Fear the Walking Dead interview: Danay Garcia previews Luciana’s season 3 struggle
The relationship between Luciana and Nick was one of many topics discussed recently in our exclusive interview with Danay Garcia, who previewed both her arc and much of the upcoming season as a whole.
CarterMatt – What the experience like for you now that everyone knows your character and is excited to see what’s coming up?
Danay Garcia – I’ve been working on the show since January. Everybody knows that we’re back and everyone wonders what’s happening, and I keep having to say ‘you just have to keep watching.’ Six months is a long time! At least it’s coming out so we can share more and be on the same page with the fans. I’m excited for you guys to see what’s coming, because everything is so different. The entire season is so different.
Has it been exciting for you to know that there are so many people out there who like the character and are rooting for her?
Last season, they introduced me at Comic-Con and they didn’t know what I was about or how I would fit in with the cast. I felt excitement from the cast then, but I couldn’t talk too much about her. This time around, it’s a new experience all over again. Now I can talk about it, and they know who it is and the expectation and the excitement [that comes with it]. It was a different excitement before, and now it’s more specific with people wondering ‘what’s going to happen to her? She got shot!’. That’s what I get all the time.
You’ve had to carry that cliffhanger ending around for a really long time now, and I know there are sneak peeks out there showing that Luciana is at least alive when the show picks back up. Was that hard to keep that part of the secret?
You know, it’s a mixed feeling. I want them to be surprised and I can’t talk about it, but at the same time, I want to tell them! I want them to be excited like I was excited during hiatus when I didn’t know what was going to happen. I know how they’re feeling because I went through that. I usually have to tell myself ‘don’t say anything,’ because people really try to get it out of me!
When you were filming season 2, what did you learn from Luciana then that you were able to take and put into your acting arsenal entering season 3?
As I was playing her, I felt a responsibility to play her as this strong leading lady who is in charge, but also has different layers to herself. She can be vulnerable and cry, she can feel, and she’s not just this machine. She’s a woman, and the fact that she goes through these obstacles is a strength, too. I remember thinking about that and realizing that it was important to play this strong badass woman, but also someone you could relate to. That’s something that I really cared about as an actor. I wanted to bring all of those layers to her. I wanted her to be able to be heartbroken, but also able to fight and kill zombies (laughs). She can do anything, and it’s a great experience for me to be able to play Luciana.
One of the things that is so great about this franchise, whether it is the flagship show or Fear the Walking Dead, is seeing the union of some of these characters. I don’t know if Nick and Luciana would have ever crossed paths in real life. When you first started to get those scripts, did you see that relationship evolving in real time?
The moment I got the job I knew that these were high-stakes circumstances, and in high-stakes circumstances you tend to bond with people even more. If you fall in love, you fall in love for real. There’s this feeling of ‘we’re in this together and we’re not going to let go. We’re going to really love each other. We have to make it work. We can’t let go that easily. Unity makes you stronger.’
We as humans have that ability to find that bond that makes us want to fight for each other. That’s what I was putting out there from day one with Nick and we were finding things that we had in common. I was an orphan from my family, and he was an orphan by choice. That pain is what got us together.
You’re right — if it wasn’t for the apocalypse, I don’t think Luciana would be with Nick (laughs).
What can you say to describe some of the threats that are coming up?
The tagline is ‘fear what you become.’ When you face those fears of losing everything — Luciana lost her entire Colonia, her friends — what is going to become of you? Are you going to become stronger? You may become stronger, but you may become a different animal. That is what every character is going through. That’s why it is interesting that they chose ‘fear what you become,’ because we are becoming something different. We choose to not let go, and we are all going through that. That’s what I really love — it never gets old because we’re constantly changing.
Do you have an eagerness to spend a lot of time with other cast members that you don’t spend a lot of time with now?
You know, we’re living in the same building and we’re neighbors, so when I’m not working, somebody’s working. We’re like a little family in Mexico, and I’ve become like the tourist guide — I translate for them (laughs). A lot of the cast are speaking Spanish now. I’m very lucky in that even when I don’t have scenes with everybody, we’re spending a lot of time together. I get to know them and see them and we hang out. It’s a really good bunch.
Do you think that the perception of Luciana as a character or the perception of Fear the Walking Dead is going to shift during season 3?
When we left season 2, Luciana was shot, and she’s weak and in pain. She’s going through this huge change inside of her, anger that she never felt before and unfairness on top of it. There is a lot of strength that she is going to need to come up with to keep going. She doesn’t want to die.
It’s not about perception so much as it’s just a different Luciana than we’ve seen before. I as a character just wanted to get better to start killing zombies. I had to go through that pain, and that was hard for me as an actor to go through that. It’s a different Luciana.
Is it possible in the end for Luciana to feel any sort of normalcy in this world? Does she accept the world for what it is, or find herself reflecting on the past?
For everybody in this world, there’s a sadness when we think about the past. We really feel more grateful about what we have today, just because we all took things for granted before. It’s impossible for anything to ever be the same as it was before.
Further Fear the Walking Dead coverage
If you missed it, head over to this link to view a new behind-the-scenes featurette that gives you a further sense as to where the story is going moving into the new season. (Photo: AMC.)