ALEXA MANSOUR’S THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND CHARACTER SEES HOPE

BY IRVIN RIVERA

The Walking Dead: World Beyond bi-racial actress ALEXA MANSOUR plays Hope in the highly successful series.

As the show wrapped its second season, Mansour’s character Hope evolves into someone who is more hopeful, someone who uses her wits and genius to survive the post-apocalyptic zombie world.

In this exclusive interview, we spoke to Alexa Mansour about the challenges she faced while filming the show, the highs of being in a highly successful zombie franchise, being a bi-racial actress in Hollywood and the importance of visibility and representation in mainstream media, her acting journey, her music career and more.

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Hi Alexa! How are you?

I'm good. How are you?

Good. Thank you for the time today. Appreciate it.

Yes, of course.

Alright, Alexa, let's get into it. How excited are you that the show wrapped its second season?

It's pretty crazy. I'm really excited but at the same time, it's almost bittersweet. Because I want everyone to see what that means about and how it's going to tie into everything else. At the same time, it's like, oh, it's done.

What can the fans expect this season?

Hope just gets smarter and smarter. She is just a genius. I don't know, I think it's all going to get tied in pretty well. And I think there's going to be a lot of questions that are answered to the fans who are loyal fans of The Walking Dead universe. They're going to see a lot of things in the last episode that are going to make them wonder where other people are and have been and where they could be.

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So it's going to be exciting, explosive, and there's going to be a lot more questions.

Yes.

And how was Hope's character evolution throughout the two seasons of the show?

She definitely went from being like this antsy teen to turning into this girl that actually cares about everybody else and has belief that there's a future out there. In the first season, she didn't have any hope. She was just thinking that there was no point in doing anything because the world was going to end anyways. And then in season two, she's actively trying to find a cure and figure out a way to keep everything going.

How was it like to join The Walking Dead: World Beyond and be part of this whole franchise?

It was crazy. I did not believe it. When I got the job I was like, there's no way this is happening to me right now. It's insane. And everyone's so nice. The fans are so welcoming. It almost feels like it's just this extended family of people that already know everything about you.

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And prior to booking the show, did you like horror stuff, scary things?

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I go to Halloween Horror Nights every year. I love getting scared. I love putting myself in situations where I'm going to start screaming and freaking out. I think it's great.

If you're going to be in that world, what would be your weapon of choice?

In the zombie world?

The zombie world, yes. Say it's happening in real life, what would be your weapon of choice?

It has to be something that I can't hurt myself with, because I'm really clumsy. Maybe like, I would say a gun, even though that's very possible that I would shoot my foot or something. But yes, I would say a gun just because you don't have to get close to them. You know, you could stay far away. Hopefully, my aim will be better in that world. But I'm going to go with the gun.

What drew you to Hope's character? How much of you is in Hope, and how much of Hope is in Alexa?

Oh, so much. I almost feel like Hope and I are the same person. Aside from the fact that she makes alcohol. I'm not that smart. I'm not book smart and Hope seems to be very book smart. I think that might be the one difference. But when I was reading the slides, and I got the audition, and I saw her description, I was like, I don't want to say tormented, but this young girl had so much going on inside of her- she didn't let anybody see that. She kind of put on this brave face and I really, really, really related to that. I mean, I feel like I grew up my entire life just putting on a smile and letting people think that everything was okay. And the way that Hope finally speaks out about what she was holding in just really resonated with me in the way that I finally learned how to open up and talk about things that I was going through and not be so... just not be such a recluse and let people in. And I think it's important for everybody to let people in and not suffer through anything alone.

That's beautiful, because you're saying that the character helped you as well to open up in real life.

Oh, yes.

That's great. What are the challenges that you experienced throughout this whole thing?

Throughout the shoot?

It's a lot of work...

What are the challenges and the highs?

The highs are like seeing a stunt scene, like after going through hours of stunt training and all that kind of stuff and then seeing that scene on TV or wherever and seeing it come to life is so crazy. You're looking at that you're like, that just happened like four minutes, and it took us like six hours to shoot it. That's insane.

But it's just the hours and hours of work that you put into this kind of job which is like -- you know, it's different from other shows, in the sense that there's a lot of action and a lot of physical stuff that comes along with this job. And the shooting conditions are also not ideal. We're in Richmond, Virginia, and on the outskirts of Virginia, and sometimes it's 20 degrees outside and sometimes 115 degrees, but you're wearing the same thing, because you know, you don't have new clothes in the apocalypse. So that was definitely one of the harder things of the show, was getting acclimated to the weather, and being able to act when you're freezing inside or when your clothes are sticking to you because it's so hot.

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How did you rise up to those challenges? What did you do to alleviate that situation?

I'm not even going to lie, I complained a lot. Not to like AMC or the show. But I remember calling my mom and being like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm really hot, and I'm cold and I don't know... But my mom helped me through a lot of it. She'd be like, I carried you in my stomach for however many months you could get through this. And I'm like, yes, you're probably right. Just kind of reminding myself why I was doing it. And after doing Walking Dead, I really do feel like I could do anything when it comes to jobs and stuff. It opened up a whole new world of like things that I didn't even think that I wanted to do in my career. Like, I never pictured myself doing action stuff, or more physical stuff. And after doing that, I'm like, oh, yes, bring it on. I would love to do something more physical.

That's great. So it brought out that physicality in you as well. That's amazing. And now, as a bi-racial actress in Hollywood, what's your take on visibility and representation?

I think it's extremely important. And I think that we have to bring out more of the issues that biracial people, and I mean, I guess everyone kind of goes through, but for some reason, when you're of a different ethnicity, or you're this or that nationality. As much as the world is moving forward, we're still very stuck in some not so great ways. And I think that when shows can bring out all these different kinds of characters, it makes the show a lot more relatable to people that might have not thought that they were being seen. When I was growing up, it felt very different. It wasn't as diverse when I was watching TV, and all that kind of stuff. And now, I mean, I can pick any movie, any show, and I will find someone that I feel like I relate to.

Absolutely.

Yes, and I just think it's awesome that we, like people, relate to us on the show.

It's really great when someone sees you on TV, and they can be like, oh, I could do that too. You're inspiring someone as well. And they're like, oh, she's a kick ass girl on TV. I want to be like that when I grew up. So that's pretty cool.

Yes, I love that.

What is your proudest moment in your career, so far?

The proudest moment of my career. Hmm... As of right now, I have to say that it's booking the show. Just because it pushed me to do things that I never really thought that I would do. And whether or not people think this is my best work, or whether it is or isn't, it brought something out of me that I didn't know that I had inside of me. So it's shown me a new lease on life. And I think that's why this is my proudest moment.

And you're doing music as well. So tell us a little bit about that.

I have been doing music since I was -- I’ve been playing the piano since I was five, not as good as I should be for having played that long. But I started writing music when I was about 16. Like actually taking it seriously and stuff when my parents divorced. That was my little way of getting everything out. Because I didn't do therapy when I was younger. It wasn't until I got older that I actually got into any of that stuff. So music was my therapy and I loved it. And I think I started getting into acting to try and get my music out there. You know, that acting just kind of happened a little faster than the music did. But I'm still doing it. I'm starting an album in January that should be out sometime in 2022, which I'm really excited about.

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How's it like to do music and do acting at the same time? I know they're both forms of art but kind of different in their own regard. What was that like? How are you able to find that sweet spot or have you found the sweet spot?

Honestly, I don't think I have. It wasn't until when The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season One wrapped. It wasn't until COVID hit. Because right after World Beyond, I went on to do another show in Vancouver. So I didn't have the time to just like, sit down and write and practice and all that kind of stuff. So it wasn't until COVID hit that I was like okay, there's nothing to do and my pianos right there, I might as well just write and do stuff. And then there was a producer that my agent told me about and I was able to work with him and stuff. So it wasn't until I was forced to sit down that I could actually focus on the music. And right now, I think it's one of those things where it's one or the other, just because I'm not at that point in my career where I can be like, no, I don't want to do that job. Like, if I get it, I'm going to be like, hell yes, I'm taking that job. And I'll always write music, like it's always going to be there.

So it's just like, always going to be part of you. You'll always bring it wherever you go. That's great.

Yes.

And then you're going to be releasing an album anyway so that's exciting.

Yes.

Alexa, if you were a book, what book would you be and why?

This is going to sound kind of weird, but I think I would be a book that doesn't end. Like, you make it up as you go. I don't know, I've thought about it. I've thought about it like writing and stuff and doing that kind of thing. But definitely a happy ending at the end. I think everyone deserves one of those.

Seemingly endless book with a happy ending. That's beautiful.

Yes, I like that.

And what's a valuable lesson that you've learned throughout your life that you always carry with you?

Don't judge a book by its cover. I think I got bullied a lot for the way that I looked when I was younger. I lost my hair when I was a kid. So a lot of people know, some people don't, I wear a wig. And I was always bullied for not looking like a normal kid and whatnot. And it sucked but at the same time I think it made me a lot more empathetic towards other people. So I think that if someone's rude to you or whatever, don't take it personally, you don't know what happened in their day. You don't know what they're going through to make them like that. So, I think just be a good person to everybody else and the rest will follow.