'Tales of the Walking Dead' Star Danny Ramirez Talks Representation in Series (Exclusive)
Danny Ramirez is having a memorable year as he is featured in the blockbuster film Top Gun: Maverick and is also in the hit Netflix movie Look Both Ways. Ramirez also stars in the AMC anthology television series Tales of the Walking Dead, which is a spinoff of The Walking Dead. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Ramirez explained what attracted him to the role, which in part was the Latinx cast.
"It was amazing to work on a project that everyone was going to be Latinx," Ramirez exclusively told PopCulture. "And so, being Latino, I rarely am given... I'm usually the one in the project. And so, seeing the shift, which I think has been a long time coming... There's still a lot more to do... I still see some shows, and I'm, 'How the hell are we in an office in Times Square and everyone's white?' And so, seeing this, I was just, 'Oh, this is a wonderful opportunity to be able to play and get the keys to a massive kingdom for a moment.'"
Ramirez appears in the final episode of the season which aired on AMC Sunday night. He stars along with Daniella Pineda and Julie Carmen, in one of the more eerie episodes of The Walking Dead franchise. As the synopsis states, "Idalia (Pineda) and Eric (Ramirez) are a young, traumatized couple in desperate need of a safe haven. If they don't find a place for the night soon, they will freeze, or worse – get eaten. Recognizing where they are in the mountains, Idalia recalls hearing about a secluded house belonging to a Bruja, who was dedicated to helping others prior to the apocalypse. Shortly after Idalia and Eric arrive at La Doña Alma's home, unexplainable sinister events begin to occur. Idalia and Eric must find a way forward or risk being rooted in death forever."
Ramirez also discussed how he enjoyed working closely with Pineda. "I think it was really fun to play with the dynamic of a relationship that keeps getting more and more fractures," he said. "But the first day we met was day one on set. And so, with that being the reality of it, of being, okay, there is already distance because we don't know each other. And so, while simultaneously closing that gap organically, but using that distance into our advantage, in different parts of what this relationship is or different viewpoints on how actually Eric and Idalia did see things differently, and whilst being vulnerable, I think, allowed that texture to come across."
While this is the first time Ramirez appears in any of The Walking Dead shows, he is no stranger to The Walking Dead Universe as he was cast as Javier in The Walking Dead video game "I did 10 sessions of that, and then they rewrote him to be older," Ramirez explained. "And so, I had that monkey on my back in having to prove myself. So when [Tales of the Walking Dead] came around, I was, 'Oh, hell yeah. I'd love to play in this.'"