his mother really tramutized him. Anyone that suffers from that dark past, I would have sympathy for and I do for Silas. On this exclusive quick interview, Hal Cumpston breaks down the development of Silas on the most recent episode of The Walking Dead World Beyond.
How did you mentally prepare for your flashback scenes before the cameras started rolling?
Hal: I was very excited and ready to go for this episode for a while so there wasn’t too much trouble trying to get into character.
There is one thing that your character and Felix has in common and that is, that their fathers were not great role models to them when they were teenagers and young adults. Have you and Nico Tortorella talked about that behind the scenes?
Hal: We filmed such a long time ago I can’t remember discussing it exactly. We spent 6 months with each other so there isn’t really a topic we didn’t delve into.
How intense was it for Silas to know that the first walker that he killed, is his father? And will we find out if his mom forgave him?
Hal: Silas is still intensely haunted by his past in particular having to kill his father twice. And I cannot answer the second question for now.
The first season is going to conclude soon. What are your favorite memories being part of World Beyond’s first season?
Hal: My mind is a bit hazy about particular memories from set but it was definitely a lot of fun. I’d say the overall experience that I get to be so lucky to do this as a job is definitely what sticks with me the most. But to give a funny memory there was a hilarious shocker where a cake was arranged for Annet’s “Birthday” yet low and behold it wasn’t her birthday. Another time that was funny was a day on episode 3 where I couldn’t make eye contact with Nicolas Cantu in an emotion scene because Nick, Nico and I had the giggles.
How challenging was it for you at first when you were first introduced into this universe of The Walking Dead?
Hal: I was pretty all over the place emotionally as I didn’t have a point of reference, it being my first US audition. The overall feeling was more of a “I’m so lucky to be here” than being a challenging or daunting experience. I did feel pretty comfortable pretty quickly thankfully. The fact all I had to do was act and I had money for the first time in my life was an easier version of life than the previous years working non-stop for little moneys on my indie film.
If there are any two characters between the main show and Fear The Walking Dead that you would like to see Silas interact with, who would they be?
Hal: Rick and Daryl probably. Sorry boring answer but that’s who realistically would probably be the coolest.
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