Josh Hamilton's fly was down for his biggest Walking Dead scene

Dalton Ross
·9 min read
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead, "What's Been Lost."

Lance Hornsby was a guy who loved to leave fate up to a flip of the coin, but the silky-smooth Commonwealth villain's fate was sealed on Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead when he took an arrow to the throat, courtesy of Carol (Melissa McBride).

Carol and Daryl (Norman Reedus) broke the duplicitous Hornsby out of prison to help them find their captured friends. Once they got the information they needed, they told Lance to get lost, but he had another idea — a really terrible, awful other idea. Hornsby tried to quickly grab a gun out of a truck to fire on the duo, but he wasn't quick enough.

That meant Lance was left to die out in a field, choking on his own blood… with his fly down. Wait, what? Yes, according to Josh Hamilton, who played the character to creepy, smiling perfection, the actor accidentally had his fly down during Hornsby's final climactic scene. We learned that and plenty more when we spoke to Hamilton about Hornsby's dramatic end, his fatal last decision, and that absolutely incredible haircut.

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead

Jace Downs/AMC Josh Hamilton as Lance Hornsby on 'The Walking Dead'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Tell me about when and how you found out about Lance's fate?

JOSH HAMILTON:  When we were shooting in Georgia, I had to rent my own apartment and my lease was going to be up after a certain date and I had to ask. [Laughs] I kept bugging production saying, "Hey, I know you might not know exactly, but should I do another month on my lease?" And they were like, "Uh, no, you'll be done by this date." I was like, "Oh, okay." So that was the first heads-up, because I was like, "That seems a little early." [Laughs] But then I got that final script. so it wasn't out of the blue.

I try not to take it too personally. I was like, "Well, I guess they do have a few other story line threads they need to spend some time on." It's a thing at the end of the season. You have great characters, and they all want their due story line to play out, and they have so many plates spinning in the air by this 11th season with so many characters. And I think it was just a jigsaw puzzle of how to give everyone enough screen time so that they feel like they got a satisfying character arc.

What was it like shooting the death scene?

There was the technical stuff, and there was the emotional stuff of feeling so betrayed by Carol. I think he really thinks that they have this connection and a mutual grudging respect, even though he knows Carol doesn't trust him. But he's always hoping, and he's always trying to think that there must be a way to fix this.

And so when she really just sends him off on his own, I think the betrayal — especially coming right after what happened with Pamela and in the cell — he just has this sort of lizard brain reaction of like, "Well, f--- it ." And that's why he grabs the gun. I don't think he even has time to think about it. It just happens so fast, and his mind is geared towards trying to have the upper hand in any situation. There wasn't even time to register that she had shot him.

And then the technical thing of it was just trying to keep blood in my mouth in that last shot, and trying to figure out when to let it out of my mouth without swallowing it. And it was the end of the night. It was the last shot. We had like 10 minutes to get that whole thing with the crane and the camera floating up, and so we only had one chance at it. It was just one of those things where we're like, "Are we gonna get it? Are we gonna get it? Are we gonna get it?"

And when we finally got it, it was like, "Yeah!" And they ran off because they had to pull the plug at the end of the night. And then I realized that my fly had been down that shot. [Laughs] First, I was like, "Oh no, my fly is down!" They're like, "We'll fix it in post." And I was like, "You know what? Don't. It's actually the perfect insult to injury to Lance, for someone who was so fastidious about his appearance.

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead

Jace Downs/AMC Josh Hamilton as Lance Hornsby on 'The Walking Dead'

That's amazing. And I was wondering why he reaches for the gun, because it doesn't seem like a very smart move. He knows these two are killers.

I don't think it's well thought out. I mean, Lance has had a tough couple of days. He's not at the top of his game, strategically. It was a choice with not a lot of thought put into. It was totally instinctive.

Lance was such a complicated guy, and we always hear how every villain is the hero of his own story, but Lance in particular seemed like someone who believed he was on some sort of really important mission. What was your take on him?

When I first started, I was a little intimidated by how charismatic and twisted and extreme the villains had been up to this point. And I was like: Is Lance going be an interesting villain for anyone? He's not wearing anyone's skins on his face. He doesn't have his dead daughter tied up in a back room. He's not Negan, who's the most charming villain of all time.

But the more I thought about it, he actually is the kind of dangerous person in society that you actually see much more often. The way I saw him is that he was the manifestation of what he thinks he needs to do in a capitalist society, which is just connive and try to get to the top and try to work everything. And that means often doing terrible things and breaking lots of eggs to make an omelet.

But I do think that he is sincere in his goals, which is what you say — every villain's the hero of his own story. I don't think he was mustache twirling and cynical. I think he actually really did believe in his mission. Those are the people in society who scare me. The people who scare me most in society are people who believe very strongly in their vision of the world, even though it might be fairly reprehensible.

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead

Jace Downs/AMC Josh Hamilton as Lance Hornsby on 'The Walking Dead'

When Lance is trying to save himself there at the end and answer for his misdeeds, he says, "That's not who I am anymore. That guy died back in that cell." Is that true, or does he at least believe that to be true?

He might think that that's true in that moment. I think that was an incredibly traumatic experience, and I do feel like he thinks he was changed by it. He's someone who I don't think has gotten his hands that dirty in that way because he's been fairly protected in the Commonwealth. But has he changed? I don't know. I mean, the fact that he leaves that one last little f--- you with the coin for Pamela to find — I don't think he's repentant.

But I do think he can imagine that if Carol and Darryl let him join whatever would come in the future, I think he's desperate and he is trying to convince them and convince himself too. I think he wants to be a better person.

What's his plan when he gets out of the prison with Carol and he's trying to convince her to fight for the Commonwealth and do it for the kids?

He's grasping at straws. I don't think he's at the top of his game strategically. His options are talk her into keeping him on, or maybe even that slippery thing that happens in the tunnel where he loses the light and doesn't help her. He's trying to work every possible angle. He's just desperate. For someone who feels like he can always get out of any situation or make it work to his advantage, the last few episodes have this been this downward slide into forcing him to accept that that's not the case. So he's getting more and more desperate just trying to throw anything against the wall and see if it sticks.

The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead

Jace Downs/AMC Normal Reedus (Daryl), Melissa McBride (Carol), and Josh Hamilton (Hornsby) on 'The Walking Dead'

I'm not sure what your final scene of filming was, but what was your final day of shooting like?

It was the crane scene. It was emotional. I guess there's a tradition on the show where some people come to the set on your death day, and Josh McDermitt [who plays Eugene] came and it was such a nice supportive thing. It was a night shoot, and it was sort of emotional and it was sticky. Sticky and emotional.

Can we talk about the haircut? I have taken to calling it the Lance. How did you guys come up with the haircut? Do you miss the haircut? Are you going back to the haircut?

You know, my hair is all cowlicks anyway, so whenever somebody takes the time to keep it all in place is sort of a miracle. I'm not used to having it, which helped get into the character cause it's very much not me. I don't think I even own a comb.

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