×
Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.

The Walking Dead's Josh Hamilton Believes Pamela's Betrayal Is What Really Messed Lance Up

The following article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 20, "What's Been Lost"

Lance Hornsby's (Josh Hamilton) reign of terror over The Commonwealth's neighbors and presumptive enemies has officially come to an end. After surviving the machinations of Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) which leaves him locked in a cell as a perpetual servant to her walkerized son, Sebastian Milton (Teo Rapp-Olsson), Lance finds his fate at the hand of Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride). Not that Lance is an innocent victim in his own death. Carol and Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) gave him the chance to walk away a free man, but Lance's own cowardice and jealousy resulted in him trying to get the jump on them. One arrow from Carol's quiver and it's all over.

Josh Hamilton, who's been playing Lance throughout Season 11, has deeper insight into Lance's downfall, and he says Pamela's choices played a heavy role in Lance's eventual demise.

Lance's love for Pamela is his Achilles Heel

During an interview with CBR.com, Josh Hamilton reflected on the episode's revelation that Lance had always loved Pamela from afar, ever since they were kids. Per "What's Been Lost," Lance reveals to Carol that Pamela had never considered him a romantic possibility due to class differences — she was an affluent daughter of a U.S. president, and he was the chauffeur's son. When the walker crisis descended, Lance stepped up to become Pamela's second in command, but his loyalty does not win him her love. And Lance subsequently loses himself as he tries to impress her.

"He sort of just wants her approval more than anything else in the world. When she turns on him and makes him cut up his friend and feed him to Sebastian, I do think that shakes him to his core. There was such a traumatic experience that he's really flailing in the last episode, and [he's] really not thinking as clearly as he might be on his best days," Hamilton said. Thus, he makes a poor attempt at ingratiating himself with both Carol and Daryl, which isn't enough to make them forget what he did to their friends.

Indeed, Hamilton admitted that Lance's chameleonlike ability to glad handle others was part of what kept him on his toes. "I especially feel like Lance is someone who thinks that he's good at talking to different people in different ways and saying what he thinks they want to hear," he noted.