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‘The Walking Dead’s’ Khary Payton talks King Ezekiel’s big debut

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The Walking Dead’s King Ezekiel is one of the weirdest and most fascinating characters to pop up on AMC’s zombie apocalypse drama, in no small part because he sits on a throne and keeps a full-grown pet tiger at his side to intimidate enemies and allies.

But Khary Payton, the actor who plays Ezekiel, was scared of that tiger. Scared it would look terrible on screen, and that Walking Dead fans would hold him responsible.

“Hey, I’m the guy sitting beside it, they’re going to blame me!” said Payton, who plays the eccentric, pseudo-Shakespearean ruler of an idyllic community called the Kingdom, part of an important story arc from the ongoing Walking Dead comics series.

“They made two full animatronic tigers, and also an animatronic tiger head,” Payton said in an interview Monday. “There are moments of full animatronic tiger (in the episode), but it’s been enhanced with computer effects.”

Although the tiger, called Shiva, looked completely convincing once the post-production digital effects wizards had their way with her, some fans had been worried she would be a distracting, silly gimmick.

“I was worried too, man!” said Payton. “The animatronic tiger looks amazing, but when it starts moving, it looks a little bit like a ride at Disney World, you know? I was like, ‘I hope they smooth those movements out, otherwise everyone’s going to blame me for this tiger.’ ”

And it’s not like Payton didn’t have a lot on his mind already. After his initial jubilation over getting the part, the actor – probably best known for voicing the superhero Cyborg in various animated DC Comics shows – got his first script and realized he was being thrown into the deep end.

“This was not a thing where they were going to dip my toes in the water, or see me way off in the distance, waving, with a tiger,” he said of Sunday’s episode. “Everybody else is taking the day off, and I’ve got to pretty much do this episode – just me, Morgan (Lennie James) and Carol (Melissa McBride). So I had to get to work. I didn’t have time to be giddy and excited.”

Fan reaction to Payton’s Ezekiel has been hugely positive, but there’s also been a ton of online love for Jerry (Cooper Andrews), Ezekiel’s portly, affable sidekick.

Andrews, who plays Yo-Yo Engberk on AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, “is such a great guy, I absolutely love him to death,” said Payton. “And as soon as I saw the episode, I called him up and I was like, ‘Man, I cannot wait for people to see you. You are about to blow up, everybody’s going to love you.’ He’s such a nice guy, he was like, ‘Oh man, thanks, I was really worried about how I was come off.’ ”

In the episode, we learn that Ezekiel and his community live under the watchful glare of the murderous Negan and his group of Saviors, which would make Ezekiel a valuable ally to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his crew in an eventual war against Negan. But when they finally meet, will Rick and his crew take the king and his tiger seriously?

“Why don’t I just tell you about what’s going to happen in the next several episodes, wouldn’t that be great?” said Payton with a laugh. “I’ve got a better idea: how about I keep my job, and you can watch on Sunday and see what happens.”

Twitter: @stevetilley

STilley@postmedia.com

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