NYCC 2019: Inside the Daybreak Press Room

It may be the end of the world, but for this group of survivors, life couldn’t be better. They’ll have the chance to rebuild their world from the ground up and redefine who they are.

Netflix’s post-apocalyptic, genre-bending new series Daybreak finds the city of Glendale, California, taken over by various tribes fighting to survive in a world without adults. The series stars Matthew Broderick as Glendale High School’s principal Michael Burr; Krysta Rodriguez as biology teacher Ms. Crumble; Colin Ford as our protagonist Josh Wheeler; Sophie Simnett as the lovable Sam Dean; Austin Crute as samurai Wesley Fists; Alyvia Alyn Lind as pyromaniac Angelica Green; Cody Kearsley as Turbo Bro Jock, the leader of the jocks; Jeanté Godlock as Turbo’s badass right-hand woman Mona Lisa; and Gregory Kasyan as Eli Cardashyan (not that Kardashian).

With the series premiering on October 24, the cast and creators stopped by New York Comic Con to spill some juicy details.

Colin Ford on His Character Josh
“I get to play two versions of the same character. When we first meet Josh, he’s an average guy. He’s a ‘C’ student. He doesn’t have a lot of friends. He doesn’t have a whole lot going for him. He’s new to Glendale. He moved from Canada. He meets Sam. She becomes a quick friend and interest of Josh’s. When the apocalypse happens, there’s a switch. Josh quickly outfits himself in the clothes that he feels the best in. He starts to live his best life.”

Alyvia Alyn Lind on Her Character Angelica
“Angelica is a pyromaniac, ten-year-old, insane kid. She has this crazy idea for the apocalypse and how she’s going to take over it and conquer it. Her main thing in the apocalypse is finding her own tribe. She wants to find who she’s going to stick with. She was very lucky to find Josh and Wesley. These are three people who you don’t expect to be a tribe. They’re so different. They all come together and put aside their differences because they need to survive.”

Austin Crute on His Character Wesley
“Wesley is a football-star-bully-turned-pacifist samurai. Pre-apocalypse, he was running with the jocks. Post-apocalypse, the jocks have turned into a dictatorship. Different tribes are coming to them making sacrifices, and they run things. He used to run with them, but he’s denounced that whole lifestyle. He’s really trying to find out who he is without football stardom and without people gassing him up.”

Sophie Simnett on Her Character Sam
“Sam is described as the queen of Glendale. On paper, she’s the popular girl. Everyone likes her. But the way that her story is described is through the eyes of other characters and through flashbacks. The audience has this character built for them. It’s interesting to see how that divulges as more of the past is revealed. In the second half of the season, the fight to find Sam is still there. But we do find out more about her path. We discover more about how she became the person she is and how she might navigate that world.”

Krysta Rodriguez on Her Character Ms. Crumble
“You’ll discover that she’s one of the only adults that we know of that survives and does not become a Ghoulie. She may be becoming a Ghoulie. The Ghoulies’ defining feature is that they can only say the last thing that they thought before the bomb hit. I’m the only one who can put together longer sentences. I still have some brain trauma, so they don’t always make sense. Ms. Crumble is a biology teacher, so she’s fascinated by the biological warfare that has happened to these people. She becomes somewhat helpful to the kids in their quest to figure out what caused this, how to prevent it, and how to survive. She’s the professor in this Gilligan’s Island. I like to compare her to Sloth in The Goonies. She’s this lovable giant who loves the kids and doesn’t want to eat them. She’s doing her best to put her brain back together and survive.”

Gregory Kasyan on His Character Eli
“Before the bombs exploded, Eli was bullied in high school. His parents never had money to buy him Nikes or designer brands. Everything he had was knock-offs. When the bombs exploded, he takes over the mall. He has everything he’s ever wanted. He has the shoes, the clothes, the weapons, and his girlfriend Marvis. Everyone who turned on him in high school, he turns back on them and trolls them. He knows the ins and outs of the mall. He starts messing with everyone, but he also has a super vulnerable side, and you’ll see that towards the end of the season. Later in the season, we’ll go a lot deeper into who Eli is. You’ll see a side of him that no one else does.”

Jeanté Godlock on Her Character Mona
“Mona is an athlete. She plays a ton of sports. You can see in the post-apocalypse why she runs with the tribe that she does. She’s the only girl on the football team, and that’s awesome. Before the apocalypse, she’s just sort of there. The apocalypse, it changes everyone. She steps into this leadership role. Now she’s telling these boys what to do. It’s really awesome to see that you can be with the same group of people, but an event strikes, and you have to figure things out.”

Colin Ford and Sophie Simnett on the Faithfulness of this Adaptation
Colin: Overall, the way that the comic is laid out in the pictures, it looks really similar. It has the same tone. The story is a little different.

Sophie: It’s very different. It’s more of an inspiration than a remake.

Matthew Broderick on Making His TV Series Regular Debut
“I thought it was a great story. I’ve never done an extended role on TV before, and my character has an interesting story that I wanted to play out. I wanted to build on this character in length of time and detail.”

Jeanté Godlock and Gregory Kasyan on How Daybreak Differentiates Itself
Jeanté: It’s a coming-of-age story. We’ve seen them all before, but ours is so special.

Gregory: You can’t put it in a genre.

Jeanté: Yeah, you’ll be wondering what genre this is. It’s done in such a fantastic way. It’s great because we’re in the current times and talking like how teenagers talk now. They have potty mouths. You have kids in high school using all these F-bombs. It’s so cool to see this TV show. There are no parents around, so these kids are just being themselves.

Alyvia Alyn Lind and Austin Crute on the Importance of a Show Like Daybreak
Alyvia: This is a really important time to have this show come out.

Austin: Absolutely! The apocalypse is imminent. [laughs]

Alyvia: We are the new generation. We’re building this new generation that’s going to take over the world some day.

Austin: And not taking “no” for an answer.

Alyvia: A lot of people are saying we’re Generation A. We’re Generation Apocalypse. We’re the new generation. We’re Gen A—make it a thing! We’re in this crazy world, and it’s an escape. Other shows approach the apocalypse differently. They see it as a disaster. They see it as a tragedy. We’re putting an optimistic spin on it. We’re saying that the apocalypse can be a way to reinvent yourself. I’ve never seen anything that has that view on the apocalypse.

Austin: We reference real issues.

Colin Ford and Krysta Rodriguez on What Drew Them to this Project
Colin: Part of the reason why I was so excited to play Josh is that I relate to both sides of him. In high school, I didn’t feel like the coolest guy. I didn’t have a huge group of friends. I had a group of friends that I stuck with. That’s what Daybreak is about. It’s about finding your tribe. I found my tribe in high school. They got me through tough times. I’m thankful for that. It wasn’t until after I got out of school that I started to come into my own and built confidence in myself. I started to feel good about the work that I had done at an early age. Once you get out of school, you realize that things weren’t as deep as you thought they were and the weight you put on them. That’s true for Josh, post-apocalypse. He’s yearning to find Sam. That’s his mission. But also, he uses the apocalypse as a catalyst to being the best version of himself. He outfits himself with the way that he feels on the inside. He’s being the person that he’s always wanted to be or the person that he saw on the inside. In my life, I feel very similar.

Krysta: Working on Netflix is always a draw. The show was so different from anything that I’ve ever read. It was really exciting. As far as my character, it’s rare to find roles where women get to play as dirty as the boys. This role gets to do that—literally and figuratively. I’m covered in dirt the entire time and eating bugs. That was really appealing to me at this phase of my life.

Daybreak premieres October 24 on Netflix. Check out the trailer below!

Photo Credit:Netflix