The Walking Dead ended Sunday night with the return of The Governor, the villain who dominated the show’s third season. Actor David Morrissey and the show’s top producers talked about his return.
Before Sunday’s show aired, showrunner Scott Gimple and creator Robert Kirkman talked to The Hollywood Reporter about why they were reluctant to bring the character back right away. Kirkman noted that they had just devoted the previous season to The Governor and Gimble “came in and was like, 'You know what? I'm sick of the Governor.'” Kirkman recalled, “He actually said that. It's not that we don't like that character; it's just that we needed to give that character a break.”
Gimple said that the end of season three gave viewers plenty of questions to ponder about the character and that what he did last season still affects his emotions.
“When the Governor comes back, it's going to be in a very significant way but in a way that we significantly exploit the character and go even deeper into who he is. Because who the hell is he? He has his public face, he has his private face,” Gimple said.
The new season will help answer who The Governor really is. Is he a killer or is he a man who can lead people to salvation?
Morrissey himself spoke with Entertainment Weekly Tuesday, saying that although he has filmed a pilot for AMC, he has no intention of leaving the show. The pilot, titled Line of Sight does not mean that The Governor is going to die.
“I am part of The Walking Dead,” Morrissey told EW. “I really hope to make it to season 5 of The Walking Dead. I don’t know what’s going to happen — that’s an AMC decision, not mine. But I really consider myself to be a Walking Dead actor, and I consider myself to be the Governor and that’s where I am with this at the moment.”
The Walking Dead airs on AMC on Sundays and you can check out our recap of the most recent episode here.
image: AMC