Emmys 2012: 'The Walking Dead's' Jon Bernthal on Killing Characters, Challenging Scenes and the Ending Nobody Saw

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"The Walking Dead's" Jon Bernthal

The Walking Dead's Jon Bernthal always knew his days as Shane were numbered. Since auditioning for former showrunner Frank Darabont, Bernthal says he fell in love with the character after reading the script and turned down not one but two roles -- including a regular gig on NCIS: LA -- just to get the chance to audition for the AMC zombie drama.

Now, two seasons later, Bernthal's character has met his maker (twice!) after one of the TV season's best confrontations that left Shane dead and Rick with a massive personality overhaul that will play huge in the upcoming third season of the drama based on Robert Kirkman's comic series.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Bernthal to discuss Shane's epic death, the ending he and co-star Andrew Lincoln (Rick) pitched to producers and how his character in TNT's Drabont pilot L.A. Noir compares to the duplicitous Shane.

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The Hollywood Reporter: How did you find out that Shane was (finally!) being killed? Jon Bernthal: From the beginning, this was a job that I desperately wanted. It was the first pilot season that I went in and auditioned for a show that was on the air and had a syndication deal. I'd gotten a regular part on it and I'd gotten another part another show on a pilot. I'd read the pilot of Walking Dead that Frank Darabont wrote and it blew me away. I had two other offers on the table and, much to the shock and amazement of my representatives, I said, "Look, until I get to audition for The Walking Dead, I'm not accepting anything." This is advice I'd never give any young actor to follow, but I went with my gut on it and it's one of those rare times where it really paid off.

What were the other two offers? One was to be on NCIS: L.A. as a new regular, the other was for a pilot that didn't go. It was one of those things that I just knew. The audition process was so long and everyone auditioned for both Rick and Shane. There was something about this character that I thought was so unbelievably compelling. I knew he'd become this guy who'd lose it and turn on his friend and if we were following the comic book at all, he's going to come to this part where he's wracked with jealousy and shame. I looked at the opening scene where Frank introduces Shane and you have these two friends sitting there and sharing a couple burgers, and you see this guy with humor, charm and flaws and he's sitting there being the best friend a friend could actually be trying to help his friend communicate work through his marital problems. And I thought, with knowing where Shane was going, what a beautiful introduction.

Did Frank tell you during your audition that Shane's days were numbered? When I said that Shane was the character I wanted to play, [producers] said, "He's not going to be long for this world; this is based on source material." There's nothing like getting your dream job and sitting down with source material and by the time you finish your sandwich, your character's dead. It was quite a shock.

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Emmys 2012: 'The Walking Dead's' Jon Bernthal on Killing Characters, Challenging Scenes and the Ending Nobody Saw