The Walking Dead boss breaks down latest neo-noir episode

Over the course of 11 seasons, The Walking Dead writers have taken the story in lots of different creative directions. The latest episode, “Rogue Element,” was something of a neo-noir, as Eugene (Josh McDermitt) goes into full-on detective mode to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend Stephanie, and the trail of clues leads him to a pretty shocking discovery.

“Rogue Element” was directed by Michael Cudlitz, who portrayed Abraham Ford from seasons 4 to 6 before being murdered by Negan in that infamous episode. His character may be gone, but he’s still making an impact behind the camera.

As Eugene is crazy in love, he isn’t thinking rationally and takes everything as a potential clue, even chasing a plumber he believes to have kidnapped Stephanie. However, after working on the case for too long, he ends up uncovering secrets that change everything. He learns that the “Stephanie” he fell in love with is actually Shira (Chelle Ramos), a Commonwealth agent hired by Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) sent to gather intel on him and his people. In other words, the Stephanie he loved is a lie.

Eugene is “a liar” who has things turned on him

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Angela Kang explained why they decided to feature Eugene in this noir-inspired, forbidden love story. “For a long time, we’ve been planning this story with the fake Stephanie, and we decided, ‘All right, let’s go ahead and reveal it here, because people are going to be onto the fact that things are funky at the Commonwealth,” she said. “They’re just waiting for, ‘What is it specifically?’ And we thought that Eugene was just a good character to experience that story through, someone who’s swept up in love.”

"And we talked a lot about classic noir films and Hitchcock and The Third Man, all of those kinds of influences. And we thought it’d be fun to do something that feels like a neo-noir story that’s dropped in the middle of this sleepy community on the face of it. And so we had a lot of fun talking about, “How do you do a story that feels like a throwback to Vertigo or whatever, while making it very specific to our apocalypse?”"

While the writers already had this noir tone in mind, it was Cudlitz who took it to the next level. “He really took to the idea,” Kang said. “And he actually even pitched it further than we had it on the page.”

As we know, Eugene is one of the smartest people on The Walking Dead. He’s also no stranger to a ruse. Remember when he told everyone that he knew a cure to the zombie virus? Now, many seasons later, he’s getting a taste of his own medicine. “I think with Eugene, he was a liar, and to be faced with a lie that’s like, that is sometimes the horror is looking into a mirror, like some sort of a distorted mirror. And I think all of that’s crashing down on this poor guy,” Kang said.

Eugene was the one who introduced everyone to the Commonwealth, and now he’s the one facing its wrath.

The Walking Dead season 11 continues Sundays on AMC. Fans who subscribe to AMC+ are able to watch new episodes one week early.

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