In a new interview with
The Wrap,
The Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara talked about what we can expect from the upcoming third season, but the more interesting tidbits of this interview are definitely about the show's new human villain, The Governor, played by David Morrissey (
Doctor Who), who will apparently have a 'longterm arc storyline' according to Mazzara:
How soon before we meet the Governor? He makes a surprising appearance. I don’t want to give anything away as to the exact episode, but the audience will certainly be ready for his appearance -- and they won't have to wait too long.
The Rise of the Governor, the novel last year by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, made him a somewhat more sympathetic character than he is in the comics. Do you see him as a person who's not necessarily forgivable, but understandable? We do. I haven't read the novel because I didn't want it to influence my concept of the TV show's version. But we're interested in having a very complex, nuanced, multi-layered character. This will not be simply an arch villain who is committing an evil act in every scene. That's too cartoonish for what we do here. We want that character to feel as real and human and fully developed as possible.
If you stick with what happens in the comics between him and Michonne, it's going to be the most brutal thing on a show that doesn't hold out on violence. Do you feel like you have to temper what's in the comics? Or do you expand on it? Does TV allow you to be more or less graphic? Certainly there's challenging material in the comic book, and I would say there's equally challenging material on our TV show. I think at the end of season 2 we showed that we don't pull punches … We're not going to get soft now. However, we'll do things on our own time, or when it makes sense for the show. And we're definitely looking at this Governor-Michonne-Woodbury-prison storyline as a longterm arc.
Click the link below if you want to check the rest of the interview.
Don't miss
The Walking Dead season three premiere, this fall on AMC.
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