The One Thing Nick Stahl Didn't Like About Working On Fear The Walking Dead - Exclusive
"The Walking Dead" has been a television juggernaut since it premiered on AMC in 2010. Over the course of 11 seasons, it has remained a pop-culture powerhouse, making household names of Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, and Norman Reedus and spawning four spin-offs (including the live aftershow "Talking Dead" and the upcoming "Tales of the Walking Dead," which premieres on August 14).
Notable guest stars have included Ethan Embry, Thora Birch, and three alums of the "Terminator" franchise: Michael Biehn ("Terminator"), Robert Patrick ("Terminator 2: Judgment Day"), and Nick Stahl ("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"), who appeared on "Fear the Walking Dead." (Coincidentally, Patrick and Stahl also star alongside each other in 2021's psychological horror film "What Josiah Saw," which is now streaming exclusively on Shudder.)
For Stahl, who took a five-year break from acting that ended in 2019, his five-episode arc on "Fear the Walking Dead" is the highest-profile role he's had in years. But there's one thing he could have lived without during his time on the show, which he revealed during an exclusive interview with Looper.
Becoming a zombie was 'uncomfortable' for Stahl
As Jason Riley on "Fear the Walking Dead," Nick Stahl played the second-in-command of a Doomsday cult whose main objective is to destroy what's left of the world using nuclear missiles. After being shot by a fellow zombie apocalypse survivor, Riley reanimates as a zombie who's once again killed. While many "Walking Dead" actors and guest stars have said being zombified was a highlight of their time on the show, Stahl has another take on the situation.
"[Being] zombified was not my favorite experience," Stahl told us. "I've done a lot of prosthetic makeup in my career for some reason, and once you do it a few times, you're like, 'Okay, I've done that. I don't need to do it anymore.' It's uncomfortable."
Still, he was quick to note that "it was definitely fun to join the zombie world. That whole franchise was fun for me. I had a great experience doing that and enjoyed playing that character, as short-lived as it was."
Stahl's latest project is the psychological horror film "What Josiah Saw," which is now streaming exclusively on Shudder.