This thread will be for posting interviews done by cast, writers, directors, etc, that are released after the episode and talk about the episode. This thread will be opened after the episode airs.

 

[h=1]The Walking Dead Boss on the Truth About Terminus and the Road Ahead[/h]
Oct 12, 2014 10:00 PM ET
by Adam Bryant

Andrew Lincoln

[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers from the Season 5 premiere of The Walking Dead. Read at your own risk.]

Well that didn't take long.

The Walking Dead's hotly anticipated Season 5 premiere wasted little time getting right into the action — and as a result, quickly paved the way for our band of survivors to escape Terminus, the presumed safe haven they arrived at last season only to be thrown into a train car. Although Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glen (Steven Yeun) and Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) were pulled out of the train car to meet a grisly, throat-slitting fate, they received a stay of execution thanks to the crafty work of Carol (Melissa McBride), who created a diversion by blowing up a gas tank and unleashing a herd of flaming zombies on the Terminans.

The Walking Dead: 5 burning questions for Season 5

What followed was an all-out war that ended with Rick rescuing the rest of the group from the train car and escaping Terminus as the compound descended into chaos. According to executive producer Scott M. Gimple, he never intended the group to have an extended stay at Terminus. "People might've expected us to be there a long time, and I wanted to pursue the unexpected on that," Gimple tells TVGuide.com. "We wanted to have this very, very tense, deep, affecting moment at Terminus rather than a long, labyrinthine story, and I think we achieved that. We wanted to throw the audience into the season and we were excited to do it that way."

However, the episode did offer some answers about how Gareth (Andrew J. West) and his fellow Terminans became the twisted group of cannibals — yes, cannibals — they are. Thanks to a couple of key flashbacks and a tense conversation between Carol and Terminus' Mary (Denise Crosby), we learned that Terminus was indeed once a sanctuary. But as Gareth & Co. endured brutal attacks (and even their own time locked in a train car), they adopted a simple motto: "You're either the butcher or you're the cattle."

Although Gimple and fellow executive producer Robert Kirkman spent all summer dodging questions about whether the show would be following the cannibal story line from Kirkman's graphic novels, Gimple says it was important to have a unique take. "It's important to me that we mix things up, that we surprise comic readers by remixing what's there and sometimes potentially telling stories in much different ways, which in many ways Terminus might have been," Gimple says. "It's exciting to take the work that Robert did and to find ways to crank it up or to crash it into other stories. I think it makes it really exciting for someone who's very familiar with the comic book, but also allows us to perhaps even increase those moments that are loved so much in the comic [and] have them hit even harder."

The Walking Dead renewed for Season 6

But the most important part of the Terminus story line for Gimple was those flashbacks, particularly what they might suggest for our heroes. ""It was important to me that we show, for a variety of reasons, the story of how Terminus became Terminus — how the signs came to be out, was it always a trap, how these people changed," Gimple says. "The Terminans changed because of the people that they wound up tangling with. And now our people might change because of the Terminans that they tangled with. There is perhaps a cycle happening."

Indeed, Rick has adopted a "kill anyone who stands in your way" mentality since his run-in last season with the men who attempted to rape his son Carl (Chandler Riggs). But Gimple suggests Rick hasn't totally lost his humanity. "The ending last year really captured what he had achieved," Gimple says. "On one hand, to protect Carl and Darryl and Michonne [Danai Gurira], [Rick] bit into another man's neck, tore out his throat. But that morning, still covered in that man's blood, he was able to be very, very vulnerable and tell Darryl that he was his brother. I think that's who his character is. The fact that he cares so much about these people is what enables him to do sometimes these very ghastly things that he might've had a problem with before."

Rick was able to show his softer side when he was reunited with Carol — who perhaps regained Rick's trust with the zombie flambé — and his daughter Judith, whom Tyrese (Chad L. Coleman) went to lethal lengths to protect. But don't look for the happy family routine to last forever, especially when the group begins to discuss heading to Washington D.C., where Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) believe they can find a cure for the zombie apocalypse.

The Walking Dead Postmortem: Are the people of Terminus cannibals?

"The trailers that we put out certainly put D.C. on the table as an important element to our story and potentially a source of conflict," Gimple says. "Is Rick really the guy who's like, 'Oh, yeah, let's go to D.C., that sounds great!' Is he in the mental state to do that? And if he isn't, how is that going to pan out?"

But it won't just be the newcomers to the group that Rick has problems with this season. In fact, Gimple says all of the survivors have been changed by their experiences leading them to Terminus. "They don't completely know each other anymore," Gimple says. "They aren't all completely on the same page. They haven't all had the same experience. There will be positives that come of that and there will be negatives come out of that.

"There's a lot of unfinished business between Rick and Carol, between Rick and Tara [Alana Masterson]," Gimple continues. "Last time they saw each other they were on opposite sides of a fence and Tara was standing in very close proximity with a one-eyed fellow of note. There's a lot of business to attend to between these people. There are conflicts that have not been concluded. We get to those story points pretty quick. These also aren't people who beat around the bush."

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. What did you think of the premiere?

Watch the chilling opening minutes of the premiere again right now!

 

'Walking Dead' EPs Dissect the Season 5 Premiere, Preview Road Ahead

7:00 PM PDT 10/12/2014 by Lesley Goldberg

Scott M. Gimple, Robert Kirkman talk with THR in our weekly postmortem

Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC​

"The Walking Dead"

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from "No Sanctuary," the fifth-season premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead.]


AMC's The Walking Dead roared back to life Sunday with an action-packed fifth-season premiere that was not only filled with blood, zombie guts and action but also two huge emotional gut-punches that truly illustrated what the show is at its core.
During the hour, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Bob (Lawrence Gilliard) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) came thisclose to having their necks brutally slashed at the hands of Terminus — a group (finally!) revealed to be cannibals. However, thanks to Carol's (Melissa McBride) swift and smart thinking, she literally lights the camp up, indirectly helping her friends free themselves from Gareth's (Andrew J. West) gang of goons.
Speaking of the gang of goons, flashbacks illuminate that the Terminus camp originally really was a sanctuary for all — but it was another group of goons who invaded the peaceful group and seemingly raped, tortured and held Gareth and hismother and family hostage in rail cars. It ultimately turned the group into one that had to do anything — including cannibalism — to survive.
And while the episode was filled with gross and evolved zombies and savage kills (Chad L. Coleman's Tyreese finally got his groove back!), there were two standout moments that truly tugged at viewers' heartstrings. Carol, being recognized as the hero of the day, reunited with Daryl, and then led Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs) back to the presumed dead baby Judith (and Sonequa Martin-Green's Sasha with her brother Tyreese). In the end, the group is back out on the road where Eugene claims to know a cure and wants to go to Washington.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with executive producer Robert Kirkman, on whose comics the series is based, and showrunner Scott M. Gimple to break down the events of the premiere in our weekly Walking Dead Dissection. (Check back to THR's The Live Feed at 8: 30 p.m. PT for more with Lincoln and at 10 p.m. PT for full details on the surprising last scene after the credits!)


How much more will we learn about the group that turned Terminus into cannibals?
Gimple: The important thing about that was seeing the chain — how Gareth and his brother, Alex, and his mom, Mary — were before those people came in and did that to them. It not only shows how they became who they became, but also that they then did something to Rick and his people and how that that changed them. It's an ugly cycle that has been started again. How will the events of Terminus change Rick and his group as the original events of Terminus changed Gareth and his group?
How much more of this group can we expect to see?
Gimple: I would be wary to tell you what to expect. I can say they are not Cylons [fromBattlestar Galactica] (laughs).
Rick took a shot at Gareth but the Comic-Con trailer showed he would later join Rick's group. How can these two coexist considering Rick vowed to kill him?
Kirkman: That's going to play out in an interesting way. That is a moment that I would certainly key in on to see how that actually plays out in an episode. There's going to be something fairly intriguing that happens there. Maybe we reveal that Gareth is actually Rick's long-lost brother. You never know (laughs).
Gareth tells Bob that they can't go back to the way things were. Does he really believe that?
Gimple: Consider that moment: Gareth is standing over Bob. They've just slit three people's necks and he says, "Can't go back, Bob." That could apply to whether there's a cure or not, but even if there is one, I don't think that [cutting people's necks] is going to be forgiven or forgotten. The things that they've been doing, they can't go back. It doesn't matter if they can go to Washington to fix this. They've gone so far away from anything that would be acceptable to anyone that it isn't going to be on their radar anymore.
Rick's group is back out on the road again. How this be different than their previous experience on the road when they lost Carol's daughter, Sophia?
Gimple: They have a complete lack of trust, a wariness from strangers and probably a much more aggressive stance and aren't hesitating. There's a story, there's a point to which we quote, from one of the issues, where Rick is talking to Carl and says, "You are not safe. No matter if you think you're safe, you think you know everything about what's going on around you, you're not safe." That's the feeling they have now.
Comics fans know that this is the point in the story where the group heads to Washington with Eugene and ultimately winds up at Alexandria. How long will they be on the road? That run of the series wasn't particularly well received.
Gimple: Even though they're on the road, there's going to be a wide variety of locations this year. When they are on the road, we will see the whole swath of life. There will be rural and there will be suburban and there'll be urban and everything in between.
Kirkman: It's also important to note that our world is continuing to change and evolve just like these characters are. So just because they're back on the road doesn't mean, "Oh, we're going to be telling the same sort of road stories we told in season three or season two." Things change and circumstances change and they're going to be encountering different things while they're out on the road.
Gimple: We're even going to see some of the same places that they've been that are in a very different condition.
Kirkman: And now you've said too much! (Laughs.)
In the train car, Sasha doesn't seem to trust that Eugene (Josh McDermitt), this stranger with a mullet, knows a cure and pushed him for details. Will more members of the group grow suspect? Will they grill him for more information?
Gimple: It isn't completely going on faith. He is going to be providing them with more and more information about how he's going to do what he's going to do. That's going to help a lot — and he knows a lot.
Carol and Daryl — as well as Rick, Carl and Judith — were finally reunited in this episode. Why was it so important to have this huge emotional moment in an episode filled with violence and so many other things going on?
Kirkman: It's what our show does. That's what our show is at its core. It is this violent show, there are these horrible things that happen, but this is also a show about family, neighbors and people. You want to have those moments of pure heart, happiness and joy because it's a well-rounded world and you want to show all the different things that these people experience. That's what some of the best moments on this show are: When we do see something good that happens and we do get to let these characters breathe for a minute because — as we've seen time and time again — those moments often don't last, so they are very important.
Gimple: It's the whole point. It's why Rick has kept going. The reason he bit that guy's throat [in the season four finale] was because Carl, Daryl and Michonne were in danger. Helives for these people and certainly for his daughter, who is somebody that he was certain he had lost. There probably can't be any greater joy for him than to learn that that wasn't the case. The fact that he's gotten her back will only make him stronger and perhaps more defined in his aggression now because he's not losing her again. So to see that the depth of his feeling in getting her back only serves the other side of the story, too, which is the uglier side, as it were.
Beth's (Emily Kinney) whereabouts remain a mystery, other than Daryl saying she was taken by a car with a white cross on it. Could that be the group that invaded Terminus or is it Father Gabriel's (Seth Gilliam) camp?
Gimple: You were right that it's a black car with a white cross but not about anything else you said! (Laughs.)
Kirkman: (Laughing)I'm going to answer in the form of a laugh, sorry that's all I got!
What did you think of The Walking Dead premiere? Sound off in the comments below. Season five continues Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC. Check back later for our postmortem with Lincoln about the "new Rick" and more from Gimple about that surprise ending.

 

'Walking Dead' Showrunner on the Return of a Fan Favorite: "It's the Start of Something"

10:00 PM PDT 10/12/2014 by Lesley Goldberg

"People want to follow that character; I want to follow that character," Scott M. Gimple tells THR

Courtesy of AMC​

Lennie James in "The Walking Dead's" "Clear"

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from The Walking Dead's fifth season premiere and the comic series the AMC series is based on.]


AMC's The Walking Dead waited until after the credits had completely rolled to reveal one of the biggest surprises in the show's four-season history: the return of a fan favorite.
Following the credits of Sunday's action-packed fifth-season premiere, the series picked right back up to reveal a fan favorite was not only still alive and well but also hot on the tracks of Rick's central band of heroes.
Lennie James' Morgan, last seen in season three's critically praised "Clear" episode, was revealed to have been in nearly full riot gear and wandering in the woods. Seemingly on his way to Terminus, he alters his course after spotting the "Sanctuary for All" sign that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) changed to read "No Sanctuary" and now appears to be hot on the trail of the super-sized group of survivors.
Read more 'Walking Dead' EPs Dissect the Season 5 Premiere, Preview Road Ahead
"People want to follow that character; I want to follow that character," showrunner Scott M. Gimple, who wrote both "Clear" and the season five opener, tells The Hollywood Reporter. "There's a Morgan story to tell. It's the beginning of something but I'm not going to say what it is, or how involved it is."
Sunday's episode marks Morgan's third appearance on the zombie drama based on the comics created by Robert Kirkman, after "Clear" and the series debut. Morgan was last seen holding camp in a booby-trapped community where he isolated himself from the world after the death of his son, Duane. Though safe, his mental state had almost made him a danger to himself.

The comics followed a somewhat similar trajectory. After Rick and Morgan's initial encounter early in the series, the series revealed Morgan and Duane seen alive and celebrating Christmas while Rick and his group are traveling on the road from the Wiltshire Estates for the first and only winter at the prison. Rick and Morgan then cross paths again later — with Abraham and Carl — when they pass through Cynthiana in a bid for supplies when they revisit Rick's former police station.
Read more 'Walking Dead's' Andrew Lincoln: Rick is a 'Complete Warrior' in Season 5
"Morgan disappeared from the comic for a long time and then he was in this back-up story with Duane — a Christmas story, which is really wild for The Walking Dead — and then we didn't see him for a long time," Gimple says. "So it could even be in the manor of that. But there is more stuff to tell. It's the start of something."
While the showrunner remained tight-lipped on whether Morgan would return again in season five, he confirmed that this is the only the beginning of the beloved character's newest journey.
"That definitely seemed like the start of something; he was on a path and his path changed," Gimple says. "Looking at him, how he's dressed, how he's acting — it's not a 42-minute episode there — but you get some hints about where he's at. I would look at that carefully."
See more 'The Walking Dead's' Most Shocking Deaths
For his part, James told THR after "Clear" in March 2013 that, "If they want me, it remains a possibility. I have nothing but good memories of my time on The Walking Dead and I love playing Morgan and hanging out in Atlanta and playing opposite Andy and the rest of the cast and seeing where they kind of take the story."
Are you excited to see Morgan return? Share your theories in the comments below. The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.

 

'Walking Dead's' Andrew Lincoln: Rick Is a "Complete Warrior" in Season 5

8:30 PM PDT 10/12/2014 by Lesley Goldberg

"There's a lot of body blows that happen in the next few episodes," the star of AMC's zombie drama tells THR of what's to come

Gene Page/AMC​

"The Walking Dead's" Andrew Lincoln

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from "No Sanctuary," the season five premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead and the comics it is based on.]


The Walking Dead's Rick Grimes is back.
Andrew Lincoln's tireless and de facto group leader has emerged from the deadly and brutal Terminus shootout a new man.
After being locked in a train car and coming within inches of having his throat slashed by Gareth's goons, Rick made a vow to kill the leader of the camp of cannibals and hit the open road again — leading a bigger-than-ever group after being reunited with his presumed dead baby daughter, Judith.
To hear star Andrew Lincoln tell it, the man that emerged from that camp is the "most complete warrior" that he's ever been in the zombie drama's four-year history.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Lincoln to discuss the events of the season five premiere and the road ahead for his new fearless Rick.
Read more 'Walking Dead' EPs Dissect the Season 5 Premiere, Preview Road Ahead
How is Rick different this season?
He's the most complete warrior, the most decisive, uncompromising leader that he's ever been. I don't think he's at all struggling with moral ambiguities. He's a man that his sole mission is to keep his family alive. Of he sees any threat — and these "Termites" have proved themselves to be incredibly formidable and frightening — the way Rick sees it, is it's not over, it's these people do not deserve to live. The decision has been made. If you stand beside Rick, you're family; if you stand in opposition to him, you're a problem. And it feels very much like this is a man who really knows how to deal with problems.
What has surprised you about Rick so far this season?
We're on episode 12 of 16 and he's brutal. I wouldn't want to meet this guy meet on a dark night and cross him. He's a very dangerous man.
The group is back on the road. How will his experience in the past — and losing Sophia — influence how they navigate the open road this time?
These guys have been living in this world on and off in certain semblances of security for two years now. There is huge strength in numbers; they're very vulnerable with a child — they have no food, they're back on the road again — and as much as they hare, they have a tracker and people very adept at sleeping in the rough and foraging and finding things. But they're very vulnerable and Rick knows this. They've developed certain ways of communicating. As they go on, it feels like they consume the people they meet. They're like a virus that keeps moving forward. The most exiting thing about this season is the pace that it moves: the environments change and the ferocity of them as a group.
Read more 'Walking Dead' Bosses Preview Season 5: We're Not the 'Character Death Show' — But It's Part of Our World
Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs) are reunited with Judith just moments after realizing that Carol saved all of them. What was filming that scene like?
It's amazing that some of the greatest and most beautiful moments that Rick experiences in this world, he's in floods of tears. It was so beautiful doing the scene with Carol (Melissa McBride) after their history. It's smart: The way to salvage the rift between these two similar personality types — the only way that can be healed is by a debt being paid. She saves all their lives and reunites him with his daughter. We did it lots of different ways and there was an improvised moment where we were trying to develop a stronger bond with the actress playing my daughter. We tried to make it as tender and trying to find a real connection there. Chad L. Coleman (who plays Tyreese) and Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) were watching me play the scene out and I called them both over because they weren't in the shot. It overwhelmed me: I knew it was Tyreese that got Judith at the prison. In that moment, I realized it was Tyreese who saved Rick's daughter.
Rick has vowed to kill Gareth (Andrew J. West). How can these two coexist? We know he'll rejoin the group at some point. What will their next encounter look like considering Rick shot Gareth in the leg?
(Laughs.) I'm not quite sure how comfortable a meeting of minds it would be.
Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) all want to go to D.C. — but Rick has already been there and knows everyone is already infected. What might their discussion look like?
The neat thing about this season is the speed at which we move but also everything is dealt with. All these questions are addressed. There are reasons for and against in every scene. This is a very contentious issue because everything that this group has seen — at the CDC, in Woodbury — all these places have been met with failure. They haven't heard any radio transmission since Terminus and that was a trap; it was a spider's web. It's going to be a difficult argument to encourage the whole group to get on this mission.
See more 'The Walking Dead's' Most Shocking Deaths
We saw in the episode that Rick, after reuniting with everyone, wants to go back and make sure everyone from Terminus is dead before Glenn (Steven Yeun) stops him. Do you think Rick is losing his humanity? Or is there hope?
A huge change happened at the end of last season, which viewers are seeing play out now: There is a man that's no longer in question about the good and the bad; they're both just as viable and have kept Rick and his family alive for the last two years. The moral dilemma in him is has been reduced hugely. He's still a father and loyal friend. He has all those attributes still in tact but he's also uncomplicated by the idea of eradicating a threat in front of him; he's not anchored by that anymore. Everything he has witnessed first-hand says to him that it's no longer important. That doesn't discount the fact that he's compassionate and feels just as deeply as he did before. There was certain decision-making that he's unfettered by anymore.
Like last season when he bit someone's neck and two seconds later calls Daryl (Norman Reedus) his brother.
Those incredibly brutal moments are flipped instantly because they're justified by an incredibly tender moment of true love between these two men, just going, "You're my brother." There's nothing stronger than he can say to another man apart from saying that. The best way to describe this season is in two songs, both by the Beatles: The first part of the season is "Helter Skelter," and the second half is "A Day in the Life." There's a lot of body blows that happen in the next few episodes and it turns into something completely different.
How would you describe Rick's relationship with Father Gabriel? What kind of a man is he?
Complicated. I've loved every scene we've got with him. Chris coy, Andrew as the story progresses, we have an incredible array of talent joining the show. That's been one of most coy plays those scenes with chad and the baby.
Read more Andrew Lincoln Explains Why He Shaved His 'Walking Dead' Beard
Beth (Emily Kinney) is still out there. Will Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Glenn and Daryl make it a point to search for her? She was taken by a car with a white cross on it, which seems like it could connect to Father Gabriel.
Interesting! Within the first eight episodes all those questions will be addressed and be dealt with. They may not fully be dealt with but the audience won't have to wait too long to find out.
Rick is now traveling with a few couples: Bob and Sasha, Glenn and Maggie and Abraham and Rosita (eventually). And he has a family with Carl, Judith andMichonne. Could there be any romance ahead for him?
I've always maintained that he's going to have to take a bath or shower before he even contemplates any relationship issues. Who knows!
What did you think of The Walking Dead premiere? Sound off in the comments below.Click here to see what executive producers Robert Kirkman and Scott M. Gimple had to say about it. Check out what Gimple had to say about that amazing post-credits sceneand if

 

nicoteros story boards
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20622701_20861421,00.html#30232427

 

[h=1]'The Walking Dead' creator Robert Kirkman breaks down the violent and emotional premiere[/h]



By Dalton Ross on Oct 13, 2014 at 1:00AM @DaltonRoss

Image Credit: Gene Page/AMC​

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[SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you have already watched Sunday's season premiere of The Walking Dead.]
[h=3]Related[/h]The Walking Dead: See Full Coverage
'The Walking Dead' showrunner Scott M. Gimple answers premiere burning questions (like that secret scene)
'Walking Dead' Storyboards: How They Sketched Out Carol's Explosive Plan


There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears on Sunday’s season premiere of The Walking Dead. Especially blood. We spoke to comic creator and TV exec producer Robert Kirkman to get his take on all the mayhem — including those emotional reunions, a secret post-credits scene, and the stuff they didn’t think would make it to air.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Well, I guess I don’t have to keep asking you if the people of Terminus are cannibals.
ROBERT KIRKMAN: It certainly looks like they are eating the people, yeah. I don’t know what else they would be doing. Maybe they’re making furniture?
There were a lot of super gory moments in this episode. I think maybe the most chilling thing for me was how absolutely cavalier these guys are as they’re slitting people’s throats — almost like they’re filing paperwork or doing menial labor or something.
They’re certainly horrible people. I mean, you’re either the butcher or the cattle. They are definitely butchers. That opening scene with the throat slits, I was standing next to [director] Greg Nicotero on set at one point and he just leaned over and was like, “There’s no way this is getting on TV.” But yeah, I mean I really have to hand it to AMC. They really do allow us to do what we think is necessary, and I think that you know as startling and as horrifying as some of the things that we do on the show are, I think people recognize that they also come from a place of character, and it’s always in the interest of telling the best story. And I think that AMC recognizes that you want the people of Terminus to ascend to that level, like you want to see just how horrifying they are so that you know what our characters are up against. And it actually adds a tremendous amount of value to the story, and so that’s what justifies these great lengths that we go to to, you know, disgust the audience.
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Let’s talk about the Then and Now structure you did and how the flashbacks framed the story. Really unique and a nice way to give the Terminus backstory without too much expository dialogue. Showing backstory and flashbacks is something that you guys have done in places on the show. You’ve haven’t really done it much in the comics, but we’ve seen it here a few different ways now.
There have been some dream sequences that reveal the past, and a couple of snippets here and there that show things, but I use them as sparingly as possible in the comics. I think there’s only been like three in the 132 issues that are now out. We do it a little bit more in the show. It’s a lot of fun. I mean, again, it adds so much depth. You know so much more about Gareth and all of those people because of those two very minor scenes.
But because we did not see Gareth die, we see him clearly shot in the shoulder region…
He looked dead to me.
Didn’t look dead to me!
I certainly would not expect to see that guy ever again.
Yeah, especially considering we saw scenes of him in the trailer you guys put out that we did not see in that episode. [Laughs]
Why are you spoiling the fun, Dalton? That’s not how you do things. You’re supposed to forget that trailer the minute you start watching the show!
Well, I think a lot of people do want to see more from that character.
It just goes to illustrate the kind of people that you encounter now. This world has been around for a while, and we’ve seen Rick and how he’s survived, and what he’s had to do to survive. And now every single person you meet on the road and in your journey, you have to think, “How are they here? What did they do to get here?” And Gareth is a great example of somebody who has done some terrible things that have changed him, that have brought him to a place that has made him very dangerous. And we see those things. But as they’re now out of the boxcar and on the road again, it’s entirely possible that they might encounter more people that could be just as threatening. Or way worse.
A lot of emotional reunions this episode: Carol back with Darryl and Rick, you have Rick with Judith, there’s Tyreese with Sasha. Which one hit the most for you?
I mean, that baby, you know — when Rick grabs her. It’s definitely a big moment when Carol and Darryl are back together, but you know when Rick finds his daughter, and you see the emotion, and you know Rick and Carl thought that kid was dead. Even though we’re going to kill everybody on this show eventually, so you can’t get too close — still a big moment, you know.
I heard you had some issues with a baby being scared at a large hairy man charging towards her at top speed.
I hadn’t heard that. I was there for the filming on Episode 2, and I dealt a lot with the mannequin stand-in baby — which looks very real, and it looks very real on camera. Like, you can never really tell when it’s a real baby and when it’s not. But in person it is just the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s scarier than anything that has ever appeared on the show. I was just taking pictures of it. It just looks like a little monster baby: cold dead eyes, it’s like a baby shark in human form. No, it’s fun being on set with that kid, and you never know what that baby’s going to do. And you know you’re trying to film a scene where it’s like, “Hey, your father’s back! Aren’t you happy to see him?” And it’s like, “I don’t want that thing running at me.”
Let’s chat about Tyreese a little bit. Obviously, a big storyline here. He’s been struggling with sort of the violence of this world. Has this incident in the cabin now fundamentally changed him and his aversion to violence? Or what is it going to do to or for Tyreese?
I think it certainly illustrates that Tyreese is someone that is reluctant to step up, but is definitely someone who can and will when he has to. One of the things that interests me most about the character of Tyreese is the fact that, to a certain extant, he’s almostthe most powerful. You know I don’t know if Rick or Darryl or Glenn could’ve killed those zombies outside that cabin the way that he did, or survive that herd in Season 4 the way that he did. And knowing that he can to that place, I think, terrifies him, and it’sthat that’s kind of holding him back. It’s actually a weakness more than it is a strength, which I find infinitely interesting when dealing with that character. But it really is a question of “Can he manage this? Can he be who he wants to be?” That’s something that we’re definitely going to be dealing with this season.
Love the Kool-Aid moment, where he just busts through the door.
That’s going to be on the Internet soon.
What’s it like when you have a character like Tyreese, who has sort of outlived his counterpart in the comic? There’s less of a roadmap now for that character. Obviously, you guys deviate a lot in your adaptation — but he’s someone who hasn’t made it to this point, so is that freeing?
It’s incredibly freeing. I mean, it’s exciting. Just because then Tyreese becomes a character like Daryl, like Carol, who has also outlived her comic book character, that when we go to adapt the stories from the comic book, just their presence changes things, because they aren’t there in the original form of that story. And that really is the most exciting stuff in the room. It’s those characters that I just really love writing, just because, to a certain extent, a lot of the stuff that’s going on with Rick is stuff that I’ve written before, or some variation on something that I’ve written before. And same with Glenn and Maggie and so on. But when I sit down to write a Tyreese scene, that’s something that’s completely new now, and that’s really exciting.
What about the secret scene at the end? We have our credits, and then after the credits we see this masked man: It’s Morgan and he at least seems to look like he’s maybe in better shape than last time we saw him.
Possibly in better shape, but he’s on the road, he’s alone. You never know, we’ve got to see him interact with people. He could still be a loon. But yeah, he’s on their trail. Rick left him a map, so he knew roughly where Rick was, and it’s clear that he’s decided, “Hey, you know, living alone in this horrible town is not for me. Maybe I do need to reenter society. Maybe I do need to find these people.” And I like to think he got to that prison and was like, “Wait, what’s going on? Like, everyone’s gone now?” So yeah, he’s actually on their trail, and the Terminus thing is helping him hopefully stay on that trail. And it’s certainly a question as to whether he’ll meet up with them, or when he’ll meet up with them, but we’ve got a lot of big plans for the character of Morgan, so stay tuned.
You wrote the next episode we’re going to see. What can you tell us about that?
I can say that we’re possibly going to meet some new people, and we’re going to see a new iconic location that’s a big deal in the comics, so that’s some juicy spoilers right there, right? And, uh, and everyone dies.
Okay, well, you heard it here first! Series finale of The Walking Dead, coming up this Sunday!

 

[h=1]'The Walking Dead' showrunner Scott M. Gimple answers premiere burning questions (like that secret scene)[/h]



By Dalton Ross on Oct 13, 2014 at 1:00AM @DaltonRoss

Image Credit: Gene Page/AMC​

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[SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you have already watched Sunday's season premiere of The Walking Dead.]
[h=3]Related[/h]The Walking Dead: See Full Coverage
'The Walking Dead' creator Robert Kirkman breaks down the violent and emotional premiere
'Walking Dead' Storyboards: How They Sketched Out Carol's Explosive Plan


The Walking Dead just unleashed one of its most violent and emotional episodes ever with the season 5 premiere on Sunday night. And because apparently that wasn’t enough, it topped things off with a first for the show — a post-credits secret scene showing the return of Morgan. We tracked down showrunner Scott M. Gimple to get his take on the big Terminus raid, those emotional reunions, the unique flashback structure, a first ever secret scene, and what to expect next week. (Click through both pages to read the entire interview.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Okay, so can we now finally confirm that the people of Terminus are indeed cannibals?
SCOTT M. GIMPLE: You know, I confirm so little. Does Abraham really have a mustache? Um, I will say that they did go through a room that, you know, I would assume looking at that room that they’re eating people. That looked like it to me, and they certainly were preparing, or at least… they were bleeding out people in a way not entirely dissimilar to how some people slaughter animals.
Alright, so I’m going to take that as a “yes.”
[Laughs] I never deal in those binary terms.
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I know you don’t. That’s as close as we’ll ever get to a confirmation.
Yes. Oh, I just said “yes!” I just blew the whole bit!
Alright, let’s start by talking about this Then and Now structure you introduced here in the premiere. Is this something we can expect to see all season?
You know what? I will be definitive. No, we will not see that all season.
Will we see it again?
We definitely play with time this season. And we’ll be jumping around a little bit, but I believe this is our only Then and Now.
Tell me though how you came up with telling these flashback stories and the framework to begin and end with those to show how the people of Terminus got that way. What was the impetus or inspiration for doing that? Is it sort of an extension of what you did with the Governor’s catch-up episodes last season?
I think that’s a good way to think about it. When I sit down with the writers to approach these stories, we want to know the whole story. And there are histories, and all sorts of other stories going on the show that we never really get to, that we know what went on, but because they’re not part of the main story, we don’t tell them.
I knew the story of Terminus and what happened there as our characters last year were on their way there. And I went back and forth with actually telling that story, but ultimately the story of Terminus, which I believe we’re able to do fairly economically in this episode, could very well be an echo of what happens moving forward to Rick and his crew. That there’s something about this world that if still alive, you’ve got to have some sort of story. It isn’t like nothing happened to you. If you’re still alive, some amazing things happened to you. Everybody walking around the planet on The Walking Dead in that timeline has an amazing story. And, to that end, they’re kind of like walking ghosts of Christmas Future and ghosts of Christmas Past to our characters. And I think the story of Terminus works that way with our characters this upcoming season.
We have that huge explosion, we have the zombies on fire. How complicated was that to put together in terms of shooting it live, and then, of course, all the special effects that were added later. Obviously you had Greg Nicotero directing it and he did an amazing job with all that. That’s probably the most complicated action sequence we’ve seen in a long time.
Well, I mean it really, really, really helps that it’s Greg doing it, because Greg and I work with each other throughout the year — and in some way or another in every single episode, often in many ways on every single episode. So we started planning it pretty soon. And I started talking to Greg pretty immediately. And there was a great deal of wishful thinking involved. When I’m writing the script, I’m not wearing my producer hat. I put that aside. And then when you’re done with the script, I can sort of curse myself for all the things that I’m making myself make happen.
You have a lot of people getting stabbed in the neck and eaten in the face. I mean, pretty violent stuff, even for your show. I remember talking to Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus, and they were like, “I don’t even know how some of this show’s stuff is going to make it on the air.” Was there any concern about getting that stuff on TV?
Absolutely. But even with that, we work with the network at an early stage, and of course we work with them at a late stage. There’s what’s written on the page, and there’s the visual image, which of course have wildly different impacts. And, yeah we were worried about a lot of things. And we also want to be sensitive. We also don’t want to be gratuitous. But as long as it serves the story and it serves the moment, we’re very comfortable with putting it on the air. And also, you know, it’s a TV-MA show. I’d say, throughout the process, I think there’s a pressure that we put upon ourselves, or that is put upon ourselves, by having this kind of content. The pressure is that we make it worth it, and that we make it have meaning.
And the kind of institutional violence that I believe that throat-slitting scene portrays is very critical to our story. Seeing such a pronounced, bloody, horrific thing being done by men who are completely dispassionate about it, and who are merely just having another day at the office, that this is their version of “time to make the donuts.” I think there’s something terrifying about that institutional violence. Institutional evil, I think, is the scariest stuff. And as they go down the line, and we see that there isn’t a personal stake in it, I think we become very cognizant of, well, these aren’t people we can talk out of this. They don’t really have much emotion to it. This is almost like dealing with a machine. It’s very, very terrifying — these people are no longer really people. And I think it was important to portray that very early in the season.
We saw Gareth shot in the shoulder, and there were some scenes of him in your Season 5 trailer that we have not seen yet. So, safe to assume we are not done with that character yet
Well, you know, again, let’s not make assumptions. Let’s think for a moment. That could be Gareth’s brother Rob. There’s that possibility, that it’s his brother Rob, that he’s amuch nicer guy. I mean, I will say, you know, the trailer did show somebody who looks like that in other episodes. And yeah, it’s potentially possible that we haven’t seen the last of him. Or that it’s his brother Rob.
Sure. Okay, Scott. Alright, a few really heavy emotional beats in this episode. You have Carol reunited with Daryl and Rick, you have Rick and his baby Judith reunited. Then there’s Tyreese and Sasha. Which was more emotional for you as you were writing this thing?
Hmm… that’s a great question. I’ll answer it in two-parts. Writing it, it was interesting because from a structural standpoint, I knew the way it just had to go. And just in sort of a writerly perspective of it, it’s, like, man, these are two reunions right back-to-back. Is that too much? And as I was writing it, it just felt to me so right that Carol not only beingthere, but Carol delivering Judith and Tyreese to Rick and Carl and to Sasha. It just seemed so important, and it felt like a heightening of the emotion, which I was certainly feeling a great deal of emotion to see those characters come together. And also that those characters could come together in such an irrefutably good moment. You know, if Terminus hadn’t happened, and they were walking up to Carol, that scene would’ve been completely different. It’s not like it just would’ve been pure joy. It would be a little more complicated. And there are complications in it even in this scene, but Rick seeing that Carol was responsible for creating some of the ruckus that enabled them to be free, I mean, that makes that reunion immediately positive. And then to be heightened by the fact that she delivers Judith and Tyreese, it’s all positive.
Now on the day filming it — it’s funny because it absolutely came together wonderfully on screen — but, if you’re a little baby, and you’re sitting there in Chad Coleman’s arms, and you have Andrew Lincoln charging you at full speed, you burst out crying if you’re a baby and there’s some guy running at you at full speed. [Laughs] So it was a little bit of a different thing filming it, because, you know, Judith didn’t know what was up. She was scared by the man with the beard. So it’s kind of a funny thing, but I was very happy with the way it turned out.
It’s important to me that we do a show that hits all these different places in the human experience. The only reason that Rick does the things he does — it isn’t really for his own survival, it’s for the survival of his children and the sake of love. And the thing that these people struggle with so much is maintaining who they are as human beings. This is all very positive stuff, and to be able to portray that sort of thing on TV, you know is very exciting to me. And it really is the other side of horror, or the other side of survival, which is… yeah, things like love. I’m very happy to see that the audience is down with that. There’s so much TV that is so nihilistic, and so about how bad people are. I think it’s so much more complicated than that, and I think great stories can come out of that complication.

I always have to ask whenever I don’t see it happen onscreen: Did Tyreese actually kill that guy in the cabin?
I never say one way or the other, you know. But I will say that’s not a bad thing at least to pick up, like “Wow, the way he said that, we didn’t see it, what happened.” I mean there’s always the possibility of a greater story towards things that we don’t see. It could be the story of how he killed that guy, which could be a whole big story and super interesting, or it could be how he didn’t kill that guy, and that also could be a whole big story that’s super interesting. But picking up that there’s more to it? Sure, I’ll accept that.
[h=3]Related[/h]The Walking Dead: See Full Coverage
'The Walking Dead' creator Robert Kirkman breaks down the violent and emotional premiere
'Walking Dead' Storyboards: How They Sketched Out Carol's Explosive Plan


We see you do this secret scene at the end. We see Morgan come across Rick’s crossed-off Terminus sign at the end there. First off, just talk about why do that as a post-credits scene? That’s the first time for you guys. So tell me about the decision to do that.
That was about storytelling rhythms. That was about, yes, having a surprise for the audience. It also was about sequestering this story of this episode, “No Sanctuary,” into its own contiguous piece. And that bit with Morgan is another story. It’s another thing. He’s walking off the railroad tracks, going into the forest, following something. It seems like the start of something. It just felt good that way. And I asked AMC, “Hey can we do that?” They were like, “Hey, that sounds great.” And that was enough for me.
How much more Morgan can we expect to see coming up, and also, what is his mental state like these days, because it was certainly a little shaky last time we caught up with him in another episode you wrote, “Clear.”
There are clues onscreen to his mental state. I would say that he’s definitely dressed better than the last time we saw him. He looks pretty well put together. You know, he’s not talking to himself. I would say that, just laying eyes on him, it looks like a different Morgan. And then as far as how much we’re going to see of Morgan, you know me very well — that I will not be specific about that. But I will say that it does seem like he is following something, like he’s walking towards something, that it’s the start of something.
And let’s talk about another person. There’s this big villain named Negan in the comic books down the line a little bit. You guys have said pretty clearly that at some point this guy’s going to show up. There was a character in that last scene from the train car who comes in and whacks Gareth in the face. I’ve already talked to a few people that have asked, “Is that Negan?” My thoughts are it’s too soon to see him yet, but I will ask you: Is that Negan that we saw there?
I’m going to say this one definitely, because I think it has an important aspect to the story. No, that’s not Negan.
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Okay, that’s what I figured.
Negan does not have a ponytail. Unless he’s carrying someone else’s in his pocket, it’s not him, the ponytail. I will say that you do see that a character at the end of the show, earlier in the show. [Ed note: Turns out the guy in that final scene is the same crazy one Glenn freed from the other boxcar.]
You spent months and months teasing this season premiere, telling us, “Hey, we’re going to get a lot of answers,” and we certainly did. But now that’s done, Scott, so now the next question is what can you tell us about the next episode we’re going to see on Sunday?
Oh, wow we’re into that now.
That’s how quick it happens, man.
I will say that there are some massively disgusting things that happen. You know how I was saying it’s complicated between Rick and Carol? Some of that is explored. A lot of business between these characters is explored. We might meet a new character, and I’m going to go back to super disgusting. I mean, super disgusting stuff.

 

‘The Walking Dead’ director Greg Nicotero explains how they did that in the premiereby Dalton Ross | October 14 2014 — 2:01 PM EDTThe-Walking-Dead-SceneImage Credit: Gene Page/AMCWhen it comes to The Walking Dead, Greg Nicotero does it all: He’s an executive producer, he’s the mastermind behind all the zombie makeup, he sometimes appears as a zombie himself, and he has emerged as a go-to director for the AMC hit. It was Nicotero who directed Sunday’s off-the-hook season premiere, so we spoke to him to find out how they filmed all the throat-slitting and fire-zombie-walking insanity. Plus, Nicotero shares one change he would have made on that big Carol and Rick reunion. (Also make sure to check out Greg Nicotero’s storyboards for the big Terminus raid scene, as well as our season premiere interviews with creator Robert Kirkman, showrunner Scott M. Gimple, Chad Coleman (Tyreese), and Andrew J. West (Gareth).ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, flaming zombies. Unbelievable. How much of that was on the scene and how much was added in digitally later?GREG NICOTERO: That was sort of our Big Spot scene for this episode. We had six cameras on the explosion. We had all the body parts on fire around where the explosion was. And then, of course, the actual walkers themselves. We had stunt performers with flames on them. So I would say 70 percent of the shots in the episode are practical, and then we did a little of augmentation on one or two walkers. I think the bit that I’m most proud of is we took a puppet head and we actually covered it with flammable material and we had a stunt person with a silicone mask on of a normal human face and we had the zombie bite its face off. And it was an actual puppet head on fire biting a stunt person protected by the mask. It was just one of those things that I wanted to shoot and we kind of shot it at the end of the last day of shooting and that gag gets a lot of reaction. That’s the fun of having freedom on the show to improvise gags.When you were shooting stuff like that throat slitting scene, was part of you like, “Yeah, we’re never getting this on the air?”When Scott Gimple pitched the episode we had a long conversation and I said, “Listen we have a great opportunity to put a little red herring in here because Glenn’s character is killed with a baseball bat in the graphic novel.” So we set that up specifically to tease to the audience that Glenn might go. And so that is a perfect example of Scott and I taking something and just continually ramping it up. And the way that we accomplished the blood gags were that we put a tube around the actors’ necks and we shot the entire scene with the tube there, and then the actor came across with the knife an we sprayed the blood out, and the visual effects went in and erased the tube. So the tube was there the entire time. So we shot the whole scene and it was easier than putting a prosthetic on and trying to hide the tube. Again, a really good marriage of practical and digital and it’s so shocking. I had that low angle with Robin Lord Taylor — who is in Gotham — that was him, because he played the character Sam in episode 4 of last year. People will hopefully notice that that’s him. That’s where Rick gets his watch back. So we just put the tube on and shot the scene and I had this low angle where the blood sprayed the lens and they were like, “You’re never going to get away with that. They’ll never let you do it.”My defense was that Breaking Bad pushed the envelope because of when Gus slits the throat in the “Box Cutter” episode and there’s blood spraying out. So we really used that as our basis and said, “We have to really show how violent and how deadly these Terminus people are, because if we don’t ever see it, then that threat will never become palpable — so it was really important to us that we sold the violence of it. By adding the baseball bat to stun them and then the knife coming through to slitting their throats — Steven and Andy and Norman and Lawrence, they had no idea really what it was going to be like. They knew there was a tube there and we were going to pump some blood, but when they were leaned over and they heard the actors scream and the blood hitting the trough and seeing the blood, it freaked them out. It was really powerful and they started moving a little faster. All of a sudden their hearts were pounding. And that was my intent. I wanted those emotions to be real. It’s a fantastic sequence. What I love about this episode is you get to feel every emotion that a Walking Dead episode will give you all at one time. It opens with suspense and terror and moves into thrills and the big adrenaline action scene and then by the end with the reunions…Yeah, I wanted ask you about that next. You have these two huge emotional reunions: Carol with Daryl and Rick. And then Rick and Judith, with a side of Tyreese and Sasha as well. You know those are big important moments. Tell me how you went about capturing that emotion.I have to give a lot of credit to the actors, because in scenes like that with Melissa and Norman, you can’t take your eyes off of them. Melissa is such a great actress. And Norman, when his emotion comes out, like in the Merle scene I shot a few years ago, you can’t not be affected by it. I did an earlier version of that scene in an earlier cut, when Rick sees her and walks over and says, “Did you do that?” And she’s looking at him with this trepidation because she doesn’t know how he’s going to react, because the last time they saw each other he tossed her out. So in the director’s cut of that episode I took his line out, so he just walks up to her and there’s this great tense moment of, what’s going to happen? And the look on her face — she’s scared. And then he grabs her and hugs her and she laughs. And it was really powerful. And Scott and I — we always have, like, eight things we’ll disagree on and four he’ll win and four I’ll win. So that was one of the ones where he said, “No, I want the line there.” But I want to see it in their faces. And the way I direct and the way I shoot the actors, I really want you to be right in there with them.What about the Then & Now structure to show how this Terminus crew came to be who and what they are. Did that provide any challenges or opportunities for you?It was really important for Scott that we got a sense of who they were because our people have been pushed to the brink. With what happened at the end of season 4, they have reached that same level of what they need to do to survive, so seeing the fact that Gareth and the people at Terminus were once good people and had good intentions but bad people got to them and it turned them and changed them — that’s very important for what our series is about. And always that recurring theme of: Can you come back from what you have done? That was why that was so critical. And I remember when we were shooting it, some people were like, “Oh, it’s a little confusing and do we really need to see that?” Yeah, we need to see that because we need to see that these people were at one time good and became these horrific people that did these unspeakable things because of what the world subjected them tkay, mister sneaky secret scene. Tell me about the decision to add that post-credits scene showing us the return of Morgan.We had actually tried to get him back for season 4 but he was unavailable, so the fact that we get to see Morgan with just enough of a tease to go, “Oh, wait a minute. He’s tracking them.” You see the little circle carved into the tree. And of course the vines growing up on the sign, so clearly time has passed. He’s not hot on their trial, but it gives us that opportunity to go “Wait, a second, what’s going on?” It’s a great tease. I wish we had a little more time to let that scene play out a little bit more, but we had a great opportunity in this episode to introduce some great characters. I mean, Martin, played by Chris Coy — that storyline between Martin and Tyreese in the cabin. And then little baby Judith. We shot all of her reactions in one take and the most interesting part of that is what made the baby the most upset was when we put her in that little cooler because it was little cold.Hold on, it wasn’t when this crazy looking Andrew Lincoln was running at her at top speed?She did cry at that too. But that baby just did not want to lay in that cooler. But the look on her face when Tyreese is thrown outside — it’s priceless. Chad Coleman is so powerful, One of my favorite shots in the whole episode is that medium close up on him where he says “You think you’re gonna kill me?” It’s sooooo great. There are so many fantastic moments. There is so much charisma coming out of each of these characters.

 

[h=1]‘The Walking Dead’ director Greg Nicotero explains how they did that in the premiere[/h]by Dalton Ross | October 14 2014 — 2:01 PM EDT

Image Credit: Gene Page/AMC​

When it comes to The Walking Dead, Greg Nicotero does it all: He’s an executive producer, he’s the mastermind behind all the zombie makeup, he sometimes appears as a zombie himself, and he has emerged as a go-to director for the AMC hit. It was Nicotero who directed Sunday’s off-the-hook season premiere, so we spoke to him to find out how they filmed all the throat-slitting and fire-zombie-walking insanity. Plus, Nicotero shares one change he would have made on that big Carol and Rick reunion. (Also make sure to check out Greg Nicotero’s storyboards for the big Terminus raid scene, as well as our season premiere interviews with creator Robert Kirkman, showrunner Scott M. Gimple, Chad Coleman (Tyreese), and Andrew J. West (Gareth). ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, flaming zombies. Unbelievable. How much of that was on the scene and how much was added in digitally later?
GREG NICOTERO: That was sort of our Big Spot scene for this episode. We had six cameras on the explosion. We had all the body parts on fire around where the explosion was. And then, of course, the actual walkers themselves. We had stunt performers with flames on them. So I would say 70 percent of the shots in the episode are practical, and then we did a little of augmentation on one or two walkers. I think the bit that I’m most proud of is we took a puppet head and we actually covered it with flammable material and we had a stunt person with a silicone mask on of a normal human face and we had the zombie bite its face off. And it was an actual puppet head on fire biting a stunt person protected by the mask. It was just one of those things that I wanted to shoot and we kind of shot it at the end of the last day of shooting and that gag gets a lot of reaction. That’s the fun of having freedom on the show to improvise gags.
When you were shooting stuff like that throat slitting scene, was part of you like, “Yeah, we’re never getting this on the air?”
When Scott Gimple pitched the episode we had a long conversation and I said, “Listen we have a great opportunity to put a little red herring in here because Glenn’s character is killed with a baseball bat in the graphic novel.” So we set that up specifically to tease to the audience that Glenn might go. And so that is a perfect example of Scott and I taking something and just continually ramping it up. And the way that we accomplished the blood gags were that we put a tube around the actors’ necks and we shot the entire scene with the tube there, and then the actor came across with the knife an we sprayed the blood out, and the visual effects went in and erased the tube. So the tube was there the entire time. So we shot the whole scene and it was easier than putting a prosthetic on and trying to hide the tube. Again, a really good marriage of practical and digital and it’s so shocking. I had that low angle with Robin Lord Taylor — who is in Gotham — that was him, because he played the character Sam in episode 4 of last year. People will hopefully notice that that’s him. That’s where Rick gets his watch back. So we just put the tube on and shot the scene and I had this low angle where the blood sprayed the lens and they were like, “You’re never going to get away with that. They’ll never let you do it.”
My defense was that Breaking Badpushed the envelope because of when Gus slits the throat in the “Box Cutter” episode and there’s blood spraying out. So we really used that as our basis and said, “We have to really show how violent and how deadly these Terminus people are, because if we don’t ever see it, then that threat will never become palpable — so it was really important to us that we sold the violence of it. By adding the baseball bat to stun them and then the knife coming through to slitting their throats — Steven and Andy and Norman and Lawrence, they had no idea really what it was going to be like. They knew there was a tube there and we were going to pump some blood, but when they were leaned over and they heard the actors scream and the blood hitting the trough and seeing the blood, it freaked them out. It was really powerful and they started moving a little faster. All of a sudden their hearts were pounding. And that was my intent. I wanted those emotions to be real. It’s a fantastic sequence. What I love about this episode is you get to feel every emotion that a Walking Dead episode will give you all at one time. It opens with suspense and terror and moves into thrills and the big adrenaline action scene and then by the end with the reunions…
Yeah, I wanted ask you about that next. You have these two huge emotional reunions: Carol with Daryl and Rick. And then Rick and Judith, with a side of Tyreese and Sasha as well. You know those are big important moments. Tell me how you went about capturing that emotion.
I have to give a lot of credit to the actors, because in scenes like that with Melissa and Norman, you can’t take your eyes off of them. Melissa is such a great actress. And Norman, when his emotion comes out, like in the Merle scene I shot a few years ago, you can’t not be affected by it. I did an earlier version of that scene in an earlier cut, when Rick sees her and walks over and says, “Did you do that?” And she’s looking at him with this trepidation because she doesn’t know how he’s going to react, because the last time they saw each other he tossed her out. So in the director’s cut of that episode I took his line out, so he just walks up to her and there’s this great tense moment of, what’s going to happen? And the look on her face — she’s scared. And then he grabs her and hugs her and she laughs. And it was really powerful. And Scott and I — we always have, like, eight things we’ll disagree on and four he’ll win and four I’ll win. So that was one of the ones where he said, “No, I want the line there.” But I want to see it in their faces. And the way I direct and the way I shoot the actors, I really want you to be right in there with them.
What about the Then & Now structure to show how this Terminus crew came to be who and what they are. Did that provide any challenges or opportunities for you?
It was really important for Scott that we got a sense of who they were because our people have been pushed to the brink. With what happened at the end of season 4, they have reached that same level of what they need to do to survive, so seeing the fact that Gareth and the people at Terminus were once good people and had good intentions but bad people got to them and it turned them and changed them — that’s very important for what our series is about. And always that recurring theme of: Can you come back from what you have done? That was why that was so critical. And I remember when we were shooting it, some people were like, “Oh, it’s a little confusing and do we really need to see that?” Yeah, we need to see that because we need to see that these people were at one time good and became these horrific people that did these unspeakable things because of what the world subjected them to.
Okay, mister sneaky secret scene. Tell me about the decision to add that post-credits scene showing us the return of Morgan.
We had actually tried to get him back for season 4 but he was unavailable, so the fact that we get to see Morgan with just enough of a tease to go, “Oh, wait a minute. He’s tracking them.” You see the little circle carved into the tree. And of course the vines growing up on the sign, so clearly time has passed. He’s not hot on their trial, but it gives us that opportunity to go “Wait, a second, what’s going on?” It’s a great tease. I wish we had a little more time to let that scene play out a little bit more, but we had a great opportunity in this episode to introduce some great characters. I mean, Martin, played by Chris Coy — that storyline between Martin and Tyreese in the cabin. And then little baby Judith. We shot all of her reactions in one take and the most interesting part of that is what made the baby the most upset was when we put her in that little cooler because it was little cold.
Hold on, it wasn’t when this crazy looking Andrew Lincoln was running at her at top speed?
She did cry at that too. But that baby just did not want to lay in that cooler. But the look on her face when Tyreese is thrown outside — it’s priceless. Chad Coleman is so powerful, One of my favorite shots in the whole episode is that medium close up on him where he says “You think you’re gonna kill me?” It’s sooooo great. There are so many fantastic moments. There is so much charisma coming out of each of these characters.