‘The Walking Dead’ Star Pollyanna McIntosh on ‘The Ones Who Live’ Spinoff and How Middle-Earth Changed Her Life
The latest “The Walking Dead” spinoff, “The Ones Who Live,” premieres on AMC Feb. 25, reuniting Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes and Dana Gurira’s Michonne for the first time since 2018 and Season 9 of the long-running zombie show. But the two aren’t the only familiar “Walking Dead” faces stepping back into the fray, with sometimes-ally-sometimes-foe Jadis joining the action once more.
For Scottish actress Pollyanna McIntosh, who joined as Jadis midway through Season 7, “The Ones Who Live” present her with a unique accolade, with her becoming the first actor to star in three different “The Walking Dead” series, having also appeared in 2020’s spinoff “World Beyond.”
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Speaking to Variety, McIntosh — who recently moved from Los Angeles to Dublin, Ireland — explains how her career could have taken a very different path from apocalyptic zombies were it not for a video game.
We understand you’re the first actor to have appeared on three separate “The Walking Dead” shows. Is that true?
Yes! Well, so I’ve been told by the ones who know. But it’s a really lovely thing. I didn’t know the show before I was invited to be on it. So I had six seasons to catch up before I joined and I was like, “Oh my God, this is really great,” and had a lot of nightmares. But these folk are now my family.
Your character Jadis has done some questionable things throughout her time on the show. Is she a good person?
She’s a damn fine person! I might be slightly subjective there. But you know, it’s the apocalypse at the end of the day. This is a situation in which all bets are off and life is very different. But I had a long discussion with [showrunner] Scott Gimple about whether she was a bad guy or not and it was definitely the case of absolutely not, she doesn’t see herself that way at all.
When you first joined the show did you have any idea that you’d make it this far?
No. I came on at first for, I think, five guest episodes. And then pretty quickly I got season regular’d. And that was astounding for me as a working actor. It wasn’t long before “The Walking Dead” I [was] thinking I needed to do something else. I was in my 30s and sometimes didn’t know whether my rent was going to be paid. I wanted to become a teacher and thought I could make my weird movies in the summer. I went as far as to have an interview in a school in London. And of course it was like lighting a cig at a bus stop, and I got this video game job. I was considering whether I should go from London to LA to do it, but I thought, if I’m going to be in LA for a 10-day job but it’s spread out over three months, let’s really give this a bash and find a new agent and give it a go.
What was the video game?
“Middle-Earth Shadow of War” — I played Shelob, the giant spider. So it was the world of Tolkien, which was especially fun because my grandfather was very good friends with Tolkien.
What, really?
Yeah, they were very close. They were both dons at Oxford. And in fact, my grandfather was playing squash with him when he bust his Achilles heel. He thought my grandpa had whacked him across the back of the heel with his racquet. So Tolkien ends up in the hospital and has to have bedrest for ages. And my grandpa goes and visits him and Tolkien says, “Well, you’ve done it now McIntosh, I’m going to be forced to write that book I’ve been putting off.” And that was “The Lord of the Rings.”
Incredible. So did “Middle-Earth” lead to “The Walking Dead”?
It was because I was in LA and giving it a proper go. The security from that job gave me the breathing space for my mental health to relax. And I had all this space in between the days of shooting mo-cap and voice recording, so I got myself a new agent and I started going out for things through her and pretty quickly I booked “Revenge Ride” and then “The Walking Dead” immediately after we finished shooting that.
Now you’re back living in Ireland, you recently starred in “Apocalypse Clown” and “Double Blind.” So is it nice to mix things up with big studio projects and smaller local indie films?
Absolutely. It’s a big reason why I moved, because the craft is so strong and the writing is so strong. It’s been gorgeous to do “Apocalypse Clown” and “Double Blind.” I shot them back-to-back. And they’re such different films. A sci-fi thriller horror and a wonderful absurdist comedy. So I think I can switch it up a little bit more on this side of the world and hopefully I can continue to work on American stuff too.
And with so many big U.S. shows and films being shot in Ireland, you may not have to move…
Yeah! Big shout out to the “Wednesday” people! You got anything for me?
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