Television

Z Nation Exclusive: Keith Allan Talks Confidence, Transformation, and Biting 10K

Michaela

Published

November 1, 2016

“. . . by the end, I don’t think I’ll even look human,” was Keith Allan’s prediction for the future of his character, Murphy, on Syfy’s Z Nation. He confirms that the culprit behind Murphy’s skin color changing yet again is the booster shots he’s been using, continuing, “at this point, Murphy is such a mixed cocktail of who-knows-what anymore. He’s not only got the original vaccine, and the zombie virus in him from the zombie bites, but now he’s got these boosters, and so it’s anyone’s guess what he’s made of anymore. He’s changing and transmorphing into something completely different now . . . I don’t think there’s much of a chance of him ever becoming a regular human again.”

Murphy certainly has undergone a lot of changes throughout the series. Looking back throughout the seasons, Allan thinks that the biggest change Murphy has undergone is his gain in confidence. “I think that, you know, really early on we saw him as a very sort of frail and skittish character, and now he’s becoming such a strong force to be dealt with. I think he was probably the kid who was always picked on on the playground, you know, smart, but probably not strong,” he added. “So I think at this point in his life, the tables are a little turned, and he’s in a power position. And I think that his confidence is way way up, and I think that’s been a huge shift for him.”

In episode 7 of season 3 of Z Nation, “Welcome to Murphytown,” Murphy realizes that he misses having real friends, rather than just his blend slaves. “He misses the companionship that he had with the group, with Warren and Doc and all those people,” Allan shared. This is the first time Murphy has really been in charge of anything, and it’s not as easy as he may have thought. “People look to you for guidance and direction and hope, and so I think he’s realizing that he’s not there to make friends—I think he’s lonely. But I don’t think he’s so lonely that he’d give up his mission—I think that he’s really committed to the work that he’s doing. But, again, I think it’s lonely at the top.”

Why did Murphy bite 10K? The question is a popular one, and Allan explained, “The reality is that that sub was going to be sinking, you know, we were on a sinking sub. And he was really in no position to travel, I mean, he had a big giant bullet wound in his gut, and it was either bite him, or let him go down with the ship. And so, basically, by biting him, his wound healed right away and he was basically fine to come and travel with me, and live. So I believe Murphy did it to save his life, because the other option was to let him go down with the ship.”

Finally, at the end of Z Nation: “Welcome to Murphytown,” we learned that Doc and Addy will be splitting from Warren, 10K, and Sun Mei, and going in search of Murphy’s daughter, Lucy. Murphy is also planning to retrieve his daughter from the couple he left her with. So, of course, we wondered if Murphy will go himself, and have a showdown with Doc and Addy, or if he’ll send some of his overeager cronies to accomplish the task while he holds down the fort in Spokane. Allan didn’t think he could answer that without spoilers, but he was able to tell us, “ . . . it does become a priority for Murphy to get his daughter back later on in the season.”