“Even I was surprised in hearing that she was Jadis Stokes.
I was like, ‘What?
Only she was no longer Anne.
Pollyanna McIntosh on ‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’.Steve Swisher/AMC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So when and how did you find out about Jadis crossing over toWorld Beyond?
We got pushed here in Ireland.
Gimple knew this and went, “Oh, hang on a minute.
Pollyanna McIntosh on ‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’.AMC
We could really do something here because this world is the right world.”
And he said, “Let me speak to AMC.”
It was really fun.
It was really fast.
I had a lot of fun, man.
That’s fascinating to hear that had the shutdown not happened, then maybethisdoesn’t happen.
We talk aboutWalking Deadfamily a lot, and we really mean it.
I was just excited.
They were very welcoming, and we had other new people this season as well.
It’s just been really fun, and I really loved Richmond as well.
I thought it’s a wonderful place to be.
It was like, “Hello, people.
How have you been?”
Well, what about this?”
We just had a little bit more collaboration on this, because onWalking Deadyou wouldn’t touch a letter.
It’s just fun.
So fun to get inhabit her again.
And whilst we’re in the audience going, “No!
Don’t go to the dark side!”
I was calling it the third iteration too.
So I’m calling her one plus two.
And that didn’t really work out, did it?
VeryStar Wars-esque, I thought, with the loose-fitting jacket.
There’s a lot of swagger.
How’d you all come up with the haircut, then?
So can we maybe give that nod?
And have it not just being a sort of nice short haircut."
It was like, “How can I make that straight-ass line?”
And I just went, “Let’s take it all the way around.
Let’s shave the s out of the back.”
And it’s for the greater good.
And she knows all kinds of thing."
And I thought that was a pretty good symbol for Jadis to carry around with her.
It makes it easier to do some sy things as well, if you think of Joan of Arc.
And then she’s also taken Gabriel’s last name of Stokes.
Tell me what you see as behind both those decisions.
Even I was surprised in hearing that she was Jadis Stokes.
I was like, “What?
But she left him behind, and she had to.
But I thought she’s not going to want to keep her…
They always challenge me where I have to come up with these reasons for things.
She’s closed herself off to those things.
I’m sure she still would get a shagging.
But there’s not going to be this love business.
There’s not going to be this stuff that just causes heartache and pain and makes life more difficult.
I think it’s a warning for her, but it’s also a little joke too.
Jadis is acting like all in on the CRM program.
What is it that has turned her into such a true believer?
She was in the CR, she got to see what was possible.
And she can’t sit idly by.
I think that having a purpose and being a leader is what keeps her going.
In the CR there’s everything.
Even culture, which was missing.
Is it the appeal of power too?
She was in a powerful position when we first met her in the Heaps and had people following her.
You said she was sitting on her butt for a little bit.
Is she now craving that power a little bit again?
I think that power is necessary, she knows that.
It’s also safety in power.
She was bloody terrified.
I do also believe she really loved her people.
It’s more that she can enjoy it for what it brings her.
But the leadership element is like a calling.
I think she likes having people to look after, and this is the same.
What do you think of that explanation of how the Heaps came to be?
Yeah, it’s always something I believed.
I had to figure out this language, making sense for this character.
For me it was exactly that.
If you bond everyone together with the same language, then we’re a stronger unit.
It’s better for everybody’s good.
Again, it’s a manipulation that’s useful rather than mustache-twirling.
But also to put other people from the outside on the back foot.
“Who am I dealing with here?
These people are weird.”
It kept everyone just a little bit sharper.
Your loyalty should lie with the CRM and the greater good.”
What can you tease in terms of what people can expect with Jadis coming up onWorld Beyond?
She’s always up to something, this one.
She’s always up to something.
it’s possible for you to expect that intrigue.
I think relationship and survival are going to be big themes, as they always are in this universe.
It’s really exciting, it ramps up.
It really ramps up and it pays off.
I had lots of fun doing this work.
