The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Star Kim Coates Explains Negan & Brugal’s Frenemy Dynamic In ScreenRant's Debunking AI

The newest episode of ScreenRant’s new original series Debunking AI is here, featuring Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 star Kim Coates. In each episode of the series, an AI chatbot will be asked questions about the personal and professional lives of modern stars, and those stars will see how much the chatbot gets right. We all know how wonky some AI-generated content can be, so each episode features corrections of misunderstandings about popular media figures and fun reveals about their lives and careers.

Kim Coates is a prolific actor known for playing Alexander ‘Tig’ Trager in Sons of Anarchy in 92 episodes, although in more recent years he also appeared in the Netflix miniseries American Primeval as Wyatt Earp. Coates was also an important recurring character in HBO’s White House Plumbers and the lead in the drama series Bad Blood.

The latest episode of Debunking AI comes with fun reveals about Coates’ life, as well as a good amount of information regarding his role in the already well-reviewed The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2. Check it out, above, and read below for a recap of what was discussed. Keep an eye on ScreenRant for more upcoming episodes of Debunking AI!

How Much Did AI Get Right About Kim Coates?

AI Gets Coats To Reveal “The Best Decision” He Made

Coates’ Debunking AI episode began with a rare instance of AI debunking him–or, at least, past him. When AI explained Coates’ middle name, Frederick, Coates said, “That’s true, but I thought it meant ‘Kim F***ing Coates’–I really did–for years and years.’” AI correctly gave Coates’ hometown and education–the actor is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and discovered acting due to taking a drama class in school–but incorrectly guessed Coates’ first acting role.

“False, AI. False,” Coates said when the chatbot guessed that his first acting role was in the 1986 film The Boy in Blue. Although that was Coates’ first film role, his first acting role was in a play called The Lottery. AI also believed that Coates was proficient in violin and bass guitar, to which Coates replied, “False again.” He clarified: “I played both those instruments, but I’m such a slacker,” revealing that after he finished his role where he had to play those instruments, “I never picked them up again.”

AI also got Coates to reflect on his time on Sons of Anarchy. While Coates debunked the idea that it was his favorite role, saying, “I don’t have any favorites,” he did acknowledge that he initially turned down the role of Tig, citing that the character was “so psychotic and so crazy.” He revealed that the showrunner Kurt Sutter won him over by promising that Tig would become “the moral compass of the club.” Coates continued to say that his acceptance of the role would go on to be “the best decision that I made.”

Kim Coates Teases His The Walking Dead: Dead City Appearance

Coates Plays A New Character Named Brugal

Thanks to AI’s setup, saying that Coates plays a greedy, intense, and complex character in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2, Coates revealed information about his upcoming role of Brugal. Coates acknowledged the chatbot’s statements that Brugal is a cunning gang leader who is ruling his own faction in post-apocalyptic Manhattan and poses significant challenges to Maggie and Negan, but specified that his challenges for “mostly [for] Negan.”

“He’s a frenemy of Negan,” Coates continued. He went on to say that “Eli Jorné did an incredible job of writing season two, and he really let me fly with this guy. I brought a lot of comedy to him, I think. I hope… He was really fun to play. Wait ‘til you see my wardrobe.”

According to Coates, it’s also “kind of true” that Brugal was written specifically for him. “Eli did call me specifically after my agents and managers went through a little phone call saying that he had me in mind for this guy,” Coates said, continuing, “and I needed something to read, so I read the first episode and the fourth episode, and said, ‘Where do I sign?’”

Coates went on to say that “It just really was incredible for me to inhabit that world of zombies. It was just so different from anything I'd ever done with Sons of Anarchy or American Primeval or all the movies I’ve got coming out and that I've done.”

For more Debunking AI, check out our episode with Dean Norris of Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Keep an eye on Screen Rant Plus for more episodes of Debunking AI.