Michael Rookerhas candidly compared his departure fromThe Walking Deadto that ofKevin CostnerfromYellowstone, noting that as actors,“We move on.”Rooker stars in Costner’s new Western movieHorizon, whichstruggled to wrangle its way to a strong opening weekend.During a recent interview in support of the movie, Rooker was asked his thoughts on his new director’s very public exit from Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ hit.
Rooker has been in the business for a long time, notching up over 140 acting credits, but in recent years has become instantly recognizable for several roles, including playing Yondu in James Gunn’sGuardians of the Galaxymovies, and as Merle Dixon inThe Walking Dead. Playing the brother ofNorman Reedus’ Daryl Dixonin the zombie franchise, Rooker made several appearances throughout Seasons 1 and 2, then appeared in most episodes of Season 3, at which point he left the show when his character was killed off while attempting to take down The Governor.
The Walking Dead
Based on one of the most successful and popular comic books of all time, AMC’s The Walking Dead captures the ongoing human drama following a zombie apocalypse. The series, developed for television by Frank Darabont, follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who are traveling in search of a safe and secure home. However, instead of the zombies, it is the living who remain that truly become the walking dead. The Walking Dead lasted for eleven seasons and spawned several spinoff shows, such as Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
Speaking withTMZ, Rooker addressed how leavingThe Walking Deadwas something that was not really in his control but was just a part of the business, something he could also see in the way Costner leftYellowstone. Asked specifically about that controversial moment, he said:
“But we all [move on]. That’s what we do. We’re actors. We move on. We do The Walking Dead, I get killed off. I don’t know why. They don’t know how to write for the character! So, I move on.”
However, Rooker went on to note that despite leaving the series over a decade ago, there are still many Walking Dead fans out there who remember Merle and are still fans of his time in the franchise. This is something he says will be mirrored by Costner. He added:
“They’re still there. My fans from The Walking Dead, the Merle Dixon fans, they’re still there. And nothing wrong with that. Yes [Yellowstone fans will still love Costner]. It’ll be okay.”
Kevin Costner’s Horizon Gamble Seems More Risky After the Movie’s Opening Weekend
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Onealways seemed destined to be a hard sell as a theatrical release, despite its grand scope and visually cinematic journey. The box office has been increasingly volatile when it comes to which movies succeed and which don’t, but a three-hour old school Western – which is the first of four proposed movies to boot – just does not seem to sit in the right place to take a sizable portion of the box office against popularfamily-friendly fare suchas Inside Out 2, and horror hitA Quiet Place: Day One.
Disney CEO Bob Iger recently made a bold statement that the House of Mouse’s focus is about toreturn to their biggest franchises to deliver more sequels. The lackluster response to Horizon is proof that Iger knows what he is talking about, as it appears to take something familiar to deliver a strong performance in theaters these days. Michael Rooker, during his interview, shared another reason whyHorizonhas failed to connect with audiences; TikTok. When asked if audiences had become too used to short content on social media, he said:
Totally they are. Of course they are. They got to get over that crap. They got to learn how to watch real cinema, please.
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Costner will be hoping that more people have come around to the idea of watching “real cinema” by the timeHorizon’s Chapter Tworeleases in August. For now,Chapter Oneis playing in cinemas,and will be hoping to make the most of a marathon-not-a-sprint approach as its box office total slowly creeps upwards.
