Kim Coates in The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2

The Walking Dead has brought fans a lot of tremendous villains over the years. From The Whisperers and The Governor in the main series, to the Croat and Dama in the first season of Dead City, the spinoff which focuses on Negan and Maggie. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere later this year, we now have a glimpse into the latest bad guy thanks to star Kim Coates, who teases his new villain as one of the most vicious yet.

MovieWeb caught up with Coates to discuss his new Netflix series American Primeval, and the subject of Dead City Season 2 came up. When asked to share a little about his villainous role in the sophomore outing, Coates teased that the character of Brugal was definitely written for him.

“Eli Jorné, the showrunner, picked me and said ‘You have to play this guy,’ and I said ‘Send me some of the scripts,’ and they did. I gotta tell you, this guy was written for me. He’s a dink. He’s just a bad person, he’s super smart, he’s a billionaire. He lived in this incredible enclave during the zombie apocalypse in Manhattan, and when he came out, zombies were running Manhattan, he got his own little gang together. There’s three or four gangs in Season 2, and Brugal is my name, and I’m certainly the biggest gang member of my squad. I kill a lot of zombies.”

Coates is perhaps best known for his time on Sons of Anarchy, where he portrayed Tig Trager, an unhinged character who at the same time acted as somewhat of the moral compass to SAMCRO. While he certainly did a lot of bad things, he also brought a lot of heart to the long-running series, which ended in 2014. Since then, Coates has remained very active, appearing in numerous movies and landing a starring role in the Canadian crime drama Bad Blood.

Kim Coates Says His ‘Dead City’ Character Is One He’s “Never Played Before”

Getting his start in film and TV in the mid-80s, Coates is one of the best character actors of this – or any – generation. He’s given standout performances in films like The Last Boy Scout, Dead Silence, Open Range, and Goon. While he came into his own as Trager in Sons of Anarchy, he says his character in The Walking Dead: Dead City is unlike any he’s stepped into before.

“Jeffery Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohen, massive love for those two and the entire cast and crew. Honestly. We shot it in Boston. It has eight episodes this season. It was only six in the first season. So it’s on. It is so funny, and violent, and crazy, and zombied out. I was invited to the party, and it’s a character I’ve never played before. He’s funny and vicious, and he’s a baby. I can’t wait for people to see it.”

Look for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 to premiere later this year on AMC. In the meantime, be sure to check out Coates in Netflix’s American Primeval on Jan. 9, which shows a different side of the Canadian-born actor as he takes on the role of the real-life Governor Brigham Young in Peter Berg’s limited Western series.