Fear the Walking Dead star Colman Domingo reveals that he almost passed on the show before it ended up changing his career. Serving as a spinoff of AMC’s The Walking Dead, the series was created by Robert Kirkman and ended up airing for eight seasons from 2015 to 2023. Domingo appeared in the Fear The Walking Dead cast as Victor Strand, a character introduced in season 1 who eventually comes to serve as an antagonist in the zombie apocalypse show’s later seasons.

During a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Domingo reveals that he initially wasn’t interested in Fear The Walking Dead. The actor explains that, when the show was first presented to him, he wasn’t familiar with The Walking Dead and was interested in pursuing more prestigious theater work. That changed, however, after the read the script, and the series ended up radically transforming his career for the better. Check out Domingo’s full story below:

“I was a snob, yes. I was a theater snob. I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ And I just moved onto the agent that still represents me, Elizabeth Weiderseim, and she literally said, ‘Oh my god, it’s the precursor to The Walking Dead,’ and I was like, ‘What’s that?’ They were like, ‘You don’t know The Walking Dead? It’s just a huge show on AMC.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t watch TV.’ And so I know I really had an attitude when she was like, ‘I’m going to send you the script; I think you would really like this.’

“Immediately, I thought obviously this person does not know me because she’s going to send me some genre thing, or some TV thing, I’m not interested. She sends me the sides and it was fantastic. It was everything I thought… I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know TV could be like this.’

“It was rich, it was great storytelling, a really provocative character, and I thought I had a take on the character so I sent that tape in without even thinking about it. And then literally a couple days later I got an offer, just from a self tape, to be a series regular in Fear The Walking Dead. Apparently I had a good take on it.

“It literally did change my entire career because, just before that, I though that I had achieved what I was supposed to achieve and I was kindly ready to step away from the whole industry because things were not just progressing the way I thought made sense.

“I wasn’t booking, I wasn’t working, I had no access or agency and I was entering my mid-40s and I was like, ‘I can’t sustain this.’ I need to ‘get a real job.’ At least a job that makes sense, that I actually see how it was going to support me. The life of an artist was just too rocky for me at the time […] but then Fear The Walking Dead gave me footing back in the industry in a new way.”

What Colman Domingo’s Role On Fear The Walking Dead Meant For His Career

Domingo Has Since Taken On Some Impressive Projects

Strand is one of the few characters in Fear The Walking Dead who is present from the show’s first season to its last. As Domingo explains, the role created a number of other opportunities for him and, after 2015, he appeared in projects like The Knick, Assassination Nation (2018), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), Candyman (2021), Euphoria, Rustin (2023), The Color Purple (2023), and Sing Sing (2023), among others. Sing Sing, in particular, has been widely acclaimed, and Domingo is now also widely known for his role as Ali in Euphoria.

It’s also notable that starring in Fear The Walking Dead seemingly opened Domingo up to appearing in more genre projects. This willingness to take on action, horror, and sci-fi opened the door for Domingo’s leading role in Netflix’s The Madness. The Netflix crime thriller featured Domingo front and center as a media pundit attempting to prove his innocence, and it now marks one of his most notable leading roles as an action star.

The Madness reviews were generally positive from critics and the limited series was a major viewership success.

Our Take On Domingo’s Fear The Walking Dead Role

Victor Strand Was A Standout Character

Though a central component of Fear The Walking Dead‘s appeal is its zombie action, it’s the show’s characters that keep viewers coming back week after week. Strand remains one of the Walking Dead spinoff’s best and most interesting characters, and Domingo’s performance stands out as a series highlight.

Domingo’s Fear The Walking Dead performance is made all the more special with the revelation that it’s what kept him working as an actor. After first taking on the role of Strand, Domingo has appeared in a number of notable titles across a variety of genres, and it will be interesting to see where his career goes next.