Natalie Malaika Talks Syfy’s ‘Day of the Dead’ [Interview]

Syfy’s latest series Day of the Dead is sure to be a hit with George A. Romero fans with the series’ tribute to his ‘Living Dead’ films.

The TV series is based on the 1985 film of the same name by Romero. The series follows a group of six strangers as they try to survive the first twenty-four hours during a zombie apocalypse.

Natalie Malaika stars as Lauren Howell, the sarcastic-filled assistant mortician at the local funeral home in a rural Pennsylvania town. You may know her from her more prominent roles as Natalie Bailey in Fractured or Robyn Pearce in The Color Rose.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Malaika about her role as Lauren on Day of the Dead.

“Lauren has a bit of a tough exterior, but on the inside, once you break away from all of that, she does have a soft heart. She is always there to step up to the plate and be there for those who are kind of falling behind or are having a tough time,” Malaika said.

“She’s also a bit of a lone wolf, and Cam (played by Keenan Tracey) balances her out because if it wasn’t for Cam sometimes, she would — you know, he’s a bit of her voice of reason in certain ways. She has a tough past, and we get to explore that a little bit throughout the series, and hopefully more going forward.”

Malaika did additional research on the profession for authenticity.

“I took it upon myself, since Lauren is a mortician/funeral director, to visit a funeral home in Vancouver. I was never told that I had to do it, but I wanted to get into that mindset of what would intrigue someone to go into that field of work. Just to hear from them firsthand, that was pretty much the biggest thing that I did to prep outside of watching the films again, reading the scripts, and doing my own character work,” Malaika said.

With Day of the Dead being a series revolving around zombies, there’s obviously going to be the typical gore and suspense. But, the amount of comedy involved with the show surprised Malaika.

“I was shocked and really happy by how funny the script was,” she said. “There’s obviously some very sweet moments. The characters go through a lot of drama. And there are some sad moments, but I was delighted and pleased with how much comedy was embedded throughout.”

“The effects throughout are amazing, so that’s something else that fans can look forward to. They definitely didn’t take effects lightly, and also throughout, for George Romero fans, there’s going to be a lot of little easter eggs. For those who are fans, they’ll pick up on these little easter eggs throughout the series; that’ll be something fun to look out for,” she continued.

Malaika’s previous roles include characters on Conviction, Good Witch, and Charmed. However, this is the first time she’s felt she was able to make a genuine connection with the rest of the cast.

“For all my other roles, I was either on set for a day or a couple of days, and that doesn’t really allow you the opportunity, in the same way, to get to know the cast and the crew and to really build that sense of community.”

“Working on Day of the Dead, I was obviously there a lot more often for the three months we were filming, so that was very different. I actually got to know people by their names and really got to know the person behind who’s doing the work,” Malaika continued.

There are so many different shows revolving around zombies in this day and age, but Day of the Dead has two key features that make it stand out.

“Two things that make it different than a lot of the zombie content that’s out there is one, the show is very female-driven, and that was another thing that stood out to me when I read the script. It was how strong, bold, and forward a lot of the female characters were,” she said. “The second thing is that a bite from a zombie doesn’t necessarily kill you.”

Malaika’s love for acting began with performing arts camps and school plays, but she didn’t venture further into acting until high school. She grew up predominately as a classically trained dancer and musician.

“I trained through Williams Conservatory of Music and the World Academy of Dance and then went to an art high school. It wasn’t until my last year of high school that I got my first talent agent, and I continued on with auditioning and training throughout university. Then it just picked up from there,” she said.

With her career on the rise, Malaika has quite a few names on her list of people she’d love to work with in the future. “Regina King and Viola Davis are people that I really admire and look up to. Zendaya is doing some amazing stuff as well. In terms of directors, I would love to work with Ava Duvernay, but there are just so many. The list is so long.”

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*Featured image credit: Dark White Lens

Day of the Dead airs Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy.

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