Former Sons of Anarchy star Ryan Hurst is currently playing the role of Beta on Season 10 of The Walking Dead. His character wears a zombie mask in the AMC show as well as an oversized black leather trench coat (and he sports a ski mask in some flashback scenes). The show is filmed in Georgia in the summer, so things can get extremely hot for the actors, especially when they’re as covered up as Hurst is. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hurst revealed just how steamy things got for him.
“Oh my God. I landed in the hospital once this year from heat exhaustion,” he said. “I’m in a leather trench coat and two layers under that in Georgia in the summer. It’s no joke, man.”
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Despite that, Hurst says he loves wearing the mask.
“[Greg] Nicotero [the show’s special effects expert] is a master teacher when it comes to zombie stuff, and it’s so comfortable,” he continued. “Even though you’re in Atlanta in 110-degree weather, I love wearing that mask. I really, really do.”
Hurst also opened up about this season of The Walking Dead exploring Beta’s mysterious backstory.
“Yeah, it’s been a blast. One of the most fun parts that I’ve had on this show is the secretive nature of where this guy came from,” he said. “It’s something that I very early on brought to [showrunner Angela Kang], that I had this idea of his backstory and also, how they met, and we collaborated a bunch on making this back story a reality. So, I’m just super happy with the way that it all worked out because Angela and I’ve been talking about this since the beginning of Season 9, when I first signed on.”
The 43-year-old actor continued, “I had some different ideas that were sort of contradictory to some other stuff that was established in the comic books, so I think we’re on the right path,” he said. “There’s still a lot of secrets behind who Beta was that we’ll investigate more and more. But you know, I like to dangle a carrot.”
Following his 54-episode run on Sons of Anarchy as Harry “Opie” Winston, Hurst has enjoyed several long-running roles on various shows. He played Chick Hogan for three years on Bates Motel and was on 26 episodes of WGN’s Outsiders. He’s appeared in four episodes of The Walking Dead so far after making his debut on the show in Season 9 as a member of The Whisperers.
