Brenda Khan
Netflix's horror-comedy series Santa Clarita Diet stars Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as Sheila and Joel Hammond, a husband-and-wife real estate team. In the series premiere, Sheila becomes undead and starts craving human flesh. She eats Gary West, a realtor and the Hammonds' co-worker/competitor, who is portrayed by Nathan Fillion. However, when Joel fails to destroy Gary's brain, he returns in season 2 as a disembodied head, dishing out life advice and becoming Joel's friend. Fillion, known for his roles in Castle and Firefly, described the experience of playing a severed head as so much fun.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of actor | Nathan Fillion |
| Name of character | Gary West |
| Season(s) | 1, 2 |
| Year(s) | 2018 |
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What You'll Learn
Nathan Fillion plays the severed head of Gary West in seasons 1 and 2
Gary West is a realtor and the Hammonds' co-worker and competitor. In the series premiere, he aggressively pursues Sheila, who decides to kill and eat him. In season 2, the Hammonds exhume Gary's body from his burial spot because the location is about to be built on. They discover that he has become a zombie head because his brain wasn't destroyed. They take him home and keep him in their basement. Gary becomes a friend to Joel, who has no one else to talk to, and doles out life advice.
Fillion, best known for his leading roles in the murder-mystery dramedy "Castle" and the sci-fi western "Firefly," described the role as "so much fun." He also joked about the abundance of severed head jokes in the series.
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Alan Tudyk takes on the role of the severed head in season 3
In the series premiere, Sheila, an undead SoCal real-estate agent, kills and eats parts of Gary. In season 2, Joel and Sheila exhume Gary's body to move it from the spot where they initially buried him, and they hear him speak from his grave. Because Sheila did not kill his brain, he has become undead, too. They take his head home and keep him in the basement. Gary then wants Joel and Sheila to give his niece, Kayla, the deed to his house before they kill him.
Gary is played by Nathan Fillion in seasons 1 and 2. Fillion's character is a disembodied zombie head that doles out life advice to Joel, who does not have anyone else to talk to. Fillion joked about the odd friendship between Gary and Joel in an interview with Vulture, saying, "Joel doesn't have a shoulder to cry on, and as the series would have it, he still doesn't."
Tudyk's performance as Gary in season 3 was well-received by fans, with one Reddit user commenting, "Alan did a great job regardless!"
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The severed head is a result of Sheila eating Gary West alive
The Netflix horror-comedy series Santa Clarita Diet stars Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as Sheila and Joel Hammond, a husband-and-wife real estate team. Their mundane lives take a turn when Sheila starts exhibiting zombie-like symptoms, including a craving for human flesh. As a result of her new diet, Sheila eats Gary West (played by Nathan Fillion) alive in the series premiere. However, since Joel didn't destroy Gary's brain, he returns in season 2 as a disembodied head, providing dark comedy and life advice to Joel, who has no one else to confide in.
Gary West is a minor character and a realtor who is Sheila and Joel's co-worker and competitor. Before his demise, he attempts to blackmail and seduce Sheila. In season 2, the Hammonds have to exhume Gary's body because the location where they initially buried him is set to become a building plot. As they move his body, they hear him speak from his grave. They take his head home and keep it in their basement.
Nathan Fillion, who plays Gary, commented on the unusual friendship that develops between his character and Joel in season 2: "Joel doesn’t have a shoulder to cry on, and as the series would have it, he still doesn’t." Fillion also joked about the abundance of severed head jokes on the show, saying he was "pretty proud" of coming up with one of them himself.
Santa Clarita Diet received generally positive reviews from critics for its cast, humour, and engaging premise, although the level of gore was not to everyone's taste. The show's creator, Victor Fresco, drew on his own experience growing up in San Fernando Valley for the setting, choosing Santa Clarita for its middle-class residents and the Hammond's profession as realtors for the "forced friendliness" inherent to the job.
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The head becomes a friend to Joel, who needs someone to talk to
The Netflix horror-comedy series Santa Clarita Diet stars Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as Sheila and Joel Hammond, a married couple who are realtors in SoCal. When Sheila becomes a zombie and starts craving human flesh, Joel and the rest of her family help keep her diet a secret from their friends, co-workers, and neighbours.
In the series premiere, Sheila eats a sleazy real-estate agent named Gary West, played by Nathan Fillion. However, when Joel fails to destroy Gary's brain, he returns in season 2 as a disembodied head. Joel and Sheila exhume his body when the location they initially buried him in is about to be turned into a building plot. They take his head home and keep him in the basement.
Despite being eaten by Sheila, Gary becomes a friend to Joel, who needs someone to talk to. Gary's head doles out valuable advice and becomes a shoulder for Joel to cry on. Fillion joked about the irony of the situation, saying, "Joel doesn’t have a shoulder to cry on, and as the series would have it, he still doesn’t." Gary even comes up with punny suggestions for the title of a spin-off centred around his character, such as "Quit While You’re a Head" and "What’s That in the Road, a Head?".
Fillion, known for his roles in "Castle" and "Firefly", described his experience playing a disembodied head as "so much fun".
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The severed head doles out life advice to Joel
The severed head of Gary West, played by Nathan Fillion, certainly does dole out life advice to Joel in Netflix's horror-comedy Santa Clarita Diet.
In the show, Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and his undead wife Sheila (Drew Barrymore) are a real estate team in Santa Clarita. In the first season, Sheila kills and eats parts of Gary, their co-worker/competitor. However, because Joel forgot to destroy Gary's brain, he returns in season 2 as a disembodied head.
Despite being eaten by Sheila, Gary becomes a friend to Joel, who has no one else to confide in about his problems. In fact, Nathan Fillion joked that "Joel doesn't have a shoulder to cry on, and as the series would have it, he still doesn't."
In his new form, Gary doles out valuable advice to Joel, who is struggling to cope with his wife's new undead state and her craving for human flesh. Gary's head even becomes "basically part of the family", as Fillion puts it.
Fillion, known for his roles in "Castle" and "Firefly", found playing a disembodied head to be a lot of fun. He also expressed interest in a Gary-centred spin-off, with potential titles like "Quit While You're a Head" and "What's That in the Road, a Head?".
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Frequently asked questions
Nathan Fillion plays Gary West, the severed head in Santa Clarita Diet.
Gary West is a realtor and Sheila and Joel's co-worker/competitor in the business. He attempts to blackmail and seduce Sheila Hammond before she kills and eats parts of him.
Sheila Hammond is played by Drew Barrymore. She is an undead SoCal real-estate agent and the wife of Joel Hammond, played by Timothy Olyphant.
