The affable Cooper Andrews of The Walking Dead and Shazam fame had an important message to fans when he stopped by Supanova TV to chat with host Quinny, this past March.

“If you see me eating a hotdog, ask if I need a napkin – I won’t take it as an insult, there’s probably something in my beard as we speak,” he joked.

Since then, he’s shaved off his majestic beard, which has lead to a lot of speculation around whether or not his character on The Walking Dead, fan favourite Jerry, will be killed off or not in the upcoming (delayed) season 10 finale.

Whether or not the fan speculation is true, Andrews shared insight with Quinny about his time working in Atlanta on the beloved AMC series, including why Georgia is quickly becoming the go-to location for filming in the US.

“Besides the sporadic weather, which I feel like is becoming more of a thing everywhere, it’s the amount of talent that we have on the technical side in Georgia that’s really impressive,” he said.

“People have really good eyes – like designers, people who can just make a picture great. In LA, there are a lot more actors – there are good actors everywhere, but in LA, there’s like a mass concentrations of amazing actors and Georgia has a mass concentration of really good filmmakers, so when I’m in Georgia, I feel like I’m getting to work with really talented crews and when I’m in LA, I get to work with really talented actors.”

It’s for that reason he urges aspiring actors and filmmakers to head to Georgia to hone their craft.

“I tell anyone who’s trying to be an actor or a filmmaker, you have to know the reasons why you’re doing it and if you’re trying to be an actor to learn the art, then great – go for it.

“But if your goal is to make money and be famous, then it’s not going to work, it just won’t. And I think that’s with everything. There are a lot more people [in Atlanta] who are just passionate about wanting to make a movie, not so much the money parts of it, not so much the notoriety, they just want to make the art.”

With that said, Andrews was quick to stress that filming in Toronto for Shazam was refreshing after dealing with the relentless heat of Atalanta.

Up until he was cast as Victor Vasquez in the 2019 film starring Zachary Levi as the titular hero, he didn’t know who the character was, despite being a mad DC fan.

“I think [Victor Vasquez] only had one or two comic book appearances before it came out. I think I was the only cast member who had a comic book counterpart who didn’t look anything like them,” he laughed. “Up until casting, I didn’t know the character.

“I was a DC fan. I always remember having George Reeves, Christopher Reeves’ Superman playing, because it was my grandfather’s television and it had like three channels and a giant VCR. By the time I was three or four, I was drawing Superman and his cape – because you had to see the cape.

“I was up for a Marvel thing while we were shooting season seven of The Walking Dead and luckily Walking Dead got in the way of it, so I couldn’t go further with it and I was secretly really glad about it because DC is where I want to be… On season 10 of The Walking Dead, I have a [Blue Lantern ring] under my glove, just in case I have to punch a Walker.”

Lead Image: Cooper Andrews at Supanova 2020 – Melbourne. Photo by Emma Wilkinson.