star Khary Payton reveals his desire to explore the origin of his character, King Ezekiel, and how he rose to power after the zombie apocalypse. King Ezekiel was first introduced in the seventh season of as the leader of the Kingdom settlement. His story in the series veers off from the comics, but one element that wasn't fully fleshed out in either was his origin and how he rose to become the leader of the Kingdom.
In an exclusive interview with for , Payton also shared the story he still wants to explore for his character, King Ezekiel. He explained why he wanted to delve deeper into Ezekiel's origins and how he went from a zookeeper and amateur actor to leading the Kingdom.
Payton specifically references as an inspiration and revealed that if he were asked to return for a , he'd love to return. Check out Payton's full quote below:
Khary Payton: I really would love to go back in time and explore how Ezekiel came to become a king in the apocalypse. Do a Better Call Saul prequel and see how someone goes from being a zookeeper to having people decide that we're going to listen to his outrageous idea of how you rebuild society, and how somebody comes to decide that, "Yeah, this seems to be working. I'm going to run with this."
I think it would be actually really interesting, but I have no idea what their plans are.
And if they do it, I would love to be a part of it. But I'm also a realist when it comes to these things, and I told myself, "All good things come to an end." It's not the first time or the last time I've said goodbye to an awesome story that I was telling. And so I'm hoping that it'll come back around.
But in the meantime, the beautiful thing about my job is the wondrous variety. And so I'm excited to see what happens next. But man, if they call saying they want to do something like that with Ezekiel, I'll be there in a heartbeat.
Pieces of Ezekiel's history are known, including his family's history of thyroid cancer as well as his time as a zookeeper and amateur actor before the apocalypse. universe has been expanding through spin-offs for some time with , , , , and many others. Some of these spin-offs have introduced new characters surviving the apocalypse, while others have continued the stories of beloved characters from the original series.
Although fans know who Ezekiel will become, a prequel series could show his progression from actor and zookeeper to the brave leader he was when originally introduced in season seven.
, trauma, grief, and hardship, but a prequel following him could have a modicum of hope because of Ezekiel's heart.
King Ezekiel is a character primed for a spin-off because his origin remains a mystery.
Some of the spin-offs have explored how other characters evolved in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak, but those have been newly introduced characters. This would be an opportunity to fully delve into the early days of a character that fans already know and love. King Ezekiel has an engaging and compelling story and is a character whose origin is worth exploring.
