How difficult is it to adapt your vision for the world of The Walking Dead while maintaining the spirit of the original. Have you and Robert Kirkman had many major disagreements on the direction of the story? --david_woodmansee72
A: That's very interesting. Robert and I are very much in sync with what the TV show should be. There may be some creative differences the same as with any other writer on the show, but we feel we know the story that we're telling and we're excited to tell it and if anything, we're always trying to one-up each other, just trying to come up with the coolest stuff for the show. So Robert and I are really working well together and we have become friends. I will say this: Out of all of the writers' rooms that I've been involved in, The Walking Dead writers' room is the most harmonious. Everybody gets the show, everybody is excited about the show and everybody is pushing toward the same goal.
How do you decide which story elements from the comics will work on screen? --Robert Becka
A: It's not easy, because there are elements in the comic that may not translate to TV, and then you have to look at the spirit of the story there and try to capture that. I'll say that the way we approach a story is like we're stringing beans together, so we work on an episode and try to make that episode as good as possible, and then you decide what comes next. So you let the characters and the story kind of dictate where the story is going. I think that's true of any quality cable drama -- it was certainly true of The Shield, and we have to allow ourselves as artists to be surprised by where the story takes us.
What challenges has working on The Walking Dead posed that you haven't encountered before in, say for example, The Shield? --Disembodiedhead
A: The challenges of this particular show involve horror. That's new to me on TV, and it's really been something that we're working hard on, to continue to make sure that each episode is scary and thrilling. That was not necessarily true on The Shield, so I've really had to work to define how horror plays during a weekly episodic drama. The other challenge on the show has been just the huge attention that the show has received with message boards and podcasts and all of the social media involved. How do you interact with the fans and listen to the fans and still protect the inner creative vision of the writers and producers? It's really become a bit of a phenomenon. We're all very excited about the fans' enthusiasm and we enjoy engaging them, and then when we sit down to write the scripts we really focus on telling the best story possible.
How much time does the effects team get to design and build some of the major effects (like the well walker), and how do you decide how much of it will be practical vs. CGI? --Martian
A: Well we try to make as much of it as practical as possible and we only use CGI when we are filling out say, particular crowds. But all the makeup is Greg [Nicotero's] practical makeup. The well walker, Greg started working on that months in advance. That was definitely something no one had ever done before. It added a memorable zombie gag to zombie lore, and that made me proud. That put us firmly in the zombie genre in a unique way. And I have something incredibly exciting planned for the Season Premiere and I'm actually really excited to write it later this week. It's pretty f------ sick.
Can a zombie actually starve to... death? --DarylFTW
A: No, a walker would not starve to death, but the corpse would continue to rot so over months it would probably rot and fall apart. But let's keep in mind that from the time of the Pilot to the end of Season 2, we think it's only been about four months. So, as we continue from season to season and those months turn into years, we do think that the older walkers would continue to deteriorate. But now we learn that anybody who dies becomes a walker so there would always be new walkers -- fresh walkers.
When we are introduced to Michonne, she appears to have two walkers in her company who are shackled. Has Michonne found a way to torture the walkers into submission? --Holden Caufield
A: She hasn't tortured those walkers into submission, but let's say this: Michonne is the one person in The Walking Dead universe who has figured out how live on her own. She is a walker's worst nightmare
What do you think would be different about Daryl if Merle hadn't gotten separated from the group in Season 1? -Diogomes
A: Daryl would be in the background, overshadowed by his brother and not having a friendship with Carol, not being able to find a role, not being able to be the hero that he's become. I do think his brother has a strong influence on him, and he would not be the heart of the group.
Why is everyone mad about Rick killing Shane? Lori seems really pissed about the situation. Does she love Shane? -thadude
A: The group is upset with Rick in general for keeping Jenner's secret and killing one of their own. Murder in a small-knit group is not to be taken lightly, so of course they would be upset. And Lori loves Rick, and she has recently realized that she does indeed love Shane. She almost said so in "Better Angels." She decides to take action by talking to Rick, so when Lori is horrified by Rick's confession, yes, she is upset a man she loved was killed but more importantly, that man was killed by another man she loves and she was a catalyst... She is horrified by her own culpability and is projecting that self-hatred onto Rick.
It seems like every time a human kills another human on the show, their moral compass shifts to a really dark area. In Rick's case, is his 'Ricktatorship' detrimental to the group's survival? -DGWalking
A: That remains to be seen. I think Rick feels he has proven himself as a leader and has had to sacrifice more than anyone else to earn his place in this group, and he's also racked with guilt over his own murder of Shane. So I guarantee this emotional storm will not be a good thing for this group. We actually thought of an alternate ending [to Season 2] where they were on the road and attacked by zombies and fled toward the prison and found the prison that way. Given the extent of the mayhem already in the episode, we decided to end the Finale on a more character-based beat. We thought about the story we were telling, and decided that if Rick was the central protagonist of Season 2, it was really important to end on an internal change in that character
Now that Shane and Dale are dead, who will fill in the places as bad A-hole and the voice of reason? -Kivana-Rashad
A: That remains to be seen. The fact that they are no longer on the farm and they're on the road -- the entire landscape is inhabited by walkers and there's no safe place to go -- everybody's role needs to be redefined.
Does your vision for Season 3 more resemble the "trapped in a box" feel of Season 2 or the open movement of Season 1? - Grish
A; Moving ahead to Season 3 we're excited to be getting to the meat of Robert Kirkman's comic book. The world opens up, it's no longer claustrophobic, it's out on the road. I think what we've done until now has been very exciting and fun, but I feel it's been prolonged and I feel like just now we're getting to the heart of the matter.
The storyline with Randall was great, as it showed how afraid the group is to have ANY human interaction anymore. Is this an area to be explored perhaps in Season 3? -Grant Jacobs
A: Without a doubt. As I've said, we're going to open up the world in Season 3, introduce new characters from the comic books, introduce characters that aren't in the comic books, and really explore what happens when our little band has to hold their own against many, many other forces. So the horror is not the walkers but the many different groups.
Can you tell us anything that you have in store for us fans about The Governor's character for Season 3? -FolkDeath82
A: He is a bad-ass, just as in the comic book. He scares me.
Is there an end in sight to this show or do you foresee an indefinite run? --BklynChik
A: You know, ask me that after Season 7. Because I think we can go to 7 Seasons at least.
IS THERE HOPE?? -David Griffith
A: Yes, there's hope as long as we have characters that we care about and care about each other.
What is up with the helicopter? -Erica Lawler
A: Let's just say that it's not the last we've seen of it. There's a story behind that helicopter.
I wanna know who out of the group is your favorite character and why? --WalkingDeadFan247
A: That's a tough one. It's like asking me which was my favorite child. I like writing them all because they're all so different. I mean I know a lot of people don't like Lori, but I enjoy writing her, I write a lot for her. She can do stuff that Daryl can't do, and Daryl can do stuff that Rick can't do, so they're all great to write for.
With which character do you identify yourself the most? -lauriss86
A: Being a show runner, I certainly have an affinity for Rick. I sympathize with him having a lot of critics and a lot of people telling him what he should be doing. Everybody is second-guessing the poor guy and he's trying to do his best.
Can I say something to the fans?
Please do.
A: I'd just like to say on behalf of all the cast, crew, producers and writers at The Walking Dead -- just thank you. You know they have been incredible and so supportive and patient and really caring about what we do and it really does make this the best job in the world. To be able to tell a story that we're excited about and then to get this level of feedback from such passionate fans is really exciting. It's something that we really do appreciate and it is really meaningful to us, and I'd really like to thank the fans
