So, I haven’t been very active with theories and spec later because I don’t want to present anything that gets anyone’s hopes up unreasonably (besides me and the usual suspects) and because I don’t like building entire theories on the tiny shreds of evidence (contrary to what my hateful anons may think).
But I think I have a good one and I hope you guys will hear me out. I think it’s pretty good, honestly.
Emily has a stunt double.
I mean, duh. Of course she does. But I forgot about that until earlier today. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, given the more action intensive scripts Emily received in Season 5. Her stunt double has appeared in exactly five episodes to date.
“When the Dead Come Knocking”
Yeah. I was shocked, too.
When I saw that, I immediately tried to come up with other answers for WHY on God’s green earth would EMILY’S stunt double be in a season 6 episode (other than Beth lives, case closed). It’s got to be a mistake, right? Some fan must have put it there.
Except it appears on her LinkedIn as well. And LinkedIn can’t be crowd edited, wiki style like IMDB.
Her name is Sarah Reagin. She’s based in Georgia and has done a lot of really cool shit, including double for Willow Shields (who plays Katniss’ sister in THG), Hayden Penettierre in Nashville, worked on Captain America, she’s a stunt driver, and so on. Really, really cool. And she’s the only stunt double to work with Emily out of the dozens that work regularly with TWD.
So, what about other actors on TWD? Could she double as Alexandra Breckenridge? Nope, checked that. Not only is Alexandra almost a head taller than Sarah, they’re completely different bodytypes. Sarah has the same lith, ballerina build as Emily whereas Alex has a more curvy, hourglass sillouette. And her own Georgia-based double. So does Melissa and Lauren and every other female on the show. This Sarah lady seems to work exclusively with Emily. Except for when she’s played a walker.
She doesn’t specify in any of her resumes or professional lists when she’s played a walker but what would you just bet that she was at least one of the blonde walkers? Remember what Julius Ramsey said about choosing an actor who matched Emily’s proportions? What are the odds, right? And being hog tied and locked up in a car trunk during a Georgia summer is exactly the kind of thing a stunt performer does. Same with being nearly crucified to a tree. That’s not just any regular actress. That’s someone who is trained to hold their body a certain way and regulate their breathing and who knows what is safe and what is crossing a line with certainty. Am I certain that it’s her? No, I’m not. I do know that most of these roles go uncredited. And I know that we may have been asking the wrong questions all along.