Stars Who Refuse To Watch Their Own Hit Shows

When “The Walking Dead” premiered in 2010, it quickly became many audiences’ favorite zombie show. It gained a cult following with die-hard fans who religiously watch every episode, from the original 11-season series to its several spin-off series. If you were to go through all the viewers who regularly tune in, though, you would not find Andrew Lincoln among them.

Lincoln played the show’s lead, the gritty zombie-slayer Rick Grimes, for nine seasons. He holds a strong dedication to his character and takes the role of an actor very seriously, which is why he won’t watch the show. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2013, “I don’t actually enjoy looking at myself.” When he watches himself, he said he picks up on quirks of his performance that he likes or doesn’t like, which he said negates the whole point of being an actor. “I just want to leave myself alone as much as I can,” he said. “It breaks the spell, it breaks the magic somewhat.” In a 2017 interview with TV Insider previewing the show’s eighth season, Lincoln confirmed that he still hadn’t seen a single episode of the hit AMC series.

Another actor in “The Walking Dead” universe who won’t watch himself on-screen is Frank Dillane, the actor who plays Nick Clark in “Fear the Walking Dead.” In opposition to Lincoln’s dogma, Dillane told Entertainment Weekly he probably would benefit from going back to review and critique his work but has a bad habit of never getting around to that practice. “I really don’t want to watch it,” he said, “but I think I’m coming to an age now as an actor where it’s time to start actually looking and analyzing and going, ‘Right, well, that didn’t work,’ or, ‘Right, this did work.'”

When “The Walking Dead” premiered in 2010, it quickly became many audiences’ favorite zombie show. It gained a cult following with die-hard fans who religiously watch every episode, from the original 11-season series to its several spin-off series. If you were to go through all the viewers who regularly tune in, though, you would not find Andrew Lincoln among them.

Lincoln played the show’s lead, the gritty zombie-slayer Rick Grimes, for nine seasons. He holds a strong dedication to his character and takes the role of an actor very seriously, which is why he won’t watch the show. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2013, “I don’t actually enjoy looking at myself.” When he watches himself, he said he picks up on quirks of his performance that he likes or doesn’t like, which he said negates the whole point of being an actor. “I just want to leave myself alone as much as I can,” he said. “It breaks the spell, it breaks the magic somewhat.” In a 2017 interview with TV Insider previewing the show’s eighth season, Lincoln confirmed that he still hadn’t seen a single episode of the hit AMC series.

Another actor in “The Walking Dead” universe who won’t watch himself on-screen is Frank Dillane, the actor who plays Nick Clark in “Fear the Walking Dead.” In opposition to Lincoln’s dogma, Dillane told Entertainment Weekly he probably would benefit from going back to review and critique his work but has a bad habit of never getting around to that practice. “I really don’t want to watch it,” he said, “but I think I’m coming to an age now as an actor where it’s time to start actually looking and analyzing and going, ‘Right, well, that didn’t work,’ or, ‘Right, this did work.'”