Raised backstage and cast in a television band that actually plays their own music, Zendé Murdock was prepared for the musical demands of The Runarounds. Becoming someone else on camera was another story.  When Prime Video’s The Runarounds arrived, it broke with one of film and television’s most persistent conventions. In most stories about bands, session musicians record the soundtrack while actors mime along, and drummers can usually spot the disconnect within seconds. Creator Jonas Pate took the opposite approach. He cast real musicians, shaped the characters around them, and had the band write and perform its own music. He even invited the musicians into the editing room to help preserve that authenticity. Behind the kit was 23-year-old Zendé Murdock, playing for the camera without pretending.   In many ways, Murdock had been preparing for it his entire life. Born in Amsterdam to a Dutch mother and an American father, professional drummer Dion Murdock, whose […]

September 2026 Issue