Warning: Storyline and character spoilers ahead for the series premiere of Fear the Walking Dead.

Is he the West Coast Rick Grimes? That remains to be seen, but Cliff Curtis’s Travis Manawa makes a good start in the series premiere of AMC’s Walking Dead companion series, Fear the Walking Dead. Between trying to help his girlfriend’s drug-addicted son, forge a better relationship with his own estranged teen, and keep everyone safe in a health crisis that only hints at becoming more epic, Travis has so far proven himself to be a devoted paterfamilias to his blended — or rather, still blending — family.

New Zealand actor Curtis, who has also starred on dramas like Trauma, Missing, and Gang Related, talked to Yahoo TV about what attracted him to the Dead universe (despite not being a fan of the genre), how Travis will evolve through Season 1, how Travis earned the trust of his girlfriend’s traumatized addict son Nick, and the big trouble ahead for happy (relatively speaking, in the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse) couple Travis and Madison.

Were you a fan of the original series, or of the zombie genre, before you signed on for FTWD?The genre, actually, I find it scary. I was introduced to the genre through this show. Both Kim [Dickens] and I were told by the studios and the creators that it wasn’t necessary for us to read the comics or watch the series, because the less we knew about this genre, the better, in terms of treating it realistically. We don’t treat it as a zombie show. We deal with it as real people and real situations. We both opted to just keep a distance from the other show, and turn up to work and do it a day at a time, discover the world with the audience.

Related: Take a Bite Out of Our ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Premiere Recap

What attracted you to the series, to playing Travis?I thought the script was a very good study of people and characters, and I loved the sort of ordinariness of the people. It wasn’t an action hero-type show; it was more about ordinary people who’ve got a long way to travel to be able to deal with the kind of devastation that is going to happen in the world. I was really intrigued by seeing such realistic characters in this genre, and then treating it as real, as opposed to a gimmick. And Travis, he’s a fixer, he’s an idealist, and he’s an optimist. He loves fixing things; he is very grounded in his family life and his community. He’s a really good guy, and it’s a great way for me to explore the character who’s essentially good in a world that is chaotic, and how to hold onto the best of himself and believe in the best of humanity.

By necessity, with this storyline, we’re probably going to see a pretty big evolution for him, then.Yeah, it’s going to be very extreme, and I think we’re going to draw that out for as long as we possibly can, and make it as difficult as we can for him to accept the new world that is about to come down upon him and his family. I really enjoyed that, and it’s been great working with the creators of the show, because they’ve been very open to small suggestions I’ve made, and it’s changed the trajectory of the character. I wanted to make sure that he was believable as an English literature teacher, that he didn’t suddenly start turning into a kick-ass action hero straightaway. I wanted to have some time for this guy to come to terms with what he has to do to protect his family.