What’s up with standards and practices? Sometimes at Comic-Con, the fans want to know! At Friday’s panel for The Walking Dead, an excited young man directed this question to the zombie drama’s writers and producers: “How did you get away with Andrea grabbing Shane, like full-frontal?†The memorable Season 2 scene in question featured Andrea, flush from blasting away a zombie, taking firm hold of Shane’s other piece before the two pulled over for some post-apocalyptic car sex. Laurie Holden, who plays Andrea, thought it was no big deal. “It was a hand, it was a hand,†she said. “We didn’t show anything! You shoulda seen what we did after that got cut.†Alas, no one pressed for a follow-up.
The big news of the session was the season premiere date: Sunday, October 14, at 9 pm, with the cast, per usual, kept on lockdown as far as spoilers. “We can’t say anything! So we say these generic things … and I apologize,†Steven Yuen, who plays Glen, told the crowd. They cheered anyway. Producers, however, were kind of enough to screen a pretty spoilerific trailer with plenty of Michonne in it. (She’s a zombie-slaying warrior, for those not already familiar with the comics.)
Here’s what we noticed:
1. Michonne is really good at beheading zombies, two at a time.
2. The chopper! We’ll finally see who’s in it … before it crashes down. Hmm.
3. Merle is definitely back. Probably not in a dream this time, because he has no hand.
4. Daryl gets to stab one walker in the eye. That was fun.
5. The prison. Rick wants it, even though it appears to be infested with walkers. His pep talk to the group pre-invasion. “We have to go in there, hand in hand. The prison in ours.â€
6. Andrea and Michonne are taken captive — or rescued, depending on how much you know about the comic books — by another group of survivors.
7. Everyone gets a gun! Even Carol.
8. Michonne is a woman of few words. Here’s everything she says in the trailer: “Someone’s coming.†“We want our weapons.†“I don’t trust him.†The latter, I believe, refers to the Governor.
9. But the Governor, who will be played by David Morrissey, looks like a nice guy, right? “You’re not prisoners. You’re guests. Welcome to Woodbury,†he tells them. Woodbury looks a lot like Main Street USA. Free of zombies too. (If it’s not obvious by now, I have not read the comics.)
10. Laurie is still supporting the Ricktatorship: “You’re not a killer and I know that,†she tells him. “Do what you gotta do to keep this group safe.†Lady Macbeth, you’re back!
11. But the Ricktatorship will eventually come to an end, or so Andrew Lincoln suggests. He compares Rick to “the man†in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. “Rick is very much at that point. In protecting his son, he’s losing his humanity. He’s isolated himself from the group,†Lincoln said. “The season is about him realizing he does need other people to survive.â€