Fans of the Walking Dead comic books could not wait to finally see King Ezekiel on screen. The character, along with his pet tiger Shiva, first appeared in issue No. 108 of the comics and finally turned up on the TV series at the beginning of season 7. It was actor Khary Payton who brought Ezekiel to life, with his booming voice and impressive dreadlocks. The actor was asked about joining an established show as a very anticipated character.
Khary Payton: Well, that was fun. You know, I got the audition, and I'd been a fan of the show and sort of had an understanding of the comics, but I hadn't really read them. And I knew the image of Ezekiel from the comics, just from flipping through different things, but I didn't know the character so well. But the funny thing is, when you audition for "The Walking Dead," they try to hide what you're actually auditioning for. But it's really difficult to hide a dude who's living with a large, wild animal. I think they changed the tiger to a lion. It was real easy to know that this was going to be Ezekiel from the comics. I was excited to audition. I felt like the thing that helped me stand out is that I found the character through the voice and through his vocal changes. And because I've been doing so much voiceover, that's just where my head immediately went. And I think that gave me just a little more insight into the character than some others might have. I got the job, or I got the audition, and it took about a month for them to finally give me the job. They must have auditioned every Black guy between the ages of 39 and 69. But finally they came back, and were like, 'Well, we couldn't find anybody else. You got the job!' At that point, I was under strict orders not to tell anybody anything. The show was kind of at its height of popularity when I got the job, and so I think I might have mentioned that I was shooting something in Atlanta, and the first person I told immediately said, 'Oh, is it 'The Walking Dead?' And I realized I couldn't even tell anybody where I was going. So I just lied and told everybody that I was shooting something in Vancouver. And I'm from Georgia. My parents still lived in Georgia. I had cousins and uncles and everything from Georgia. So I just told them know that I was shooting in Canada. I think I only told my dad because he was a vault. He wouldn't say a word, but everybody else was in the dark because I didn't want it to get out. Whenever I went outside and I had the dreadlock wig on, they put a blanket over me and put me into the back of a van. It was crazy.
Bob Barrett: It was a hostage situation!
Payton: It was like a hostage situation. It was crazy.
Barrett: When you auditioned, I take it then you auditioned without the hair.
Payton: No. Yeah. What I always did before Ezekiel was grow out my afro, and then after I got tired of that, I just shaved it. And so I was somewhere in between big Afro and no hair at all when I got the job. And so I went down to this little house in Long Beach. Natalie Woods is the name of the lady who does these wigs. I walked into her little cottage behind the back of her house, and there were pictures of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, and Chris Pine. She was doing all of their wigs, and I was the next one. And she looked at my little afro and she waxed it down to my head and then put Saran Wrap around my head and all this stuff to measure my head for the wig. And she looked at me and she said, 'You know, it's hot in Georgia, you might want to think about shaving that off.' So I ended up shaving my head for the next six or seven years and just having that wig glued on every time I was doing the show.
Barrett: I was looking back at some of your former roles, and you did an episode of "Hannah Montana" that was entitled “More Than a Zombie to Me." So you were destined to do this role.
Payton: That's so crazy. I forgot that that's what it was called. That is so funny. “More Than a Zombie to Me." Oh, my gosh. Yes, I did Hannah Montana. I don't know, what was it 2007 ... something like that. But that's when I had my big, huge afro. Miss that thing. Those curly locks. But it takes about, like four years to grow them out.
Barrett: Let's talk a little bit about your voice work because you have a massive voiceover resume. Is there a difference in doing it for TV and for movie and for video games? You have to get into a different mindset for that.
Payton: That's a funny question because it is a different way of working and a different mindset. But every time I switch from one to the other, it's so exciting. It doesn't feel like I have to get myself into a new mode. It's more like I just get so excited to be doing a new mode. But now with, the video games, there's performance capture. So you're not just doing voiceover, you're putting on the whole suit. And it reminds me of being a kid on the playground with a jungle gym. Except the jungle gym gets to change into whatever you want it to be. They have all of these platforms and risers and everything to build a helicopter or a palace or a huge extension bridge, and your imagination gets to run wild. So I love that I get to access my imagination in so many different ways. With just voiceover, you're standing there with just a microphone and a music stand. And there's something incredibly magical about that, that you just close your eyes and you get to imagine whatever it is you're supposed to be in whatever circumstance, whatever character. I played these huge monsters. I'm still playing like a 16, 17-year-old teenager in Cyborg that I've been playing since 2002. So just the fact that I get to keep doing that. I'm 51 years old now. I've been playing this teenager half-robot superhero for most of my adult life now. It's so cool that I get the opportunity to play all of these different things. And now it's morphed again because I started playing "Dungeons and Dragons" and started doing these campaigns. I started with Critical Role, which is this amazing group of voice actors and friends of mine who invited me to play with them years ago. And now I have my own show called "Encounter Party" streaming and on, the Plex app and FreeVee app. And we have 22 episodes in our first season. I think there are about 15 or 16 episodes out right now on Plex that you can watch on demand. But with D&D, it is another absolutely amazing burst of creativity. I get to create my own character. I get to play that character in real time. I get to be a part of a team that is working together. So we're writing and improving and acting all at once. I say confines of this game, but it's really not confined. It's more —whatever your imagination can express can happen. If anyone loves that we actually condensed our episodes down to about 45 minutes. I'm so proud of it. Please go find it and look for it if that's something that you're into, because I think you'll absolutely love it.
Barrett: Well, to go back to "The Walking Dead" just for a second. You were one of the few who made it to the very end of the show with your head still attached. And in the comic books, you didn't.
Payton: No, I zigged when they zagged and I got away.
Barrett: What are the farewell dinners like to the characters who don't make it?
Payton: They're incredibly emotional. We spend so much time together, and for almost all of us, this show has changed our lives. It really has been this incredible sea-ship for all of us. And so when you're saying goodbye, whether you're the one leaving or you're the one who's watching somebody go, it is gut-wrenchingly emotional. I think by the end of the run, when we would have our death dinners, we call them when somebody was leaving the show. We started really trying to make it more of a party and less of a heavy thing because we would get so emotional so much of the time, especially that last season, we were like, we can't do this all. We're going to be crying all season long. And that was during the pandemic when everything was already just so heightened emotionally. So, yeah, by the end of it we really tried to make it more of a, 'Let's play board games and do silly things and try not to focus on how much we're going to miss each other.' Plus, you know what the beauty of it is these conventions. So many times you get on a show like this and it's hard to find the time to see each other again. With the conventions, we're able to see each other, over and over again. And it's always such an amazing homecoming, it's amazing reunion to see each other. I'll be able to see, Seth again and Chandler, at Pensacon this weekend. I'm so excited about that, to be able to catch up with those guys. So that's one of the beauties of it. We can say farewell, but we know it's not goodbye.
Barrett: Well, I'm going to ask you this, knowing that you can't tell me the truth. We ever going to see King Ezekiel on the screen again?
Payton: You know what? That's a great question. I would love for that to happen, but, yeah, I couldn't tell you, who knows what Mr. And Mrs. Walking Dead are thinking. But, I hold out hope that we'll see him again because from the very moment that I first started working on the audition for that character, I fell in love with him. And, he's such a light in a dark place. And I've gotten to have so many amazing moments and conversations with people about the character and his journey, and I can't tell you how many people have, “and yet I smile," that kind of mantra that he says, tattooed on their body somewhere because they use it as, like I said, a mantra just to remind themselves on their toughest days or on their days when they can't really deal with it anymore. It reminds them to keep going, that better days are ahead, and that they can fight through it. I think that's what this show, why so many people have become attached to it, is because they see people struggling to survive and thrive and find family and love in a dark situation. And I'm so grateful that I got picked to play this character and that I was able to touch so many people, and in turn, I've been able to meet so many people who touch me, so it's been an awesome thing.
Barrett: All right, well, keep those dreads in your closet. We hope we get to see them again.
Payton: Absolutely, man. You know what? Whenever they're ready, I will put them back on and get back to work, so put that vibe out. Absolutely.
