Eugene Porter has been through it all on The Walking Dead.

Just when the character found happiness in the apocalypse, it was pulled from under him on The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 11.

TV Fanatic got the chance to chat with Josh McDermitt about the shocking installment and what it means for the future.

Check out the full interview below.

That was such a powerful episode. I was genuinely shocked by the revelation that Stephanie is not who she said she was. What was your reaction when you found out?

Josh McDermitt: I thought it was really cool that we could play around with that. It obviously makes sense for the storyline that they wouldn't just let these people in, and that there might be someone who is trying to keep tabs on this new group of survivors.

I liked that they were able to kind of interweave it with the Hornsby storyline because that guy just runs a lot of different operations. He's always scheming.

I really dig that character. I really like how Josh Hamilton is portraying him, but yeah, I was excited to hear that they were going to do a decoy Stephanie and Chelle Ramos did an incredible job playing her. It was just so exciting.

Stephanie's disappearance rattled Eugene because their relationship was moving along swimmingly. Eugene went about the quest for answers in a very Eugene way. What was it like to shoot the episode?

The whole episode was awesome. I got to work with Michael Cudlitz, who directed the episode, and I think Mike understands me and this character as well as anybody, so that was nice. He understands my strengths, weaknesses, what my crutches are, and that sort of thing.

I think that we were able to talk a lot of stuff out, and it was very dialogue-heavy for Eugene, which is always a challenge with the way he speaks, but Mike was very patient with me and so it was just an incredible experience to let this guy unravel the way he did.

A lot of times, he's just kind of sitting there analyzing, internalizing everything, and we have this big emotional pulsating scab that's just unraveling before our eyes. That was fun to play.

We learned in the closing moments that Max was the person first introduced to Eugene on the radio as Stephanie. Can you speak a bit about Eugene's mindset following this?

I think that he's this broken man at this point. There are probably even more things he doesn't know. We see in the scene before that, he yelled at Hornsby because he was having all these epiphanies. He was like, "oh, and then you duped me here."

"And you took me to the radio room. I actually fell for that one twice!" Like all these new ideas were flashing before him. He's kind of putting all the pieces together as he's sitting there in front of that fire.

It's just a broken man. He's sitting in the rubble of his life, trying to figure out what's the path out. How do I get out of here? I also think with his mindset, he's probably kind of been thinking that he's feeling guilty about being at The Commonwealth, but he's at the doorstep of that guilt, right?

He's excited that his friends and the people he loves are there, and they're eating ice cream. They're doing yoga and face painting with the kids, and everything is equal, you know, Ezekiel is possibly going to get on the list to get surgery. He's now wondering if these people are caught up in some web.

But I think he's deeply ashamed and embarrassed for himself. And so, I don't think he's necessarily walking through that door, but he's at that doorstep and just wondering what's next in his life.

How am I going to pick up these pieces? Where are these pieces of my heart, and how do I do this? And then to have her [Max] show up, it's like what? Okay, is this like round two now?

Or did you guys come back to add insult to injury? I think he's just very skeptical of everyone right now.

I have to ask, do you know if Max likes Iron Maiden?

Well, we've got to find out if she was the real person he was actually speaking to on the radio or not. I think we need to do a whole episode devoted to their love for Iron Maiden. That can be his litmus test, are you the real Stephanie?

Lance truly swindled Eugene by using Shira as a plant and of course, by making him sign the document. How can we expect Eugene to fight back?

I think it obviously goes back to him just honestly being so small right now. Just like, I don't know how to walk. I don't know how to move forward. I don't even think that he's thinking about getting back at him, but there was something that was revealed in the scene on the steps where Hornsby even says like, "Oh, Hey, that document you signed said that you were mentally unstable and blah, blah, blah, Eugene didn't look at the document.

When he signed it, he was already thinking like, okay, I think this guy's full of it. And he kind of looks over at Princess and she like, nods, like, go ahead and sign it. Whatever. I think normally, he would read through all those documents and ask for a copy.

He didn't because he's like, oh, this is going deeper than I thought, I know this man is a part of it. And so I think that, in the aftermath, he's maybe wondering, well, what else did I do? How else did I paint myself into a corner?

And, you know, if he's able to get out of that, can he even do anything against Hornsby? I mean, Hornsby really got him, but at the time, Eugene had his guard down, so I don't know that he realizes that.

Princess was hilarious showing up with an empty lasagna dish to get into Eugene's apartment. They've formed such a great bond, but Eugene almost cost Princess her happiness in the Commonwealth. Can you speak a bit about where their friendship stands when we pick back up with them?

I think that she kind of left him high and dry at one point where she's like, "you're too far gone. Like this is all in your mind, right?" I think this is someone that he felt close with.

They were both kind of outsiders on the fringes of society a bit when they first connected with each other, and then all of a sudden, she's saying bye. I think that hurts him. And so I think he needs to know who his friends are, and he's not quite sure who they are. That's kind of the first step in picking up the pieces.

Who are the people I can trust? Because right now, all these people I thought I could trust have ruined me. That's where we see his relationship with Princess.

I got to shout-out working with Paola. She's an incredible actor and so much fun and giving. She brings awesome energy to the set. I absolutely love doing the scenes with her. She's incredible.

The Walking Dead is a show about survival. What are your thoughts on how long Eugene has survived in the apocalypse?

This is a guy who's adapted and changed to survive a bit like a cockroach. I kind of liken him to that. With this guy, I think that when you first meet him, you go, "oh, you're dead. You're gone. You're outta here soon." But you know, all these people, myself included, when we like to talk about like, "oh, I would be this character, I'd be that character."

I think most of us would be Eugene, just scared, not really having the skills to survive, hoping someone else will protect us, you know? How do you go about doing that? Obviously, in his case, he had a big lie about having the cure to the apocalypse and that sort of thing to gain protection.

But I think a lot of people would be him if the shit hit the fan. And so the fact that he's made it this long is just a testament to his adaptability and the fact that you wouldn't think he would have made it this long, and here he is, just trucking along, you know, better than ever ... right now.

I think even at the beginning of this episode, we saw him the happiest he's ever been in his entire life. And that's something you don't necessarily see from someone in the apocalypse, but there he was.

The Walking Dead continues Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.