Michael Rooker has candidly compared his departure from The Walking Dead to that of Kevin Costner from Yellowstone, noting that as actors, “We move on.” Rooker stars in Costner’s new Western movie Horizon, which struggled to wrangle its way to a strong opening weekend. During a recent interview in support of the movie, Rooker was asked his thoughts on his new director’s very public exit from Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ hit.
Rooker has been in the business for a long time, notching up over 140 acting credits, but in recent years has become instantly recognizable for several roles, including playing Yondu in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and as Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead. Playing the brother of Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon in the zombie franchise, Rooker made several appearances throughout Seasons 1 and 2, then appeared in most episodes of Season 3, at which point he left the show when his character was killed off while attempting to take down The Governor.
Speaking with TMZ, Rooker addressed how leaving The Walking Dead was something that was not really in his control but was just a part of the business, something he could also see in the way Costner left Yellowstone. Asked specifically about that controversial moment, he said:
“But we all [move on]. That’s what we do. We’re actors. We move on. We do The Walking Dead, I get killed off. I don’t know why. They don’t know how to write for the character! So, I move on.”
However, Rooker went on to note that despite leaving the series over a decade ago, there are still many Walking Dead fans out there who remember Merle and are still fans of his time in the franchise. This is something he says will be mirrored by Costner. He added:
“They’re still there. My fans from The Walking Dead, the Merle Dixon fans, they’re still there. And nothing wrong with that. Yes [Yellowstone fans will still love Costner]. It’ll be okay.”
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Kevin Costner’s Horizon Gamble Seems More Risky After the Movie’s Opening Weekend
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One always seemed destined to be a hard sell as a theatrical release, despite its grand scope and visually cinematic journey. The box office has been increasingly volatile when it comes to which movies succeed and which don’t, but a three-hour old school Western – which is the first of four proposed movies to boot – just does not seem to sit in the right place to take a sizable portion of the box office against popular family-friendly fare such as Inside Out 2, and horror hit A Quiet Place: Day One.
Disney CEO Bob Iger recently made a bold statement that the House of Mouse’s focus is about to return to their biggest franchises to deliver more sequels. The lackluster response to Horizon is proof that Iger knows what he is talking about, as it appears to take something familiar to deliver a strong performance in theaters these days. Michael Rooker, during his interview, shared another reason why Horizon has failed to connect with audiences; TikTok. When asked if audiences had become too used to short content on social media, he said:
Totally they are. Of course they are. They got to get over that crap. They got to learn how to watch real cinema, please.
Costner will be hoping that more people have come around to the idea of watching “real cinema” by the time Horizon’s Chapter Two releases in August. For now, Chapter One is playing in cinemas, and will be hoping to make the most of a marathon-not-a-sprint approach as its box office total slowly creeps upwards.