With The Walking Dead returning for the much-anticipated Season 3 this Sunday, I recently had the chance to sit down with executive producers Robert Kirkman and Glen Mazzara to discuss what fans can expect this year.
Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead, and Mazzara, who serves as showrunner, talked about the introduction of key comic book elements this season, how the characters are evolving and much more.
For those who are super spoiler-phobic, no big twists and turns are revealed, beyond previously and officially revealed story elements of Season 3, though some basic plot details – and one cool zombie-visual -- from the season premiere are discussed.
IGN TV: How did you decide to do the time jump? Robert, you’ve about how, if you think about it, the first two seasons were pretty compressed, time-wise. This is a pretty big leap to make just as far as how much we’ve seen these people to this point.
Robert Kirkman: I know that one of the vehicles that come from television that I really like is the gap between seasons. I really love it when shows do that. I think The Sopranos did it really well. They were off the air for 18 months, and when they came back 18 months had passed in the lives of the characters. I think that’s a really cool thing. To me, it’s always fun to come in a little late in the game and see the characters in a much different light, and then spend the first episode going, “Oh, that’s what this person is doing now,” and, “Oh, they have this opinion now,” and, “Oh, these behaviors are a little bit different.” You know, it casts the characters in a bit of a different light. It also helps you separate things from season to season, which I think is really cool.
Glen Mazzara: Yeah, and I think it was important to show the effects of Rick’s leadership on the group. They’ve come together, they’re a tight-knit group -- that’s interesting. It was kind of exciting for us to advance the story and let the audience catch up. I guarantee people are going to say, “Are we ever going to see a flashback episode of what happened during the winter?” I’m going to go on record and say, “No. You’re seeing the story we want you to see, and this is part of a new story.” So we really wanted to advance things, move things forward and let the audience catch up.
IGN: Going in, you’ve got two characters that you’re introducing, both from the comics and both with a lot of expectations and a lot of popularity. On a visual level, Michonne is obviously matching with the comics much more than the Governor. How much did you debate did you have about how much you wanted to stick to the comics with those two characters?
Mazzara: First of all, we went with the best actors, who came in and really got the roles and got the characters and we’re very, very happy with the work that David [Morrissey] and Danai [Gurira] are doing. And they’ve added so much throughout the season. The question came up about Michonne’s iconic look, with the dreads, and that was something that was important to Robert - that she match the look of the character in the comic books. So we worked on that. Originally, I wasn’t so sure. I was afraid a wig might look fake. But we had conversations and experimented with the wig until it was to everybody’s satisfaction. We went ahead with it. With the Governor, he’s a developing character, so what you see is just what you’re getting now. But that’s a character that will continue to evolve and change, and we’ll see what happens with him. But that character did change in the comic book. People tend to forget that.
IGN: Robert, I’m sure it’s been funny for you to see that there can be super fans of the comic who are more precious about things being changed than you are and want everything to stay exactly the same. How do you go about making those decisions on what’s really important to you to look or stay the same, both visually or in other ways?
Kirkman: Yeah, I think it’s very important to recognize that the television show and the comic book series are two different things. I think that there are really cool, really memorable, really important moments from the comic book series that have existed over the life of it. There are some of those that I absolutely feel need to be adapted into the show in order for it to be a Walking Dead show, and there are other things that I think can be changed and should be changed. This is an adaptation, and keeping things fresh and lively and changing things up actually makes it better. I think that those diehard fans that are saying, “Oh, it’s not exactly like the comic. I want the exact same stuff,” I think they would be bored with the show if they had gotten their wish. I think it’s very important to add new material to this and make it as exciting as possible, just because the comic book is exciting and new. That’s one of its charms.
IGN: The first two seasons have a lot about Shane versus Rick and their differing styles of leadership. Now we’re going into this new season and Shane is out of the picture, but Rick has changed himself. At the place he is now, how does his style of leadership match or not match the Governor?
Mazzara: That’s a great question. I think Rick is initially a lot more honest than the Governor. I think the Governor is playing a game and a long con. He has an ultimate agenda that’s very important to him. Rick’s face is sort of pressed right up against the glass, and he has very immediate needs of keeping this group alive, finding a safe place, preparing a safe place where his wife can have a baby so that when the baby’s born, everyone’s safe -- they’re not out on the open road and the crying baby isn’t summoning walkers -- this is what he’s thinking about, the problems at hand. The Governor’s looking down the road a little bit more.
IGN: Some fans weren’t in love with Lori last season. Can you talk a bit about Rick and Lori and what their dynamic is like this season? Can they get past all that’s happened at this point?
Mazzara: That’s something that will unfold this season, their relationship. That’s something that’s important to them. I don’t think there’s been any time while they’re out on the road where they could push in and spend time with each other and work out their problems. That’s what she’s saying when we meet her in the season premiere. So I think Rick’s job is to find a safe place for her to have the baby. Then he’s probably thinking they can deal with this problem. But, you know, it’s business first. So Rick’s using life on the road, in a way, as an excuse to avoid repairing his marriage. They’re in conflict, and I think both actors have done a great job of really making you feel like you’re watching a marriage in distress in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. This year, I really think you’ll really feel sympathetic for both characters.
Kirkman: I think one cool element of this season that we’re going to be exploring throughout is the fact that these are two people that are a married couple, who may just need to take a break. They have come at an impasse in their marriage, they have both definitely done things that the other is not very happy about, but they can’t really do the things that we would do in this world -- step back, try and figure out if we want to stay with this person and what our relationship is actually built on. These people are forced to live together in order to survive. They’re basically on top of each other at all times and not able to deal with their issues. That’s something we’ll be dealing with a lot moving forward.
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