During a whirlwind few hours of interviews, I got to meet the ever-gracious Natalie Gold (Lyla Belshaw), and Joe Holt (Leonardo “Leo” Bennett).
We do not know a lot about the mysterious Lyla Belshaw. So, naturally, my first question was immediately geared to her backstory. And naturally, the answer would have to unfold as season two is. Needless to say, that was spoiler territory! MILD-SPOILER WARNING FOR EPISODE 2 further into the article.
NATALIE GOLD: All will be revealed.
HOW DID SHE GET STARTED WITH THE CRM?
NG: That will be revealed as well. It has to do with her backstory and who she is.
NG: We know she’s a scientist. And that’s all–the rest is to come.
HOMEGIRL IS EATING A SANDWICH WHILE HER DEAD COLLEAGUE HANGS OUT AS AN A. DOES SHE FEEL SOME SYMPATHY THERE OR IS IT MORE THIS IS THE GREATER GOOD. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO DO. I FEEL LIKE THERE IS MORE TO HER BECAUSE, IN THE TEASER VIDEO, SHE IS RUNNING WITH LEO IN THE FOREST.
NG: I loved eating that sandwich. It was so big! It was impossible to eat. That was a pure Scott Gimple special. That Matt (Negrete) told me.
“I just want her eating this sandwich. There was a whole thing about the sandwich! I was like, oh my god! That’s cute! But it kind of began–I loved it so much!”
Natalie Gold as Lyla Belshaw eating a sandwich in her lab.
NG: It tells such a beautiful story as you’re meeting Lyla in a way because she’s watching these horrific things! Not for her obviously, but this zombie (Samuel Abbott portrayed by S.J. Ovaska) in front of her was her colleague. Which we find out from the picture on her desk.
NG: And yeah, she’s just full-on eating a sandwich! It’s that push and pulls between how much is expected of her. Or is it about the work? What is normalized to her right now?
JOE HOLT: Mm. (agreeing.)
I KNOW YOU’VE HEARD THIS BEFORE. IS LYLA’S LOVE FOR LEO GENUINE?
NG: I believe, 1,000 percent. And that is something Joe and I talked about a lot, and it’s something that Matt and I talked about a lot. Yes, it is sincere. Her love for Leo, for who he is. For his mind. For this relationship. I believe that this relationship is one thousand percent sincere. She loves him!
NG: She also really believes in the work that she does and she loves the work that she does.
WOULD SHE CHOOSE MORALITY OVER THE CRM? I’M SURE THAT’S COMING UP…
NG: It’s coming up! (laughs)
KH: Damn it! (laughs)
IS LEO HAVING ANY LUCK FINDING A CURE? AND IS HE AWARE OF THE EXPERIMENTS? (A’S & B’S.)
JH: I think he’s in a constant state of progress, as a scientist. It’s all trial and error. There is a scientific procedure. There is a six-step procedure that he is following with all of the data that he is accumulating.
JH: I think like any experiment, any process–there are moments of progress and moments where there are setbacks.
JH: That’s exactly what’s happening. Where he might go weeks with attempts to fail and all of a sudden..
**MILD-EPISODE 2 SPOILERS OF SEASON 2** (Watch it on AMC+)
JH: Oh, wow! If you isolate this thing and create necro (dead) this and necro that–all that kind of stuff you saw in episode 2. Where there was a real process of experimentation going on and where they were making these in-roads and these leaps.
JH: And then something might go wrong. I think he feels hopeful about the progress he’s making.
“But also, there’s no scientist that’s happy. His work by definition, is never done.” – Holt on Leo’s dedication to his mission to find a cure.”
FINDING A CURE
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Leo is impressed by his daughter’s time-released pranks.
JH: As long as anybody’s dying from anything, your work’s not done! He’s also a geneticist and a biochemist. There are all of these levels upon levels of problem-solving
JH: Throughout season two, more and more doors open as to what he is aware of. Any person/scientist is in some way, shape, or form going to be limited by the information source they have.
JH: If there’s an information source that has controls, you don’t know that that information source has controls. You just know the information you’re receiving. As the season goes on, there are moments that give him pause.
MM, BULLS*** LENTILS.
JH: We even saw it at the very end of season one.
KH: Yes!
JH: When he’s talking to Lyla on the couch. He’s starting to get suspicious about this stuff. His spidey sense starts going off.
KH: And Lyla’s just, have some more crappy lentils!
JH: A bottle of red! Post-apocalyptic red, your favorite.
JH: As season two progresses, he definitely is forced to consider more and more consequences of actions.
DOES HE KNOW THAT IRIS AND HOPE ARE A TEAM AND THAT IT ISN’T JUST IRIS WITH THE SKILLS? AS IRIS WAS THE ONE WHO FIGURED OUT THE COMPUTER, BUT HE ONLY SAW HOPE THERE AT THAT SPLIT-SECOND.
JH: He has no idea. He has no idea. I think he does know that both of his daughters have something special? But who has what is not entirely clear to him. Because their gifts are different. That flashback is probably just a micro cause of what’s been going on the entire existence.
JH: There are times when the other one helped the other one. He has no idea. He comes and sees the result.
“Hey, you put this puzzle together in nine minutes! How’d you do that?! You’re smart! The other one’s behind the corner like, (snickers)” – Leo of his children when they were small.
JH: He’s a little bit clueless in terms of being socially adept. I don’t think that he is entirely comfortable. Even as a father I don’t think that comes easily to him. His dedication and his gift are in that scientific world.
HOW WOULD LEO REACT TO HOPE TELLING HIM ABOUT ELTON’S MOM AND WHAT SHE HAD TO DO IN RETALIATION FOR HER OWN MOM? (BOTH ACCIDENTAL.)
JH: I think that my first reaction would be an analysis of the circumstances. And my second reaction would be: She’s my daughter and I love her. I can’t imagine Leo ever having a negative or angry reaction towards his daughters. That’s not really where he goes. I do think he is an analyzer of circumstance. That he wants to be a good father.
JH: If that were revealed to him, he would probably just feel bad that she had to witness that. That she had to be in a situation where that ever happened.
THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND (E1) PREMIERES TONIGHT. EPISODE 2 IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMC+
