訪問:I remember talking to you after “Here’s Not Here” in Season 6, when viewers maybe thought we had Morgan all figured out, that he was settled into this philosophy that couldn’t be shaken. You gently said at the time that Morgan is on a journey, so we shouldn’t necessarily assume that was an end point for him. At that time, did you know where Morgan was going to go, did you know that he was going to get to this point?
萊尼詹姆斯(摩根)回答:
I didn’t, on one level, and I did on another. I knew he was going to be tested. Otherwise, there was no point in setting him on this road. The road was never finite for me. I know a lot of people have been discussing the philosophy that Morgan has chosen to live by and have kind of referred to it in terms of things being absolute, that Morgan no longer kills. On one level, that was true, but on another level, it really wasn’t. Morgan is trying to live by this code that Eastman had imparted to him. He was trying to live the way of somebody who chooses to operate and to meet people based on the premise that all life is precious, as opposed to the premise that all life is expendable and whenever you meet someone, your primary objective is that one of you walks away from it alive. That’s not how Morgan wants to live, and he doesn’t think that’s the way that other people should be living, because we’ve all survived now. We all know how to make our way in this strange world that we find ourselves in. Anybody we meet now at this stage in proceedings has somehow shape or form survived a long time, so they know how to do it. Now we have to define how to live. That’s the question that Morgan’s asking.
He was always going to be tested. His history on the show is he can’t go forward for being knocked back, so this is another chapter. On that one, it’ll be interesting to see how he comes out and if he comes out of this latest kind of tragedy to hit him.
訪問:Benjamin’s death sends him into a breakdown, at least, temporarily, a kind of throwback to the state we saw him in in “Clear.” Morgan had started to grow close with Benjamin and his little brother. How deeply had he started to feel that kind of father/son relationship with Benjamin and Henry?
萊尼詹姆斯(摩根)回答:
I think, on one level, it’s not a matter of how deeply or how far into it he had gotten. It’s that he had allowed the possibility. For Morgan, just that is massive. That is no tiny step. He had said yes to King Ezekiel, “I will put him under my wing, I will lead him.” He didn’t jump in there and throw his arm around him and say, “Call me Daddy.” He’s kept his distance, a respectful distance, partly because he’s aware of Benjamin and his brother’s relationship to the King, but also, he’s sensitive, and he’s a little scared. He allowed himself the possibility, and we see what happened when it was taken away from him. That’s the effect it’s had on him. Added to that, the fact that he’s also allowed himself the possibility of being a member of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is slightly different to Alexandria because Rick’s not there, and on a day-to-day basis, Carol is not there. There’s no one there in the Kingdom who knows past Morgan. All they know is the man they have met now, and that’s an opportunity for him. He’s allowed the possibility of that opportunity as well. Both things come crashing down.
I think the other thing to say that’s really important, and it’s certainly important for me in the way that I’ve been trained to play Morgan, is beneath the peaceful Morgan, the man trying to walk the way of a peaceful warrior, has always been the tormented Morgan. There’s always been torment just beneath the surface. He’s constantly, as much as he’s been in conflict with other people, been in conflict with himself. I think that’s why the death of Benjamin affects him so powerfully, so immediately. I think one of the brilliances of Scott [Gimple]’s writing is that we see this explosion, and as an audience, we think, “Oh, he’s going to go all the way back down that road,” and he doesn’t. He pulls himself back. He tries to get some kind of reins on it, some kind of focus, some kind of control to make sure that he doesn’t end up back where he’s been, because he knows what that is. He’s fighting against it even though some things are inevitable. He’s aware that one of the things that is inevitable is that if he’s ever going to get some peace, he’s going to have to go to war first.
訪問:What specifically does send him into the fury that leads him to kill Richard at that exact moment that he does? Can he just not stand how Richard is trying to continue carrying out the plan that got Benjamin killed, or is Morgan doubling down on Richard’s plan, killing him and showing the Saviors that he and the others are going to comply with them, so they don’t suspect the Kingdomites are a threat to them?
萊尼詹姆斯(摩根)回答:
I think both things are true, and not necessarily the case as well. I think that Morgan hears Richard. I think by the time he walks into Richard’s room, he knows that he is on the road to having to do something about the death of Benjamin, and he’s trying to navigate that. I think when Richard says to Morgan that he will lead, “It will be up to me to lead our army,” at that point, I just think Morgan finds that unacceptable. Added to that, he asked Richard, “Have you spoken to the King? Have you told him what you’ve done?” when they’re waiting for the Saviors. Morgan is basically saying to him, “Have you done what you said you were going to do?” It’s quite clear that he hasn’t. Then Morgan was like, “Well, if we’re going to do this” — and Richard’s plan is not a bad one, quite obviously — but, “if we’re going to do this, that life we lose is yours.” That proof we need to get to the Saviors to believe that “we get it,” I’m going to use you to make that happen. I think that’s when those decisions are made, at those two particular points. I don’t think he wakes up that day thinking, “I’m going to kill Richard.” I think he wakes up trying to find a way not to kill him, but Richard gets in his own way.
