[h=1]Episode 415 Post-Mortem with Robert Kirkman[/h] by Lizzy Iverson March 23rd, 2014
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Welcome back to our weekly post-mortem with TWD-creator Robert Kirkman. This week we discuss racial diversity, comedy, Telltale crossover possibilities, and happy endings!


TheWalkingDead.com: This episode we saw a lot more of the dynamic between Abraham, Rosita and Eugene—why did you decide to stay so faithful to the comics for these characters in particular? Is this showrunner Scott Gimple’s influence?
Robert Kirkman: Yeah, Scott Gimple is definitely a guy who is a fan of the comic and he’s certainly a fan of those characters. But also, I think that the storyline with Eugene, Rosita and Abraham and their mission to get to Washington, D.C. is a big part of what we’re going to be doing with the show in the foreseeable future. If you know the comics, you may have somewhat of a rough idea as to where things might possibly be headed, and we’re keeping that storyline fairly faithful when it comes to those characters. And I think keeping them on model, so to speak, is an important part of what we’re doing moving forward.
TWD: Eugene’s shaping up to be a funny character. We chortled when he awkwardly gives Tara that sendoff. Did Josh McDermitt’s comedic background play at all into the way you shaped Eugene? Or did you always look at Eugene as more of a comedic character?
RK: Scott and I, and all of the writers in the writers’ room, definitely look at Eugene as a character where there is certainly some room to bring a little bit of levity to a situation. But I will say that Josh McDermitt’s audition was possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I hope that they put it on a DVD or something because it was awesome. There was also a fun bit of writing where—I think it was Seth and Scott—they wrote a scene at Eugene’s high school reunion because we wanted to play with the character and see what the actor could do, so it wasn’t a scene from the show. It was really just a great scene and Josh killed it. So when you know that you can really lean on an actor for certain kinds of things, it really inspires you, when you’re writing scripts, to do that kind of stuff, and his background is certainly a big part of that.
TWD: Is there any concern there with getting too comedic?
RK: No, I think that we’ve got a good balance. Certainly, if you were to get too comedic with things, there’s always a chance that you could make the darker elements of the show seems less important or less real, but I think there’s room for that and that we’re towing that line pretty closely.
TWD: The Walking Dead has a gay woman, three black main characters, a Latina main character, an Asian main character, an interracial couple, a ginger, and a mullet. Is The Walking Dead the most ethnically diverse show on television? And was that intentional at all?
RK: I mean, I feel like we’re not doing enough, so… it’s definitely intentional. We haven’t had a Muslim character, that’s certainly something that has been on my mind. I think it’s important to finally make a concerted effort to show the diversity of the American population and I especially feel a responsibility, because the show is so popular and watched, to use it as an opportunity to get the diverse characters you don’t normally see on television. I feel like it would be wrong for us not to use that as an opportunity. And everyone on the show is invested in telling great stories and adapting the comic book and honoring what we do in the comic and certainly some of that comes from the comic, but it’s really just a matter of telling interesting stories, and those characters and their backgrounds certainly add interesting elements to the stories in the show. I hope we’ll continue that trend moving forward.
TWD: The cave in this episode was gnarly. I keep waiting for you guys to run out of cool ways to come up with zombies—
RK: I don’t think we’re going to run out of interesting ways for people to die, so I think we’re good on that front.
TWD: Do you remember who came up with that sedimentary glob of zombies stuck in dirt?
RK: I know that Scott Gimple definitely had a very developed roadmap for the back half of this season, so I would wager that he had a big hand in coming up with that sequence. Then Seth and Angela would have definitely flesh it out, so it would have been a collaboration between the three of them. I can say definitely that I had nothing to do with that, so if you like it, don’t give me any credit, thank you very much.
TWD: The group of survivors that Daryl joins have their own honor code and set of rules that are reminiscent of the Saviors in the comics. Where do you usually start when building a new community—with their leader? Or their group dynamic? Or where they’re from originally?
RK: It begins with how do people survive in this world, what are the different ways, and that help you come up with different rules and different methods and things that can turn into a group. A leader can emerge from that or you can start with a leader, but a lot of different things go into the different groups that we encounter and there isn’t one set way of coming up with things.
TWD: Something we haven’t discussed yet is the possibility of some crossover with the Telltale Games. Will we ever see anyone from that universe appear in the show?
RK: I couldn’t rule it out entirely, but there are currently no plans. It’s not impossible. There could be characters from the game that make their way into the show, but like I said, no plans as of yet.
TWD: Can you tell us anything about Terminus? Is it good news, or bad news?
RK: Terminus could be what it is on face value or it could be hiding something darker. We do try to change things up, so it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that Terminus is all lemonade and sunshine and recliners and pajamas. So we’ll see, maybe this season has a happy ending.



A hearty laugh was enjoyed by both parties after that last one. See you guys next week for the finale!

 

[h=1]'Walking Dead' Dissection: Greg Nicotero Talks Terminus and What's Ahead[/h] 8:00 PM PDT 3/23/2014 by Lesley Goldberg

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[h=2]"This entire season was based on the premise of, 'Can you do what it takes to stay alive?' " the exec producer tells THR in our weekly postmortem.[/h]


Gene Page/AMC

"The Walking Dead's" Steven Yeun


[Warning: This story contains spoilers from episode 415, "Us," of AMC's The Walking Dead as well as the comic book series it is based on.]

With only one remaining episode left to go in its fourth season, AMC's The Walking Dead revealed the first look at the much-heralded sanctuary known as Terminus.
With Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) group divided since the fall of the prison in the midseason finale, two of the mini-groups were reunited and arrived at Terminus during Sunday's penultimate episode. It came after Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) connected with Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) to save Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Tara (Alanna Masterson) when they attempted to plow through a terrifying tunnel. Maggie and Glenn's reunion marked the latest glimmer of hope this season and came after last week's devastating episode in which Carol (Melissa McBride) had to serve as judge, jury and executioner and kill Lizzie after she murdered her kid sister Mika.
Meanwhile, Daryl (Norman Reedus) learns the new rules of Joe's (Jeff Korber) group -- and that the latter wants revenge for the man who strangled one of his companions. What Daryl doesn't know is that Joe is referring to Rick, who killed the guy in order to save Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Carl's (Chandler Riggs) lives and that trio is traveling just ahead of Joe and Daryl's group as everyone is poised to arrive at Terminus in next week's season finale. (Read our recap and analysis here.)
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with executive producer Greg Nicotero, who directed Sunday's episode, to break down what could await Terminus, the rest of the community there and to preview the season finale.
The first of the group have arrived at Terminus. Mary (Denise Crosby) can't be the only one there, right? How would you describe the rest of the community?
No, she's not the only one who's there. She's the one that we see first but we'll quite quickly meet others. In this particular situation, it's easy for them to get in. It's not like they had to go through checkpoints or anything. As they're walking in to Terminus, the gate is open and there's a note that says to close it behind you. We see flowers and we hear a bit of noise from some people milling about. Mary just happens to be the first one; she's the welcoming committee.
After seeing the lengths by which Rick's group went to protect the prison, why wasn't Terminus more guarded? It feels a little too good to be true.
If it's a group of people that have been posting signs all over the Georgia countryside and doing radio messages, they're trying to rebuild the world. I'm sure that they have had to deal with good people that showed up and probably people that wanted to rob them, who knows. But you have to start somewhere and clearly we met the "Claimers" and that situation did not end well for Len (Marcus Hester). You see that there are people out there who have their own rules. What I love about what Joe (Jeff Korber) says, he says, "There's no rules out there anymore; you either kill or be killed and you survive." They have found a way to survive. The fact they're on their way to another colony and group of people that have learned to survive is pretty exciting. We've been so segregated in the last couple years of the show: season two we were at Hershel's (Scott Wilson) farm; and season three and half of season four, we were at the prison. This is first time we're out in the world experiencing it and seeing the vast devastation and destruction but also how people survive. Clearly the Claimers survive by throwing out the rules and we're now getting a chance to learn about Terminus that has been able to survive and not be so creepy, weird and malevolent about it. Everyone gets to Terminus and smiles and thinks, "Maybe the world isn't all a bad place."
The Claimers have one set of rules; Rick's people have another and now Terminus is an X-factor. Plus Abraham, who is very mission-oriented. How might all three groups get along? Could there be a three-way battle for Terminus?
It makes sense that Abraham's mission is his No. 1 sole purpose. We establish in episode 15 that he's willing to do anything to get Eugene there. This episode is the first time we get an opportunity to see the dynamic between Eugene, Rosita and Abraham. Abraham says, "I'm going to Washington. I'll probably get there more safely the more people I have with me." He's trying to enlist as many people as he can because the more people he enlists for the mission, the greater the likelihood that Eugene is going to get there safely. When and if they meet with up with Rick and his group, would Rick be willing to go along on that mission or will they find a place to hold up at Terminus that allows them the safety that they've had for the past three years. That's what we're going to find out.
How might people respond to Eugene's claims that he has a cure for this epidemic?
There's a difference between knowing and having a cure. If you're in the middle of this devastating epidemic and someone says they know how to fix it, clearly the world is going to be a different place. It's not like you can flip a switch and everything will be fine. On our show, we to get glimpses into what the day-to-day events do to people emotionally and physically. The last we saw Daryl, he had been chasing the car that grabbed Beth and he couldn't run anymore. He meets this group of guys and you feel like at any second, Daryl will say, "I’m done with you guys; this isn’t a world that I want." But at that point, Daryl is numb. He's lost everything and everyone he's ever loved. His choice now is to live alone or join this group of guys who clearly have something going right otherwise they wouldn't be around. We see a change in Daryl during this episode where at the beginning he doesn't want to engage Joe in any conversation and by the end, they're sharing a cigarette together and Daryl sees the strawberry bush and says, "Claimed." That speaks volumes because Daryl has found a new group and new way to survive as well as a reason to survive. That's an intriguing plot twist because knowing where Daryl is and that Maggie and Glenn are back together and their mission is to stop at Terminus, see what it is, and then head off to D.C. -- they have a bigger army. It's one of the first times in a long time that we have a nice, happy moment when Glenn and Maggie reunite and have that beautiful scene in the tunnel where she burns the picture and says, "You're not going to need a picture of me ever again."
How might Daryl fare when he's pulled between his life in Rick's group and this new gang with Joe? He seems like he's regressed a bit to his old pre-apocalypse life here.
It's survival; that's what people do. Rick has shown us the exact same thing. Look at what Rick has become since the beginning of this season. In the first half, Rick stepped away from leadership and let the council deal with it while he focused on raising his children and providing for the group. When the Governor shows up in episode eight, Rick says he's not in charge and the Governor doesn't care. The Governor pushes him back into that place where he's the reluctant leader and it all goes to hell. Rick has really been pushed to this place where he's had to make these decisions and it's the same for Daryl. If Rick didn't make that decision to strangle that guy in the house, Michonne and Carl would have been killed. So he did what he had to do and it's the same with Daryl. He could have sat on the ground and let a herd of walkers come through but instead Joe came first. It would have been interesting to see if Daryl would have been surrounded by walkers vs. surrounded by those guys and what decision he would have made because at that point, he didn't give a shit.
Maggie and Glenn are reunited and both have never given up hope this season. Could we see a season finale more about hope than bloodshed?
We're going into it with hope. We've been hearing since episode four about Terminus and those that arrive, survive. They all have that glimmer of hope. The fact that Glenn says "Maggie would go there I know it," and vice versa, they all find those landmarks and realize that in a world without cell phones, computers and cars, they have to have faith that they will find each other. Tyreese really lost his faith after Karen died and reuniting with Carol and the girls, it's amazing and gut wrenching to see what all these people have been out through. As far as Tyreese knows, Sasha is dead and vice versa. Maggie doesn't know Beth is gone. It's all these little microcosm of stories that will all collide.
Carol and Tyreese are not that far off from Terminus. How might they respond to a new group of people after what they've just been through with Lizzie?
We don't know what point people will arrive there; we know everyone is headed there. We know the Claimers saw the Terminus sign and everyone is on the tracks and headed that way. But we don't know what configuration they'll be in and when everyone arrives. Everybody has their own rules of survival and some that work for some people won't work for others. The whole "claimed" idea that you have to say that word and it's yours, whether you're there first or not doesn't matter. It's a unique perspective.
We still don't know where Beth is and who has taken her. Is it fair to expect we'll see her again in the finale?
I can't tell you that.
We've yet to meet Andrew J. West's character. What can you say about his arrival in the season finale?
We're at Terminus and we've seen some of our group arrive there and it's safe to say that that's where we will find him.
What kind of a man is he? My theory is that he's a version of one of the cannibals from the comics.
That's an interesting theory. The people that have survived in this world have survived at a cost. The way Joe and his group, the way that our group have survived, they've lost people and they've had to do things. This entire season was based on the premise of, "Can you do what it takes to stay alive." Crossing that line between the brutality and the humanizing aspect of life, and can you be compassionate and still survive in this world or are you always going to be a bad guy? In different worlds and different perceptions, who is a good guy and who is a bad guy? In Joe's perception, Joe isn't a bad guy, he's a good guy who has just figured out a way to survive and a set of rules that work for him. So it'll be interesting to see how things play out and how fans respond to what we've set up in the last episode.
This episode was different than some of the penultimate episodes of previous seasons -- no major character deaths and it ended on a hopeful note. Are you setting us up for a deadly finale?
The second-to-last episode is always challenging because we're always teeing up the finale. Last year was Merle's death and the year before that was Shane's death and year before that was Amy's death. The second-to-last episode is always a challenge because we're putting our foot on the accelerator and getting the show ready to launch into the finale. We very rarely get light moments; the show is pretty heavy. So the reunion of Maggie and Glenn was really important to me and those two did a fantastic job of taking us there.
What did you think of Sunday's episode? Do you trust that Terminus will be a safe place? Hit the comments below with your thoughts. The Walking Dead season finale airs Sunday at 9 p.m. Stay tuned to THR's The Live Feed for morecoverage.

 

[h=1]'Walking Dead' Producer and Director Greg Nicotero Talks Terminus, Glenn and Maggie, Eugene, and the Series' New 'Star Trek' Alum[/h] By Kimberly Potts 1 hour ago Yahoo TV

Norman Reedus and Greg Nicotero in 'The Walking Dead'

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One more episode, "Dead"-heads. Just one more episode remains in the fourth season of "The Walking Dead." The second half of the season has continued to reward viewers with episodes that delve more deeply into the backstories and motivations of the characters we've become invested in across 50 episodes — Sunday's "Us" was the series' 50th — and the March 30 season ender promises more of the same.
But back to "Us" … episode director — and "TWD" executive producer and special effects whiz — Greg Nicotero talked to Yahoo TV about juggling so many characters and storylines in the season's penultimate episode, as well as that emotional reunion between Maggie and Glenn, giving viewers the chance to get to know newbies Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita a little more, and what might really be afoot with Daryl's new pal Joe and his fellow "Claimers."

[Related: Take a Bite Out of Our 'Walking Dead' Recaps]​

Nicotero also shares his pick for the best moments of the season so far, the character quote he hopes to see on a t-shirt, and confirms, yes, though you might not have recognized her, that was indeed a certain "Star Trek" alum welcoming Glenn and friends to Terminus.
There was a lot happening in "Us"; congratulations on packing so much story and so many characters into one episode.
It was a little crazy. I didn't even think about it 'til I watched it again, and I got emails from all the actors this morning saying, "Um, OK. So how did you get every single person and every single moment taken care of in that episode?" The thing that was the most important to me about that episode was getting a sense of Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita as real people, as real characters. So I love the scenes with them. I thought Alanna [Masterson, as Tara] was great, and then, you know, our old-school characters, Daryl, and Glenn and Maggie. So I felt like after last week's episode, this was a huge challenge, and I was really proud of it.
Was it also important to get all of these characters to a certain place leading into the Season 4 finale?
Oh, absolutely. You know, this whole season has been like a chess game, and I think the most exciting part is, an accomplished chess player like [showrunner] Scott Gimple knows where all the pieces need to be at a certain point during the game, and how we get them there. And I think with last night's episode, you know, especially coming off the Lizzie and Mika episode … the show doesn't really have a lot of light moments. The show's pretty heavy, and it's gotten pretty dark in the last several episodes. So having a light moment, Maggie and Glenn's reunion, it really was important to be able to see that, as dark as the world is becoming, people can persevere and survive.
Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos), Dr. Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt),, and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) in 'The …

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The Eugene/Abraham/Rosita scenes shed a lot of light on their group dynamics, and Eugene was not only great comic relief, but also helped moved the story forward in a big way. Was that always your plan for his character?
Yes. And, you know, I think the most interesting thing is taking these characters that are drawn in the comic book and bringing them to life, and how Michael [Cudlitz] and Christian [Serratos] and Josh [McDermitt] … not only were we able to physically approximate the characters, but these three really dug into the characters. I remember watching a couple episodes early on and just saying, "Listen, we want these characters to feel like they've been with the show since day one. So we have to really get a sense of who they are." So I very specifically made sure that all three had moments [in "Us"].

[Related: The 'Walking Dead' Brain-Dead Move of the Week: Get Your Rocks Off (My Leg)]​

I was watching the show last night, and when they were talking about navigating and Eugene said, "You know, I can't live in a world where you would be the navigator over a genuine son of the South," I giggled. Just the way he talked. There's something charming about him. And when they're sitting in the car, and Eugene accidentally lowers the seat back and Abraham wakes up, the look on Rosita's face, she's like, "Oh, man, we're busted." And then when Abraham says, "Why are you stopped? What's wrong with you?" And she said, "Me? What do you mean what's wrong with me?" You know, it was just … it's an argument that you feel they've had over and over again. I think those three actors in particular, and Alanna Masterson, really sort of broke out of the pack last night, and it makes me really proud.

Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) in 'The Walking Dead'

Viewers who've read the comics know the outcome of the story about Eugene and his claims that he knows what caused the zombie outbreak, and what will save the world from it, but the show has diverged from the comics in many instances, so we can't assume we know the truth in the show. But that aside, why is Abraham so completely willing to believe Eugene, to the point where he defers to him in every situation? Is it to have a purpose to forge ahead in this world, getting Eugene safely to Washington, or is it about the chance to be a part of saving the world?
I think it's both of those. There's that scene in the beginning of last night's episode where Tara says to Abraham, "What happens when the mission's over?" And they're silent, but that gives you some insight that Abraham is all about the mission. The mission is, get this guy to Washington, and it's his reason to be. That's why he's so gung-ho about it, why it's so important to him that he doesn't fail. Because I think failure in this would be devastating for him.

[Related: 'Walking Dead' Newbie Josh McDermitt Talks Eugene's Gun Skills (and Mullet)]​

One of the best, most insightful lines of the episode, and of the whole season, really, was Joe telling Daryl there's nothing sadder than an outdoor cat who thinks he's an indoor cat ...
This line. We all literally stood on set... I love that everyone loves that line. Seth Hoffman, who wrote the episode, put it in there, and he was kind of like, "I'm not really sure if Gimple's going to like it. I'm not sure," and I said, "Dude, it speaks volumes about Daryl."
When we meet Daryl in this episode, he has no reason to exist. He's just with these guys until he's not with them anymore and he can go off on his own. And Joe sees value in him, especially after Len proves himself to be not-so-trustworthy. I think Daryl is priming himself for a lieutenant position with the "Claimers." So Joe basically spends most of the episode recruiting him.
Joe (Jeff Kober), Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), and Tony (Davi Jay) in 'The Walking Dead'

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Jeff Kober [who portrays Joe] did an amazing job. He's charismatic, and you can find yourself being seduced by the simplicity of what he's saying. He's like, "Hey, dude. I kept our little merry band of guys together by just making one or two few rules." And Daryl's like, "There's no more rules." Joes says, "Yeah, there is. If you claim it, it's yours. You lie, you die." There are very few rules of the road, but Joe sets these up, and by the end, you see Daryl says, "claimed" when he picks up the strawberry bush. And Joe has a little smirk on his face, like, "OK, you know, this is going to work out after all. This is a great addition to my group." And they're on their way to Terminus, because they're looking for a cowardly cop who killed their friend.

[Related: 'Walking Dead' Creator Robert Kirkman on the Season 4 Finale: It's 'Savage']​

I'm just waiting for somebody to give me a T-shirt that has the "outdoor cat, indoor cat" line on it [laughing]. I'm telling you, even when we were on set, Norman [Reedus] and Jeff [Kober] were like, "Dude, that's a good line! That's awesome."

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in 'The Walking Dead'

The thing about that is, we know why Rick killed their friend. But if you just listen to the story from Joe's point of view, they had a safe house, they were minding their own business, and then this guy came in and put them all in danger and ran them out of the house. If that's all you know, Joe isn't necessarily a bad guy.
That's correct. Because from their perspective, this guy came at them unprovoked. He just came at them and killed one of their own. On the other hand, we've heard things they've said, about women.
Yeah, when they found Michonne's shirt in the house. They're not good dudes.
On to Terminus, where some of the gang finally arrived in "Us." At first glance, once you're inside the gates, it looks a lot like the prison camp, in that there's a little community going on there, with a cooking station and supplies organized, and...
Flowers! There were flowers out front. And the signs on the door that said, "Lower your weapons. You have arrived at Terminus. You will be met, and close the door behind you. We don't want any riffraff coming in." They're not met by armed guards. It's the first community, aside from Woodbury, that they've seen, and Woodbury was even more of a weird place.

[Related: Can 'The Walking Dead' Survive Being Edited for Broadcast TV?]​

Does that suggest then, the fact that they weren't met by any guards or any walls closing them out, that this is a community that has been going for a while? Can we assume that Mary is not the only one there? Yes. We established Terminus in ["Indifference"], when they're on the road. They hear it on the radio right before they come across the mega-herd of 7,500 zombies. So Terminus has been around for a long time.
But we still don't know what to think about Mary. She could be a really sweet woman, or she could be a female version of the Governor.
I don't know. Well, I do know, but … Denise Crosby was really great in her introduction. I don't know if everyone recognized her, but that's who that was. I would imagine we will see her again.
Go behind the scenes of tonight's "Walking Dead" right here:

Do you have a favorite moment or a favorite episode from the second half of Season 4?
God, I have a lot. I would say the single most intense moment for me was when Carol finds Mika [dead, in "The Grove"]. I was watching the director's cut and got to that scene where Lizzie is explaining to Carol, "Don't worry. She'll come back. I made sure I didn't hurt her brain." That really takes Lizzie away, and you stay on Carol, and she just sobs. I was watching it, and I literally started crying. I paused it, I called Melissa McBride and said, "You made me cry. I'm so moved and so awed by your talent that I cried when I watched the episode." And she's like, "Oh, my God! You have to call me and let me know what you think of the rest of the episode," because I couldn't even get past that moment. I needed to take a break. So then I watched the Lizzie moment, and then I watched Tyreese and Carol where she admits that she killed Karen and David, and then I had to call the director, and then I had to call Gimple and tell Scott that he wrote one of the best scripts I've ever read, and I'm astounded at how powerful it was. So I didn't call Melissa back for like three hours, and she was like, "Hey, a--hole! You never called me back." Because she wanted to hear how the rest of the episode was. I really do have to say that I think that moment, Melissa's performance in that particular moment, was for me, hands down, the most powerful, the most moving moment of the season.
Greg Nicotero and Melissa McBride in 'The Walking Dead'

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You're there, you're on set, you're working on everything, but does that happen often, where it hits you differently once you see the finished episodes?
It does, and I think that is a tribute to the material. I directed "Us," but when Maggie came running out of the light and grabbed Glenn, I got a little choked up. And I'm like, "Come on! I shot this scene. Why am I getting choked up?" But I sat in the room with my wife and my kids and one of my wife's friends, and they got tears in their eyes. And I was like, "Oh, this is ridiculous. Why am I getting a little emotional about this? I've seen it 100 times." But you get drawn into the story, and the fact that I watched these actors excel at everything that they do.
In ["30 Days Without an Accident"], there was a beautiful moment when Daryl comes to Beth's cell and says that Zack is dead. And Beth walks over to him and says, "Are you OK?" Daryl goes to comfort Beth, but Beth sees that Daryl is feeling some pain, and she says, "Are you OK?" And he says, "I'm just tired of losing people," and she hugs him. That was the season premiere, and we set that whole thing up knowing later that Daryl and Beth are going to end up together in the second half of the season, and just the uncomfortable embrace, that Daryl just touches her elbow, but doesn't really know how to respond to her emotion. Those moments are so critical to me.

[Related: 'Walking Dead' Scoop From Producer Gale Anne Hurd]​

You know, Tyreese and Rick fighting in the beginning of ["Isolation"]... I can spend an hour talking about Scott Wilson, because the guy's a f--king genius. So, you know, there are so many great moments, I really don't know where to start. But I think Melissa just blew me away. And I just think back to Season 3, where people felt they didn't know what to do with Carol's character. In the episode where T-Dog dies, there was talk she was going to die in that episode, not T-Dog. And look at what her character has become in the last season. It's just amazing.
Her performance all season, but particularly in "The Grove," has been award-worthy.
My dream would be that members of the Television Academy will look past whatever prejudice they apply to a genre show and acknowledge the brilliance of our cast and our writers. It's a little criminal that people sometimes just go, "Oh, it's a zombie show," because that couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, there are zombies in it. I love the zombies in the show. I make them. But they're a character just like the other characters in the show. And I just think that sometimes people get a little blinded by the genre nature of the show. So hopefully, maybe, this season they won't.
Check back Wednesday for part 2 of our interview with Nicotero, in which he previews the Season 4 finale.
"The Walking Dead" Season 4 finale airs March 30 at 9 p.m. on AMC