Pollyanna McIntosh reacts to Jadis' fate on “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live”

The actor takes us on the set for that big scene.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, episode 5, “Become.”

She made it through two different names, three different shows, and too many weird haircuts and languages to mention, but Jadis/Anne finally met her end on Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

The junkyard antagonist turned Alexandria ally turned CRM warrant officer (played to creepy perfection by Pollyanna McIntosh on The Walking Dead, then World Beyond, and finally The Ones Who Live) couldn’t just let Rick and Michonne go, instead tracking them down the duo and insisting they return with her to the Civic Republic Military.

After gun fire, car chases, and a stabbing, Jadis was eventually undone like so many before her — by a zombie bite to the neck. In her last moments, the warrant officer thought back to her annual meetings with former flame Father Gabriel (played by Seth Gilliam in a surprise return appearance), and told Rick and Michonne the location of the dossier she kept on them so they could destroy it and finally be free from the CRM. Unfortunately for Jadis, Michonne promised to destroy much more that than, vowing to take down the entire CRM as well. (Hey, win some, lose some, am I right?)

Entertainment Weekly spoke to McIntosh to get the full scoop on Jadis’ last stand. How and when did she find out about her character being killed off? What went down on set during filming her death scene? And what is Jadis’ lasting legacy? Read on for answers and insight.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So I know that from the moment you took Rick away on that helicopter you knew you would be part of this story, whether it was in a movie or a TV series or whatever, and it took a few years to get there. But when and how did you find out about Jadis’ untimely demise?

POLLYANNA MCINTOSH: When I first came onto set for The Ones Who Live and got to hang with Andy and he very democratically said, “Oh yeah, so how are you feeling about your death?” I was like, “Oh, cool. Yeah, good now that I know for sure it's happening!”

[Co-creator] Scott Gimple, as you know, keeps things very close to the vest, and I think that's just as it should be. But Andy being an exec on this one, he was privy to a lot of information. So I was really glad to hear that from him because that felt right. And it's always exciting because joining The Walking Dead, you're going to die at some point, and when it finally gets to happen for me, I'm like, “Wow, I die in three different ways!” And boy, that is the longest death speech I could have ever imagined giving! I didn't have any turmoil about it. I just thought this is great. I hope I get to earn it.

What do you make of the way Jadis went out?

I thought there was a real opportunity for a lot of physicality. I also felt It was a long time coming. I had a lot of Joan of Arc inspiration with this character. Joan of Arc was not doing terrible things like the CRM, but she truly believed in her mission, and I wanted to bring that to her.

So I started watching the original Joan of Arc film from the 1930s. And because I had so much dialogue, I wanted to ground it in a space where I could go internally into my memories and explain so much about my feelings and what brought me here. So I think you'll notice there's a certain amount of blinking and movement from the pain — the body headed towards its end. But for Jadis, I wanted her to be very at peace, in a way, with her recognition of what brought her there.

Take me on the set and tell me what it was like shooting your big death scene.

It was emotional. I had a beautiful moment where I was running the lines for myself with my trailer door open to keep some light on myself, but it was a bit of a rainy day that day, so production had left an umbrella for me in my trailer. I popped it open and I immediately remembered the red umbrella from the episode when we attacked Alexandria and it got stuck to hold the door open. I remembered the sweetness that I had with the actor who did that with the umbrella, and how chuffed he was to have that umbrella and to have a key role in the whole thing.

So many memories came to me. And then when I popped it open, I also realized it was the exact blue that Jadis used for those cat paintings, and the blue paint on Simon's boots. And remembering all of that with losing my people, and the shooting of that, and what fun we had, and how emotional it was to do that scene. I just felt: "Oh, I've got the right vibes with me today. This is really good."

And so it kind of went like that, just taking in a lot of moments of what it means to me personally, and also how much I've enjoyed all the people and all the moments and all the crew that have become family and that I had the pleasure of working with and collaborating with.

[Director Michael E. Satrazemis] and Danai and Andy are such pros and with the light coming in that park exhibition of all the stuffed animals, it felt a bit cathedral with the high ceiling and everything. And the respect that Mikey encourages on set and the moments he allows for are really special. He calls himself an emotional thief. He says, “Just give it all to me.” And he really gave me that space and so did Danai and Andy.

Why do you think Jadis has this change of heart and tells Rick and Michonne to go destroy the dossier?

She had a moment of clarity. Gabriel had told her who she was and she finally believed it. She finally believed that her purpose was to hand it over and to let these people live. She still hoped that they would leave the CRM alone, but by the end of that moment when Michonne says, “No, we're going to go back and we're going to destroy them,” she's at peace. She's done her best. And that prompts her to remember a time when she didn't need to think about these things, when she was an artist.

What do you think Jadis’ lasting legacy is? She’s been all over the map in terms of hero or villain, so where do you think she ultimately lands after everything?

I think it depends entirely on your perspective. And I think that's one of the things I really respect about the show, is that depending on whose shoes you put yourself into, you are the hero or the villain. And I think a line from World Beyond comes to mind, which is: She's an ambitious survivor. And that looks different for different people. But you could go more romantic and say, “Well, Rick said you kept us alive for a reason.” But nah, I'm just going to go with that she's an ambitious survivor who did her best.

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