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‘Fear The Walking Dead’: Garret Dillahunt’s Role Was Created Especially For This ‘Walking Dead’ Superfan

By Rachel Tsoumbakos
Published on: 14:02 PST, Apr 17, 2018

John Dorie has only appeared in one episode so far of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead. However, he already is a fan favorite. This is likely music to the actor’s ears since he has always been a huge fan of The Walking Dead.

John Dorie opened the Season 4 premiere of Fear The Walking Dead with a monologue into the woods and to a person that may — or may not — have been imagined. As he spoke, it was revealed the character sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between the living and those he imagined. So, when Morgan (Lennie James) entered the scene — another character who struggles with reality at times — it seemed like a match made in heaven.

Later on in Episode 1 of Fear the Walking Dead Season 4, more of John Dorie’s character was revealed and fans took to Twitter to voice their opinion on how quickly they were enamored with Dillahunt’s character.

Garret Dillahunt has always been a massive fan of the original series, so much so that he originally tried out for the role of Negan. Obviously, this role eventually ended up going to Jeffrey Dean Morgan. However, it is likely Dillahunt’s fervor for the Walking Dead franchise that led to the development of a character suited specifically to him, according to Fear the Walking Dead‘s new showrunner, Scott Gimple.

When asked by Vulture, Gimple revealed that while they didn’t decide outright to create a character just for Garret Dillahunt, in hindsight, that is likely what happened.

“In retrospect, I see that that’s pretty much what happened. It was lodged in my brain, and I was thinking of the sort of characters that would lead Morgan into the world of Fear. When Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg came in, I started talking to them about what I had in my mind. You know, it was always Garret, Garret was sticking in my brain throughout the pretty quick birth of John Dorie because he was someone I absolutely wanted to work with.”

Gimple also revealed to Vulture that he had always wanted to work with Garret Dillahunt but he didn’t want to get his hopes too high, even after he created a character with him in mind. As is the nature of show business, even though an actor may be perfect for a role, sometimes it comes down entirely to timing. Luckily, for Gimple and fans of Fear the Walking Dead, Dillahunt was free and he went on to fill out the character of John Dorie.

Fear the Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, April 22, at 9 p.m. ET. Zap2It lists the following synopsis for Episode 2 (titled “Another Day in the Diamond”).

“A troubled survivor finds allies in an unexpected place; the life Madison has fought to build comes under threat.”

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