Negan kills Bruegel “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” style after a fight ensues between their two groups. Bruegel goes out literally breathing fire, ending his long scheme to take over New York and the methane operation for himself. Despite his short-lived tenure on the series, Coates still reminisces about it as an unforgettable “blast.” In an interview with CBR, Coates talks about accepting that his character had to die at this point in the show, gushes over Lauren Cohan, and compares the production to other famed projects he’s done in the past.
CBR: Thank you for speaking with me today. I’m very sad that your character is no longer with us.
Kim Coates: So am I. But when we started this whole thing with Eli Jorne, the showrunner, it was always a one-season gig, right? It wasn’t until Episode 5 or 6 that the producers at AMC and everyone were going, “Wait a minute. Wait a second. What are we doing here?” You can tell I had a blast. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was a pal going in, and now he’s a brother saying goodbye to that show. I’ll never forget it. It was just so much fun.
Was there ever a moment deep into filming when you wanted to start advocating for Bruegel to live, despite knowing from the start he was going to die in the Season 2 finale?
I never did. I never thought about it. I think I’m really good at knowing what the job is, what the gig is, and then just not being afraid to fail and go for it. I always knew because I read all the scripts that the eighth episode was going to be epic and sad. And yet, Bruegel’s a villain [so he’s] got to go. There are villains that have to go in every show that we do on television that are successes. But I do think there’s been no one quite like Bruegel for a long time in The Walking Dead universe.
He was quite different because of his humor, his style, his conniving and his strength. He’s a coward. All those things were in Bruegel, and Eli wrote that for him. I’m glad they hired me because I really encompassed him 100% of the time. But no, I never really thought it was over until it was really over. That final scene with Jeffrey, when it was really over, it was like we looked at each other and we were so sad. We were just so sad that this might truly be the end. But you know, did Bruegel have a twin? I don’t know. Yeah, his head’s gone. But it’s The Walking Dead. They can do makeup. I don’t lose sleep over it, but I will tell you, I had an absolute blast playing this guy.
Looking back on everything Bruegel did throughout the series and what you understand about this character, what really was his biggest weakness that ultimately led him to dig his own grave?
He wanted too much too fast. He just wanted that methane and to be partners. In the fourth episode, Negan finds out that Bruegel’s walker was really a real person, Tony, his bodyguard, and the way Bruegel kills him at the end of the episode… his weakness was he just wanted it too fast. Once he and Negan did their thing in that fourth episode, Bruegel could have went away for a while. He could have just backed away for a while, but he didn’t back away at anything. He went right to the park. He got Maggie and her son and tried to convince them to work with him. So his mind never stopped, and he never really thought that he would fail.
I think he got a little too quick. We’re not out of this game yet. And yet, it’s a TV show. People kept saying to me [about] Sons of Anarchy, “Oh, my God, it was so real.” I went, “So real? We would’ve all been in jail by the second episode of Season 1!” [Laughs] But that’s what brings people in, right? I think Bruegel, hopefully, brought a lot of people into the show as the villain that I was able to create with the writing and the rest of the cast, and they wanted more of them. I think that’s a good place to be.
You mentioned his bodyguard, Tony. We still didn’t learn a ton about Bruegel’s backstory. Did you have your own backstory for him or talk to the writers about that?
I did. And that’s a great point, because had this show been 12 or 14 episodes instead of eight, we definitely would have delved back into New York and saw a bit of his life before the apocalypse. It would have been fascinating to see him look the way he does in the world before the walkers, before he was in that bunker for a year and a half, before he came and formed his gang and was in all these old clothes. He was a horse-clothed magnet, that Bruegel. He knew so much about antiquity in the past in Europe and America. It would have been fascinating to find out more about that. But there’s no time.
Do you think he was similar to how he is now, as if he was made for this world?
Wow. Great question. Yeah, I think he probably was because he never apologized for himself, did he? He never apologized for his looks or his cane or his rings or the way all his gang looked in this armor that got him around New York from the museums and whatnot. They looked different, they felt different. They were going to win it out. They were going to survive.
I think his sense of humor kept him happier than he probably would have been. Armstrong’s always grim. He’s never in a good mood. Maggie’s having a tough season with her son. The Dama and Bruegel bring a little… The Croat and Negan have a little sparkle, but not as much. It’s been a very downer year for survival, and I think Bruegel popped some life into the whole picture. I think he would have survived in whatever universe he was put in, but he certainly misses Radio City Music Hall for sure.
Talking about the finale, the fight scene between Bruegel’s people, Negan’s people, and the walkers — it’s Game of Thrones-level stuff. What was it like to film that? Was that an actual flamethrower that you got to use?
Oh, yeah. It’s no joke. People have been asking me, “So the production, was this something different?” I’ve been in Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor. I’ve done massive movies that have spent so much money on special effects and the right crew and safety and those things. When we finally filmed that flamethrower scene in the church, it took three solid nights of massive coordination with the stunt guys. It was super safe. I was with that flamethrower at least six weeks before we did it, and then five weeks before we did it, rehearsing and practicing. I felt very comfortable. They let me do the whole thing. It was real. It was as real as it gets, but safety first. I mean, it was hot. We filmed it in Boston in this massive church, which was a huge set piece for the whole second season. The special effects team didn’t fart around. All safe, but yeah, fun to do.
I do have to ask, are you bummed that you didn’t get to fight the bear?
No. [Laughs] Good job, Lauren. You take the bear. You directed that episode. Let’s talk about her for a second. Lauren freaking Cohen. Amazing. Who stars in a show like that? She directed the sixth episode, which they had to bump up earlier. She had lots of prep, but she wanted a bit more. She did it, man. She did it. She fought that bear. She’s directing. She didn’t sleep for 10 days of doing it. She was just a miracle girl, and I’m so proud of her and her talent. It was fun to watch her. But no, Lauren, you can have the bear.
He didn’t know much about them. That’s the great thing about Bruegel. He didn’t know much about anybody. He finds out about them a little bit. He finds out about Negan, finds out a little bit about Maggie. Finds out about her son. In that very first episode, Bruegel sees the Dama sitting because Negan’s looking at her, and Bruegel figures stuff out. What he did with Maggie in that sixth episode, when he brought them to the [Metropolitan Museum of Art] and served them soup… he’s trying to work out a deal. I think Bruegel, being a former CEO of a hedge fund company, thinks he can make a deal with anybody. He thinks he can work something out with anybody. He thought the same about Maggie, but he didn’t capture her. He let her go. I thought that was a cool twist to the story.
The art of the show is also fantastic, and is a huge part of Bruegel’s character. What was it like to work and be around this art, and how did it inform your performance?
It was everything. The wardrobe, the art, the history. I’m a book reader. I knew all about the American Revolution, and I got to go to the Met for a couple of days and hang out in the nighttime and just soak in that painting of “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” which is a lot bigger than you saw in the show. But they did an incredible job of redoing it for the show. It was an incredible interpretation of that painting. But the real painting is so massive. The room it’s in is so unbelievable. The art at the Met is so unbelievable. I soaked it up for two solid days before I went to start filming, and it helped everything.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 is available to stream on AMC+. Season 1 is streaming on Netflix.
