Why Kim Coates’s Casting in Dead City Could Redefine the Walking Dead Villain Standard!

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 will star Kim Coates as its new main antagonist, which will continue a Walking Dead villain trend. As Dead City already features one of The Walking Dead‘s most powerful villains, the next season is set to include an exciting battle of wills. The premise for Dead City has been one of the most interesting of the Walking Dead spin-offs, as it forces two enemies to work together with a common goal. Negan and Maggie’s bitter history has kept the tension throughout Dead City, which left Maggie with a choice to make.

Dead City season 1 ended with Negan being captured by the Dama, who wants the old villainous Negan to bring her people together and prepare for war. This left Maggie torn between killing Negan and rescuing him, after spending a decade wishing for revenge. Negan is always more dangerous when he is offered power, but he may have met his match in Dead City. Manhattan may be comprised of scattered factions, but the fiercest of them is led by an unusual and powerful man, who the Dead City showrunner Scott Gimple has described as “a major villain.”

Kim Coates Will Play A “Major Villain” In Dead City

Kim Coates’s Best Known Role Is The Biker Tig In Sons Of Anarchy

Kim Coates has been cast as the new Dead City antagonist, who is known as Frugal. Scott Gimple teased some of the Dead City character arc in an interview with Screen Rant, describing his “dangerous levity,” and referring to him as “unusual” several times. Kim Coates joined the conversation, explaining his character a little more, “He’s powerful. He’s capricious. He’s scary.” As this description could also apply to Negan, a showdown between the two will likely be as funny as it is explosive. Coates excels at playing strange but dangerous characters, and his best-known role embodies these traits, and is also a gang member like Frugal.

Dead City season 2 will contain eight episodes, with Coates confirmed to appear in five.

Kim Coates played the volatile Sons of Anarchy Sergeant At Arms, Tig Trager, for all seven seasons of the show. Tig had some of the best lines in Sons of Anarchy and was one of the most iconic characters in the series for his outrageous behavior and unpredictability. That said, Coates brought more to the role than just violence and one-liners. Tig was one of the more sensitive characters in Sons of Anarchy, rescuing animals and falling in love. Coates will likely bring the same unique and nuanced perspective to Frugal, continuing The Walking Dead‘s strong villain trend.

When The Walking Dead Casts Sons Of Anarchy Stars, They Tend To Play Villains

Kim Coates’s Walking Dead Villain May Be Even More Outrageous Than Tig

Several actors have appeared in both Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead, and almost all have played villains. The most well-known is Ryan Hurst, who played Opie in SOA and the terrifying Beta in The Walking Dead. Dayton Callie played the racist and violent Jeremiah in Fear the Walking Dead. Jeff Kober played a similar character to Fear‘s Jeremiah in SOA, and an even more disturbing villain in The Walking Dead. Jose Pablo Cantillo played The Governor’s right-hand man in The Walking Dead. The main exception is SOA actress Kim Dickens, who plays Madison, the protagonist in Fear.

While Tig was a liability due to his habit of shooting first and asking questions later (if ever,) he did obey Clay when it came down to it. The Walking Dead universe has taken away most of the rules of functioning society, leaving Frugal to do virtually anything without consequences. Frugal is also the leader of a gang rather than a high-ranking member, so he has free rein to behave as outrageously as he likes. However, with Negan potentially back to his evil ways, Dead City may not be big enough for both of them.