On Michonne: Why was she cloaked in shadow? Because they hadn’t cast the actress at the time of filming. “She comes from the comic book. She feels like she stepped off those pages into the show. I think that’s exciting. That’s a challenge for us but, knowing me as a writer, I think I’m going to keep it real, keep it grounded because if it doesn’t feel real I think the audience will not be able to put themselves in the immediate circumstances of the story.” And, per Glen, she will be carrying a lot of the story in season 3.
On T-Dog: Glen is looking to develop IronE Singleton in a significant way in season 3.
On Lori: Glen considers Lori a compelling and interesting character in the series, one he knows fans are discussing at length. He mentioned taking a hard look at the Rick (Andrew Lincoln) / Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) relationship and what it means.
He said the fact she basically pitted Rick and Shane (Jon Bernthal) against each other in season 2 sets her up in an interesting light and season 3 will be examining that further.
Glen also relayed a very detailed response concerning the scene in the finale with Rick and Lori during Rick’s confession:
“I think that’s a very, very difficult scene. And I give a lot of credit to Sarah because she has no dialogue in that scene and this is really some terrific acting where she is listening to him and you’re going through her internal process with her. We do have great actors. That’s one take. Go back and look at that. Rick is speaking and she is listening and that’s just one take, the way I actually wrote that scene. And so I could tell you to me she did not ask for Rick to kill Shane. She just said take care of it because Shane struck an emotional cord when he said you know it’s true. She’s confused and sanitizes the truth. She chooses to believe what she wants to be. She’s a control freak. That’s why she’s running around the kitchen saying we need to do this and that. Everybody thinks she has sexist roles. No, that’s what she can control. You can’t control the world. So here she tried to control Rick. Things got out of hand and led to a murder. We play the deaths in our show as very, very real. We really feel the effects of the deaths on our characters. That’s something we put a lot of effort into and so do the actors and the directors. So when she learns that Shane was not killed by the zombie herd, that he was killed by Rick’s own hand and Rick wanted to kill him, she’s horrified by the entire circumstance, she’s horrified by her own role in that as a catalyst, her own culpability and she, I believe, is dealing with thoughts of guilt and self hatred. She projects those onto her husband because who could possibly accept the idea that I made my husband kill my former lover? That’s a horrible thought. So she’s going to push that out of her mind and just as she’s trying to do that, bam, oh, and your son’s involved. So she’s got a lot going on in that scene and she is appropriately fucked up.”
On the prison: Glen sees the prison story possibly going into season 4 as its major story line.
On new and previous characters: Glen mentioned introducing Tyrese at some point — but wouldn’t commit to when — as well as bringing Morgan Jones (Lennie James) and his son Duane (Adrian Kali Turner) from season 1 back into the fold.
On season 3: Glen stated he sees season 3 as a jumping off point in terms of what the show can really be. Season 1 and 2 have been a “prologue” to everything coming down the pipe. Shooting for season 3 begins in May.
On the scripts and stories for season 3: Outlines for episodes 1-6 have already been submitted to AMC with material pitched right on through episode 8. The way the scripts are developed, a chunk of them are laid out then they’re written, a trick Darabont swiped from George Lucas on his Young Indiana Jones series. The layouts are discussed then the writers take off and write everything simultaneously instead of sequentially as on other shows.
On the writers for season 3: They include Robert Kirkman, Evan Riley, Scott Gampo, Angela Lacain, Song Kyu Kim, (Crash, Hawthorne) Nichole Beatty (Prime Suspect) and Frank Renzulli (The Sopranos) who, per Glen, will be doing “a pretty exciting and scary episode for us in the first half of the season.”
On the walkers: They will not be taking a back seat in season 3. “They are now fully integrated into the world. We’re not waiting for the zombies anymore to reach us. They are there. They are within our eyesight all the time. They are part of the landscape.” Glen doesn’t feel the need for thousands of zombies in every episode, but the finale was special, a particular story.
On Carol: Having lost her daughter, Carol (Melissa Suzanne McBride) is trying to define herself in this world. She really has no skills to contribute as of yet. “There’s a lot of very compelling material in the comic book, some of which we’ll use, some of which we won’t. And I think whatever we throw at Melissa she’ll be more than capable to deliver it. So I’m excited about writing that character.”
On Dale: Yes, he had to go. “He had to go because by getting rid of Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) you lose the moral compass of the group and we just wanted to burn it all down by the end of the season.”
On the comics: “I’m interested in drawing the show closer to the comic book material. I think the stuff coming up in season 3 is really the heart of (Kirkman’s) work and I’d be crazy not to say let’s go in that direction.”
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Mar 29, 2012 @ 14:39 EST5EDT
Thanks very much for the interview. I learned more about this season and where the show is going next season than I have from any other media source so far. I’m relieved to hear they’re not going for all-zombie action all the time. I’ve never read the comic books, but I’ve really appreciated the thoughtfulness of the first 2 seasons. It’s still hard to admit I’m watching a “zombie show”, but “Walking Dead” has proven to be much, much more than that description would imply. I hope they continue along that path.
Not having read any of the books, I like not having a connection. It’s a clean slate. So, whatever the writers decide to do means I don’t have an established thought of what will happen or should happen next. I wonder how folks who have been devotees feel about the deviations from the books.
You gave fair warning that spoilers were contained in this post. However, it sounds like the writers could really go in various directions. Nothing spoiled about season 3. The only bummer is waiting SEVEN long months. GAR!!
I’m really very curious what the writers will do with the Michonne-Gouvernor thingy….I hope they’ll use it, yes it’s disgusting but i believe people in a messed up world get messed up themselves. Further more: I miss Shane!
Trust me, coming from someone who has read the comic book series all the way through… several times… you’re probably better not knowing what is going to happen! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the comic books and would give them my highest possible recommendation to anyone who felt the urge to read them. But anyone watching the tv series who wants to remain surprised should probably avoid them. Knowing the comic storyline colored the entire first two seasons for me… knowing that Shane was going to die, eventually; I was just kind of waiting for it to happen, because it seemed inevitable, especially in the direction they were going with the character in the tv series. But, on the other hand, it was also a supreme surprise to me when characters like Dale and Sophia — who lived MUCH longer in the comics — died “early” in the tv series. So I guess it goes both ways! :-) One last thing… I have no problem with the fact that the tv series has often diverged from the comic book storyline. In fact, I applaud them for doing so. If the story of the tv show followed the comic beat for beat, it would be boring for readers of the comics. I’m glad that they’re keeping the comic fans guessing what’s coming next!
*POST AUTHOR*
. . . . .
ScottA:
That’s a big huge deal for me, too, about aping the series and going off on their own with the show. There are a lot of fans of the comics who are griping and complaining this, that or the other should be done. But, as a fan of the comic series myself, I have enjoyed the fact the writers have been mixing it up. When Dale died, it was a shocker. My reaction after that episode was “Well … NOW what … ?!?” It was a good “now what” however. For them to have the cojones to pull that off and continue on down the road is bold, but I have faith with Kirkman in the mix of things.
I’ve had my qualms with what’s come before; read my previous posts and you’ll see them for what they’re worth. One of the things I think we’ve gotten out of The Walking Dead, though, is some terrific surprises and characters not in the books. Case in point: Daryl.
But regardless of what’s been thrown at us, I’m enjoying the heck out of the show. This interview with Glen Mazzara has been rather enlightening as well …
Thanks for commenting.
Michael Noble:
I think Daryl is an awesome character and a great addition to the cast of characters. TDog, based solely on the fact that they have used him so little thus far, not so much.
To add some clarification about my comment that people wanting to be surprised probably shouldn’t read the comics: I have all the trade paperbacks, and my wife has never shown even the slightest interest in reading them. She was, how shall I put this… reluctant… to watch the tv show. And she still turns her head or closes her eyes at the goriest stuff. But she has been completely and totally sucked into the television series because of the quality of the writing, acting and the stories. And she finally couldn’t stand it anymore after the mid-season “Sophia in the barn” cliffhanger… and she started reading the trades because she just HAD to know what was going to happen. I warned her that she might not be too happy (since I knew that Shane was one of her favorite characters). When she read to the point where (in the comic) Shane was killed, she put down the trades and stopped reading. She was depressed for days. And any time an episode aired after that, once it was over, she would turn to me and say, “I wish I didn’t know Shane was going to die.” :-(
Scott, very smart summary. You have the most level headed viewpoint I’ve read from a comic fan who watches the show.
Thanks! I think most people whose comments I’ve read online take the idea of “adaptation” way too literally. If it were a one-time only movie, I think I’d be mad if they didn’t follow the comic story beat for beat. But a longterm television series should be open for interpretation. And it’s not like Robert Kirkman isn’t involved in the writing and production of the series! His stamp of approval is important to me, otherwise I and others might see the series as being a bunch of other guys who think they can “improve” on his original stories.