come and test." Lincoln flew to Darabont's home, where he viewed "Days Gone Bye" in his garage. He opined that was "brilliant" and "very intimate". Bernthal was extremely comfortable with his character on set. "The second he opened his mouth and started reading the scene, I knew it was him," he said. "There was no question. I saw Frank and I knew it. He's the guy. He's a wonderful actor, and he's going to kill it in this role." Bernthal admitted that he had no prior knowledge of The Walking Dead. He reminisced that he reacted so "organically" to the script that he "didn't want to be colored by anything else. When I did read the comic, I was shocked. Look, I'm not going to sit here and regret. One of the great things about doing TV versus film is to be surprised yourself, to not let where you're going color where you are." The pilot episode's script was amongst several other scripts for proposed television pilots that Bernthal skimmed through; He felt that this script overshadowed the others. "[It was] pilot season, and I read everything that was out there. I still remember the day that I got this script. I told my agent that I'd be thrilled to be an extra in this, it's so good. It just blew the rest of them right out of the water." Shortly after the announcement, Sarah Wayne Callies was approached to play the role of Rick's wife Lori Grimes, the lead female. Other actors garnering roles in the main cast include Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, and Jeffrey DeMunn. "Days Gone Bye" featured guest appearances from actors and actresses such as Emma Bell (Amy), Andrea's younger sister. Bell would later become part of the main cast as a recurring character. Lennie James played Morgan Jones and Jim Coleman guest performed Lam Kendal. Linds Edwards played Leon Bassett, Rick's co-worker. Keisha Tillis played Jenny Jones, Morgan's wife; and Adrian Kali Turner played Duane Jones, Jenny's son. Melissa Cowan played the bicycle girl walker; Sam Witwer, who had collaborated with Darabont in The Mist (2007), appeared as a dying soldier; Addy Miller played the teddy bear girl walker; and Joe Giles played an Atlanta walker who followed Rick. Frances Cobb played a camp survivor. Filming The producers chose to film in Atlanta because of its proximity to Cynthiana, Kentucky, Robert Kirkman's hometown and the