Major Dodson has some major acting roles under his belt at just 12-years-old. The young actor starred in American Horror Story and landed the role of Jessie’s son Sam in The Walking Dead. When Dodson is not chatting with his co-star Melissa McBride (Carol) about his love for antiquing, he’s relaxing on home with his retro Gameboy playing Pokémon Blue.
iDigitalTimes recently chatted with Dodson about his time on The Walking Dead set. His character Sam is currently dealing with the loss his father and the Wolves’ attack on Alexandria. In the last episode of The Walking Dead, Sam refuses to leave his room even after Jessie bribes him cookies. Check out what Dodson had to say about his The Walking Dead character below.
iDigitalTimes: What’s it like being on The Walking Dead, the most popular TV show now?
Major Dodson: “It’s amazing. I’d have to make up words to describe it. It’s one of those experiences most people dream about, but I’m lucky enough to get to do this for a living. It’s mind-blowing for me.”
You play Jessie’s son Sam on The Walking Dead. He has a strange relationship with Carol. He’s sort of drawn to her despite Carol consistently telling him to go away. Why do you think Sam keeps going back to Carol?
“[Sam] feels Carol is nice to him. She acknowledges him even though she’s tough. He likes her because of that. Also, she made him cookies. [Laughs]”
What was it like filming the infamous Carol’s cookies scene?
“My favorite scene to shoot was the horrifying bedtime story with Carol. [Laughs] I’d never seen that many guns in my life. It was really fun to shoot because me and Melissa know each other so well. It was fun to put on the persona of Sam and actually feel like Sam in the moment when here’s being confronted by a woman he just met.”
The scene kind of blew up on social media. There were so many memes!
“I loved all of them. [Haha] They were funny...people enjoy Sam.”
What’s it like working with Melissa McBride? Do you hang out on set?
“Of course! We’re buddies! We both like antiques and we talk about that when we’re not filming. She’s a joy to hang out with. We know each other so well and she’s super nice. She’s great.”
How do you think Sam is handling the zombie apocalypse? What’s his state of mind?
“Sam’s probably traumatized right now because the wolves just attacked. These unknown people just came in and he didn’t see any of them. He just heard them and their screaming and [it’s a lot to take in.] His dad just died and he’s dealing with a big whirlwind of emotions right now.”
Where do you see Sam’s character going? He’s a bit older than Carl was when The Walking Dead started. Do you think Sam can become kind of like Carl and survive in this world?
“I don’t know. If I could wish anything for Sam to [become] it would be absolutely like Carl. [Sam] actually kind of looks like him. I would love to see him [accept the world] like Carl. You never know with this show.”
