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Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 22.The Walking Dead star Josh McDermitt has revealed a deeper connection between Eugene and Mercer, the red-armored leader of the Commonwealth’s troops. Throughout The Walking Dead season 11, Mercer has displayed signs that, while he remains loyal to the people of the Commonwealth, he is unhappy with the corruptive nature of Pamela Milton and those that stand by her in the community. Mercer’s character arc in the final season showed him unable to fully choose between his loyalty to Pamela and what he believed was right. His loyalties were finally realized at the end of season 11, episode 22, when Mercer frees Eugene, intent on overthrowing Pamela and taking the Commonwealth back for the people.
In an interview with AMC, McDermitt revealed how Eugene and Mercer’s development in The Walking Dead are deeply connected because of Eugene’s past. He states that, earlier in the show, Eugene also had trouble doing the right thing for his group at times, a struggle Mercer is now battling in his own way. Check out McDermitt’s full statement below:
I think there’s some parallels between what Eugene had gone through during his time on the show and what Mercer was going through. It’s like these people keep popping up and saying, ‘Hey, you need to step up. You need to do the right thing. You know what you have to do.’ And they’re fighting and fighting and fighting it. Mercer has his reasons for fighting it and he has his reasons for stepping up when he did. Everyone’s going to come to it when they come to it, and he’s not going to go before that moment. To know that Eugene, Yumiko, and Max finally got through to him was really special because it doesn’t look great for Eugene. It doesn’t look great for him at all.
Mike Shaw did such a wonderful job with Mercer. There were things that from a distance you couldn’t see, but if you were up close you saw some of the things that he was doing and it played so well on the camera. It was such a beautiful, beautiful minimal performance. He wasn’t grandstanding and doing all that. He is a tremendous actor and I loved working with Mike.
How Eugene Can Help Mercer In TWD’s Final Episodes
McDermitt’s statement coupled with the end of season 11, episode 22 is a strong indication that Eugene won’t be leaving Mercer’s side as he enacts his rebellion against Pamela. Mercer has already assisted the core survivors before, such as when he let Negan into the Commonwealth, and when he killed two of his own men due to their loyalty to the Milton family. The red-armored commander has shown he has the capacity to change, but stepping into the role fully will be a new and possibly challenging situation. Because of the similarities between Mercer’s current road to redemption and Eugene’s past, it’s possible the duo will have a conversation about their plans, allowing for Eugene’s own past mistakes to be aired between the two.
When he was first introduced, Eugene lied to the core survivor group about a cure to the zombie outbreak in Washington D.C., having done so in order to have a group of hardened survivors that could protect him. Later, in season 8, Eugene worked with Negan against his friends until being consumed by guilt because of his actions. Both times, Eugene was acting in an attempt to survive his conditions, something Mercer would be able to heavily relate to if he learned about Eugene’s past. Eugene telling Mercer about his own mistakes could act as a key motivation for Mercer’s rebellion against Pamela, becoming more like Eugene’s present character in the process.
The Walking Dead series finale is already promising to be an action-packed event full of zombies and finality for the main show’s story. With Norman Reedus teasing sad and exciting moments for the series finale, it’s more than likely Eugene and Mercer will be part of that exhilaration. The final 2 episodes of The Walking Dead have set the stage for a massive rebellion against Pamela, something that will not only prove to be grand in scale but also allow Eugene and Mercer to help one another lead the charge against the show’s final antagonist.
Source: AMC
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