This interview was held by Rick123Axel.
Gavin Hammon portrayed Kenny in Telltale's The Walking Dead Video Game.
How did you get the role as Kenny on The Walking Dead Game?
I auditioned for all (except Lee, I don't generally read for African American characters being a white dude) male roles in The Walking Dead Game episode 1. It was a fairly involved packet, as TellTale audition documents usually are and covered scenes from Hershel's Farm mostly. I remember that many of the roles can back for 'callbacks' or reauditions, as they very very often do with Telltale, but Kenny wasn't one of them. But working for Telltale is a fairly exciting prospect for us up here in San Francisco, they're on of the premier developers up North, so anytime their castings come through, I take them very seriously.
Did you watch the TV show or read the graphic novel prior to getting a role in the Game?
I did read the first two trades of the comic and had seen the first 6 episodes (Season 1) of the show.
Who are your favorite characters?
I liked Rick and Carl mostly.
Have you played through the game? If so do you have a favorite character?
So, I've played about half of episode 1, I went to a party where we played through 2, played 3 at TellTale for their Twitch channel and...that's about it. I don't much enjoy playing games I work on. Though, I did play all of the first episode of A Wolf Among Us and really enjoy it (aside from most of my parts). Adam Harrington kills in that game!
What was it like to work with Dave Fennoy and all the other amazing voice actors in the Game?
Well, I didn't actually MEET Dave until after episode 5 had wrapped--we all went out to celebrate after his last session. But I love the guy, we've done con appearances since. But much of the rest of the cast were already close friends, Clem, Omid, Lily, the St Johns, etc.
In what ways are you similar to, as well as different from your character Kenny?
I'm a father and a husband, I'm much less hot or cold than Kenny in the sense that I don't draw as many hard lines as he would throughout the game, but ya know, he had to, it was part of TellTale's 'remember that' model. But I like the way that Kenny was still so upbeat for the sake of his family. He's the best written character I've ever got to play.
What is your opinion on Kenny overall?
Voice over is such a fun job, being bad guys is usually most fun, but playing a three dimensional good guy at heart, despite his very human faults was great. I love the character. He recognized his own faults and genuinely just tried to do the best by his own, in a horrible circumstance.
How do you get into the role when recording?
I don't do a lot to get into roles. Usually, I just listen to a little reference (a recording of me doing the voice I was hired for) and once I have the voice, it just sorta comes out. The writing on The Walking Dead Game was so good, that I didn't have to do much besides make you believe it and 'get it off the page' so to speak
Do you have any ideas of scenes cut featuring Kenny?
There were some recordings from episode 5 of season one that featured a lot of 'death audio' that we're later rerecorded. That's the most memorable, but there were moments like that all the time that were recorded too loud or too quiet or just didn't fit the context...
What was your reaction to hearing that The Walking Dead had won the Game of the Year award at Spike VGAs as well as the huge success of the Game in general? Did you ever expect it to become so successful?
Nope! I was thrilled! We all record in isolation, so you never know how something will turn out until it actually turns out. It certainly felt 'bigger and more special' than other games, but we can't predict anything. You just show up to your sessions and take direction and act and hope for the best!
Would you have let Ben die in the bell tower or pulled him up?
Me? I'd have tried to save everybody. Lilly, Larry, Ben, Carly, Lee, everybody.
Dave Fennoy was shown to be upset while filming his final moments with Clementine, is there any scene's which really got to you?
Nah, I can turn it on and off like a faucet. I remember director Julian Kwasneski, who does all the TellTale stuff I've ever done asking at one point during the recording of Ep3, "How you doing, you alright?" and laughing because I said oh yeah, I'm fine.
Did the cast and crew do anything special after the Game was finished?
We did, we had a more intimate Thai dinner with most of the actors, Julian and engineer Jory Prum, but then Telltale through a proper wrap party that was a blast.
Are you currently working on any other projects?
Yeah, I'm hard at work on A Wolf Among Us (I play 3 or 4 characters on it) in addition to doing a fair amount of narration for Leapfrog toys, corporate videos and commercials, as well as some TV narration. I'm lucky to get to do what I love and especially lucky to get to do lots of different types of work.
When did you find out Kenny had survived?
I've knew Kenny would appear in Season 2 since late last summer or fall, probably close to 6 months now.
Are you aloud to reveal any details on how he escaped?
I am not at liberty to say how Kenny survived.
Was it hard resisting when fans would ask if Kenny had survived?
I actually thoroughly enjoyed the cat and mouse of dodging direct questions from fans regarding Kenny.
Sarita shares lots of characteristics of Katjaa, Kenny also mistakenly called Clementine, Duck. Do you think Kenny is trying to replace Katjaa and Duck completely?
I think he's just trying to rebuild after suffering such devastating losses. I don't believe Kenny think she can replace Duck and Katjaa but that he's a bit...off now, and those slips are based on that. He'd already decided protecting Clem would be his mission in S1, but he hadn't found her. Yet!
As you know Sarita was bitten at the end of the episode, either way killing the zombie or amputating the hand through past experiences we know its most likely not going to end well, how severely do you think her death would effect Kenny?
I think after the events earlier in 203, that in particular will weigh pretty heavily on Kenny's already fragile spirit. That said, I believe (or hope) he'll be able step up to help the group when they need him.
Several pictures have been released in the past, one of Kenny with an eye patch and another of Kenny hugging Christa can you expand the possibilities of either of these things happening?
At this time, I cannot! I do believe neither of those images are 'official,' though
Can you give us any hints at were Kenny as a character may go in the next upcoming episodes?
I can only say what my hopes are--that he won't get lost in his own misery like the latter half of Season 1, that he'll be able to prioritize the Clem and the group. Hopefully events will unfold that give him the chance to gain that perspective!
Do you think killing Carver will effect Kenny mentally at all?
I think the beating he took will have more profound repercussions that the one he delivered.
Do you think Kenny still feels guilt or blames himself for Walter's death?
I think (and I think Kenny thinks) that Carver would've killed Walt regardless.
Wolf Among Us is another Telltale Game, how did voicing Dee, Dum and the Mirror compare to your role as Kenny in The Walking Dead?
For me, Wolf is more fun. Playing Dee and Dum, I get to be villains and read some particularly snide and slimy lines. Mirror and Beast were very different from D&D, and sort of the opposite of each other. I'm glad to have played that range of characters in one game!
After all your time on The Walking Dead do you have a favorite quote from Kenny?
"Take them."
When recording Clementine's choice to leave Kenny did you get emotional like Dave Fennoy did with Lee?
Oh yeah, in all three sessions where I recorded those lines (they were tweaked a little here and there) I bawled my head off. Those are very genuine tears!
Was Kenny originally supposed to die in Season 1 or was the idea always to bring him back?
Yeah, Kenny was really dead in that alley or saving Christa. We recorded lots of death rattles with the usual grunts, efforts and barks. When we did pick ups (little tweaks after initial recording sessions), all of that was made more ambiguous. Naturally, I was thrilled to have the potential option to work more and develop the character, thoughI had no idea until just before production started on S2.
Kenny and Jane really go at it with each other, leading to Kenny (depending on your choice) killing her, they later find AJ alive. Do you think Kenny was right about Jane trying to provoke him so he'll attack?
My take on how that was scripted and structured was that Kenny was supposed to be really reaching the bottom after 204. He's taking all that rage out on Arvo, with AJ being the only thing that grounds him. Jane knew it and was trying to provoke him, whether to show Clementine who he's become or not, it was a pretty poisonous idea. Again, just my .02.
Characters that have the option of death have tended to play a small role or stay in the background till they have a different death which is compulsory like Nick, are you worried Kenny will go them same way if spared in the finale?
I'm feeling fairly confident that we've seen the last of Kenny no matter how your game ended. The complexity of the endings makes me question whose story will be told in the third season. But, I feel like Kenny's story has been covered.
Mike, Bonnie, Jane and many others were scared of how Kenny was acting, often comparing him to the ways of Carver! Do you think that the others were right to fear him?
Oh yeah, he's been unstable since he resurfaced. I was actively trying to make his little flights of anger almost too hot, or at least I was providing that coverage in session, I'm not sure what was implemented... I wanted his reactions to things to be unsettling at times, so players were thinking all along, "he ain't right..."
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