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From the rolling hills of Saskatchewan to the big screen in Hollywood, Saskatoon-born Kim Coates, Canadian-American actor in Sons of Anarchy and American Primeval, joined Evan Bay this week to talk about his new show The Walking Dead: Dead City and what it’s like being on set with zombies.
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Listen to what it’s like to be on set with zombies:
These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
BRAY: Tell us about The Walking Dead: Dead City,’ which started up last week.
COATES: First World problems for Kim Coates. Oh, woe is me, but publicity for four days in New York City. 24/7 it was on. I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted from the Empire State Building to seeing a Mets game, to the Paley Center, to breakfast TV. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan and I, a couple of the other stars (and) Scott Gimple, the producer, we were everywhere in New York and it’s exhausting.
BRAY: What do you think of your character in the show?
COATES: Bruegel. It was kind of written for me. Eli Jorné, the show runner of last season, wrote it with me in mind.
He’s a multi, multi, multi-millionaire hedge fund CEO who, during the zombie apocalypse, has his own bunker.
He hides in the floor of this bunker for a year and a half, and when it’s safe to come back up to Earth in that whole Walking Dead universe, he forms the biggest gang in New York. There’s three of them now in the second season, I’m certainly the boss of the biggest one.
I call my gang the Silk Stockings. They don’t like it when I do and I don’t care. He’s antiquated. He lives in the Met. I got to go to the Met for a couple of days and soak it all in. And Washington Crossing the Delaware, that magnificent painting, is actually in the series. You’ll see it in the fourth episode.
He’s conniving, he’s funny, he’s a dink, He’s smart, he’s a coward. I can’t tell you how many zombies I kill. I can’t tell you what happens at the end of the second season. You’ll have to watch. But it was just so fun to play.
BRAY: What’s it like stepping into a show that’s this big already?
COATES: It’s weird. It’s wacky. It’s how lucky am I to have been in Sons of Anarchy for that seven-year run. And during that time, there were five hit cable shows, five. It was The Sons, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Game of Thrones. Those five shows were the biggest offshoots on cable.
It’s when TV was exploding in that 2007 period for the next seven, eight years, and The Walking Dead just kept on going.And during COVID, AMC decided on a couple of spin-offs. And so Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohen are doing Dead City. That’s the one I’m on. Norman Reedus and I got to do a show together in Atlanta, I did his reality riding bike show. Norman’s a pal of mine. They all knew me and I know all of them.
This is not biker land. This is zombie land, walker land and it’s crazy. It’s nuts. The special effects are so good in the show. It’s really impressive to watch.
BRAY: You mentioned Jeffrey Dean Morgan, how did the presence of both he and his baseball bat Lucille on the set feel once the cameras are rolling?
COATES: It was great. Having that bat, it’s like for me someone having the Stanley Cup, like I don’t want to touch that cup unless I win it. Jeffrey would fool around with his bat all day long with me and I’ve seen him go ‘Do you want to hold it?’ I went, No, no, I do not. ‘Do you want to touch it? ‘No, no, I do not.’
BRAY: When you’re doing something like The Walking Dead are there ever moments when you’re like, is this potentially what it would be like?
COATES: Never, not for one second. It’s a crazy time in the world right now with the environment and everything.
I mean, who knows what 100 years from now is really going to look like? But I love that this is based on a comic book.
And the fans went crazy for it. It’s just it’s like a religion to them. What I love about this year is that they’re releasing one show at a time, like Sons of Anarchy days when you had to wait.
My little brother, Dean is a psycho fan of The Walking Dead, so he’s so excited. You have to wait every week, and it’s a good wait, because people talk about what’s gonna happen next week. I really start to explode on this show in the fourth episode, four through eight is a lot of Bruegel. So get ready.
BRAY: How does it feel to be in a meeting of two worlds?
COATES: In Sons of Anarchy, I was, ‘Oh, you’re the guy from Black Hawk Down. You’re the guy from Waterworld. Oh, you’re the guy from Goon.’
Sons of Anarchy people knew my name. Now with me doing The Walking Dead. Those fans around the world may not just be ‘How’s Gemma?’ It might be Bruegel. I guess that’s part of being on such a successful show and series.
BRAY: What’s the situation now in Los Angeles after the fires?
COATES: I got very lucky, my house survived because of an incredible neighbour who refused to evacuate himself, my fast-acting kids and my gardeners getting on the roof hosing down my house, Four of the homes beside me are gone, two across the street are gone.
Altadena is doing an incredible job. Try and wrap your head around the fact 9,300 structures were burnt to the ground. It’s unfathomable how Altadena is forever changed and it’s incredibly sad.
However, life is life and you have to move on. You have to be strong and you have to clean up and rebuild.
They’ve already cleaned up 4,000 of that 9,300, so they’re ahead of schedule. They’re doing an incredible job. Mother Nature’s has sent a lot of rain lately, so she’s cooperating.
I’ve given to so many GoFundMe campaigns and I hosted breakfast when I was in LA a month ago. The Pacific Palisades and Altadena have given what they can and it’s making a difference.
- The Walking Dead: Dead City is available in Canada on AMC+, Prime Video, Shudder and Telus TV+
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