Michael Greyeyes played a character named Qaletaqa Walker in the third season of AMC's Fear the Walking Dead. Walker was around for a while, then he decided to leave the story, going off to do his own thing while the show got reworked and underwent a substantial time jump. While we wait to see if Walker will ever return to Fear the Walking Dead, the actor who brought him to life has taken a role in a different zombie project.
Greyeyes stars in BLOOD QUANTUM, which was written and directed by Mi’gmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby. The story takes place at a time when
the dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi’gmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its indigenous inhabitants who are immune to the zombie plague. Amid the chaos, a tribal sheriff must protect his son’s pregnant girlfriend, apocalyptic refugees, and reserve riff raff from the hordes of walking white corpses.
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Forrest Goodluck are also in the cast.
BLOOD QUANTUM was produced by John Christou and Rob Vroom, with Madrona Drive and XYZ Films executive producing.
Shudder, the genre streaming service owned by AMC Networks, has acquired the US, UK/Ireland, and Australia/New Zealand rights to the film.
Barnaby had this to say about the Shudder deal:
Natives have been on screen for 100 years but have never controlled that image. In the age of representation, Shudder is putting their money where their mouth is and providing an opportunity for a whole new generation of indigenous genre filmmakers. They’re breaking that glass ceiling and opening the books on a whole new perspective. They’re making a genuine difference."
Shudder's Emily Gotto adds:
We are thrilled to bring Jeff Barnaby’s BLOOD QUANTUM to Shudder. Jeff and his bold vision are at the forefront of Shudder’s ethos of original, provocative and stirring genre stories. The film is a new, first nations perspective on a classic genre, a film that takes zombies in a new direction as it harkens back to the meaningful and politically aware roots of George Romero."
XYZ Films has also helped BLOOD QUANTUM secure distribution from Koch Films in Germany, Minerva in Italy, Klockworx in Japan, Lumix in South Korea, Falcon in Indonesia and the Middle East, MovieCloud in Taiwan, MVP in India, Shaw Renters in Singapore, and Fox Network Group Asia Pacific – Pan Asia PTV/SVOD. Elevation Pictures will be releasing the film in Canada, with Entract Films distributing in Quebec. Bell Media's Crave has the first-window broadcast rights in Canada.
Funded by Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Canadian Media Fund, and The Harold Greenberg Fund, BLOOD QUANTUM was filmed in Montreal, the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, and Barnaby's hometown of Listuguj, Quebec.
This sounds like an interesting film to me, and it will be nice to see Greyeyes dealing with zombies again. I'll check it out when it starts streaming on Shudder.