(Editor’s note: This story is an Era web exclusive.)

“It’s always great to be busy,” said actor Lew Temple, well known in the region for the time he spent in the community in 2009 while filming “Unstoppable.”

“People are driven with purpose,” he said. “When there’s purpose with what you do and there’s joy and hope, we’re in a better place.”

Temple just completed an eight-episode role as Axel on the television show “The Walking Dead.” 

“Obviously, ‘The Walking Dead’ has had an incredible amount of visibility for me,” Temple said. “There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t do (an interview) like this. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

Even though Temple is disappointed he was killed off on the show, he was pleased with how his demise was handled.

“I’m disappointed because it was a steady paycheck on the number one show on television,” he said. “It was a disappointment for Axel … he had some more colors to show. He had a few secrets he’d yet to unveil.”

His character was an inmate in a prison where survivors of a zombie apocalypse broke into, in hopes of finding a safe haven from hordes of wandering zombies. Axel ended up getting shot — in the temple — in a battle between two rival groups of survivors. 

“On the day of (his character’s demise), I decided I wasn’t going to be morose or disappointed,” Temple said. “I was happy I was shot in the head. To reanimate me (as a zombie) wasn’t something I was interested in.”

Temple also laughed about an online following that his mustache has garnered, even with a Twitter feed for “AxelsStacheTWD.”

“Somewhere out there, that ‘stache is going to get revenge,” he said, laughing.

Temple also joked about the multitude of ways he has perished in movies and television shows.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “My wife tells me I should put out a coffee table book on ‘All of Me’ for all the body parts I’ve given.”

Fans of Temple can see all of him in one of many projects he has recently completed.

He has a Walt Disney film “The Lone Ranger” coming out this summer, and has recently appeared on the television shows “Justified” and “Hawaii Five-O.”

He has also appeared in some independent films, including “Night Moves,” with Jessie Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard; “A Fighting Season” with Clayne Crawford; “Home” with Heather Langenkamp; “Zombex” with Malcolm McDowell and Sid Haig; “Monica” with Carmen Electra; and “House of Forbidden Secrets,” where he plays a 1930s Catholic priest who is Irish, of course.

Slipping into a brogue, Temple said with a laugh, “I have to condemn all those people finding pleasure with the flesh, you know.”

He explained he’s had a lot of fun with so much work.

“I’ve had a nice run,” he said. “I think I worked every month last year. For an actor, that’s a pretty cool thing.”

Temple still fondly recalls his work on “Unstoppable,” and wanted to pass along a message to people in the Pennsylvania area who met or worked with director Tony Scott while the filming was under way. Scott took his own life in August of last year.

“He had a lot of joy in Bradford,” Temple recounted of his friend and director. “He took a lot of delight in what he did there. He was a genius and he had a fantastic spirit. I miss him very much.

“I know he had a nice place in his heart for Bradford, as we all do,” the actor said.