Remember Gareth, the leader of the cannibalistic Terminus faction from Walking Dead‘s fifth season? Well, Robot Chicken wanted actor Andrew J. West to reprise the role for a goofy skit for the upcoming Walking Dead special episodes. But it turns out West can’t sing, so the team recruited Daniel Radcliffe instead.
Image: Adult Swim
Radcliffe’s cameo appearance will be in a skit where Gareth and the citizens of Terminus welcome Rick and the gang to town, before the revelation of, you know, the whole cannibal thing. Because this is Robot Chicken, they do so with an elaborate musical number. Speaking to Yahoo, director Tom Sheppard and writer Breckin Meyer revealed that West turned down a return to the character because he isn’t a singer. Instead, the Robot Chicken team found an surprising alternative:
Sheppard: When we were going out to the actors from the show, the agent for the actor who played Gareth [Andrew J. West] from Terminus said he doesn’t sing. So Seth [Green] put a call into Daniel Radcliffe…
Meyer: As one does…
Sheppard: Yes, like you would do. And basically we had Daniel Radcliffe singing the Terminus song.
The thought of a group of antagonistic cannibals breaking out into a welcoming show tune is already zany enough for Robot Chicken, but the fact that it will be a number led by Harry Potter just makes it even better.
Robot Chicken‘s Walking Dead special, “Look Who’s Walking”, is set to air in the US October 8.
[Yahoo]