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| The Walking Dead; An 'AMC' horror series | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 31 2010, 09:22 AM (4,572 Views) | |
| shavemedusa | Mar 1 2012, 07:01 PM Post #61 |
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I put this as a spoiler just because I don't want to step on anyone's toes Spoiler: click to toggle
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| Kenny | Mar 6 2012, 05:00 PM Post #62 |
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Episode 12 summary. Full of spoilers. Spoiler: click to toggle
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| shavemedusa | Mar 6 2012, 05:50 PM Post #63 |
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Holy Shit sounds like the next couple of episode are going to be crazy |
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| Kenny | Mar 10 2012, 01:46 AM Post #64 |
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I just read a theory that... Spoiler: click to toggle As ridiculous as that sounds, I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. The car accident didn't really serve a purpose in episode 9 so maybe it was a setup for something to come. |
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| Kenny | Mar 12 2012, 12:49 AM Post #65 |
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The last ten minutes of tonight's episode were awesome. I was excited to see Rick kill Shane and it played out even better than I thought it would. I loved that final shot of Rick and Carl in the field with all the walkers coming towards them. Awesome cliffhanger! Promos for next week: |
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| Kenny | Mar 12 2012, 01:20 AM Post #66 |
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Walking Dead Boss Defends Shane's Death, Teases Shocking Finale This Just In: The Walking Dead is not fooling around anymore. One week after viewers watched in horror as Dale literally had his guts ripped out, AMC’s mega-hit went a step further in its penultimate Season 2 episode and whacked another, far more pivotal character: Shane! Sure, the warning signs were there — on screen and off. For starters, Shane had become increasingly unhinged as Season 2 wore on, making Sunday’s deadly confrontation with frenemy Rick all the more inevitable. Also, as fans of the Walking Dead comic know full well, the TV character actually survived longer than his literary counterpart. Oh, and as you may have heard, Shane’s portrayer, Jon Bernthal, recently landed a starring role in former Dead exec producer Frank Darabont’s TNT pilot L.A. Noir. Yet, the death of Shane — who, for all intents and purposes, was the show’s co-lead — nonetheless packed a punch, mostly because it sends a loud and clear message that absolutely no one (save for Rick) is safe. And if the episode itself didn’t adequately relay that, our post mortem with Robert Kirkman should. Read on as Dead‘s main creative force reveals why Shane had to die, how Bernthal reacted (read: he wasn’t pleased), whether Jenner’s secret message to Rick has already been revealed, and when the next major death will come (hint: very soon). TVLINE | How long did you know that you were going to kill Shane off this early on in the series? Before the first episode of Season 1 was shot. Frank always talked about how, if the first season had been 13 episodes, we would’ve went ahead and told the entire Shane story and killed him off at the end of the season, which was pretty much what we did in the comics. But because that was a six-episode season instead of a normal-sized season, we decided to hold it for Season 2. TVLINE | Did you ever consider not following the comics and letting him survive – if not through the entire run of the series then maybe just another season or two? The Rick-Shane dynamic was such a major part of the show. There was a lot of back-and-forth when we were mapping out the second season. I’ll admit even I — who killed him in the comic — was saying there were a lot of interesting things that could come out of keeping him in the show. We had a lot of fun [writing for the character] in the second season because there were a lot of things that changed from the comic. Having him exist on Hershel’s Farm brought out new stories and made us do some cool new things that were different from the comic. And I’m always for that kind of stuff because I like to keep things interesting. But at the end of the day, what we kept coming back to is that The Walking Dead is much more about Rick and his journey than it is about Shane and his journey. And keeping Shane around was, in a sense, stealing from Rick. It was time to let Rick emerge and see how Shane’s death affected him and how it informed his decisions. And I think that when people see the last episode of this season — and Season 3 — and where Rick goes because of this, they’ll see that this is all part of the larger plan. [His death] is definitely an important moment. And it really sucked to lose Jon Bernthal, but it’s going to make the show that much better and that much more deadly. Having lost Dale and Shane, now you really get the sense that any of these characters could go at any moment. And we’re definitely going to be continuing that in Season 3. This finally tells people, “This is what The Walking Dead is. This is what you can expect.” TVLINE | How far in advance did Jon know that this was going to be his final episode? He always knew he was going to die, but there was a question of exactly which episode it was going to be. That moved around quite a bit. It wasn’t until we were actually breaking the last half of Season 2 that we nailed it down to a specific episode. TVLINE | How did he react? Honestly, he was bummed. The actors have become a family, and they really love working together. They’re kind of isolated in Georgia where they shoot; they spend a lot of time together when they’re not filming. But every actor knows that on this show… I think Sarah Wayne Callies has been quoted as saying that she knows it’s not a matter of if she’s going to die but when; that’s what the show is. But it’s still very sad when actors have their last day on set. Jon was definitely upset. But he understood. He knew why we were doing it and what was going on. He was accepting of it. TVLINE | Was he satisfied creatively with Shane’s final arc? Absolutely. All of the actors are really great collaborators and have good ideas, and when Jon read the death scene he definitely had some questions and some suggestions. And he worked a lot with [the episode's writers] Glen Mazzara and Evan Reilly to try and beef it up. He had some little notes and they came to an understanding and really convinced Jon that this is what the scene needs to be. There was a lot of back-and-forth, and in the end Jon really loved the scene. TVLINE | What was your reaction when news leaked that Jon had been cast in L.A. Noir? It was an unfortunate mishap [that resulted from AMC] moving the last half of the season until February instead of just running it straight through. If we had aired it all in succession and ended in December it wouldn’t have been a problem. But by holding back the season, [the news] did kind of spoil things. It was a bummer that it spoiled the show to a certain extent, but I was happy for Jon. I think it’s exciting for him to be working for Frank again and I’m really looking forward to seeing that show. And it’s cool to know that Jon is constantly working. The tough thing for me is that when I kill a character in a comic book I am making the artist, Charlie Adlard, draw a different arrangement of lines from now on. Killing a character doesn’t really affect anybody but the readers. But when you kill a character on a TV show you are, in a sense, firing an actor. And the thing that upsets me about that is it’s always about the story; it’s never about the actor’s performance. And I’m a blue-collar guy, so if you fire somebody you need to have a reason. So it’s really upsetting to me every time we have to kill a character. So to know that Jon has another job makes me happy. Because I feel guilty about the whole firing thing. TVLINE | Shane turning into a zombie in the end pretty much confirms that everyone’s already infected. Can you confirm that that’s what Jenner whispered in Rick’s ear? [Hesitates] Well, I can’t confirm that. But what I can say is that Shane turning after being stabbed definitely does inform Rick revealing what Jenner whispered, in the next episode. TVLINE | So we’ll finally find out what he whispered in next week’s finale? Yes. TVLINE | Does Rick debate sharing this newfound intel with the others, or does the approaching zombie stampede delay that? Yeah, there’s sh-t ton of zombies on the way to the farm, so he’s not going to have a lot of time for that. TVLINE | This does raise the question about the dead bodies in the season-opening traffic jam — why hadn’t they all been turned? I think if you go back and watch that [sequence you'll see] we were very careful to have them be in cars that were in accidents, so the brain would’ve had trauma. Or they had some kind of wounds somewhere on their heads to show that their brains had been killed, like somebody came across and killed them. We knew that we were building to this throughout the entire season. TVLINE | I know you can’t name names, but have you quietly made any decisions to spare someone’s life on the show who died in the comics? Dale’s death in the comic book came way later than it did in the TV show. And Shane’s death in the comic book came way sooner than it did in the TV show. So that’s pretty much the model that we’re going to be following throughout the life of the series. Some characters will die before they reached the point that they reached in the comic book series, and some people will outlast their comic-book counterpart. And that’s going to be done to keep things interesting [and] because it’s not just me writing the television show. There are five or six other people that have good ideas that are contributing to the show, and it would be wrong to go, “That’s a good idea but that’s not how we did it in the comics.” There will definitely be differences. You can’t use the comic book to gauge when or how someone is going to die. TVLINE | Will there be another major death next week? I can say that the cast that enters the final episode this season does not leave the final episode intact. And there are a lot of surprises still yet to come. TVLINE | Will the finale end on a cliffhanger, as in mid-scene? Or will it be more similar to the Season 1 finale, which ended in a more resolute place? It’s not quite a true cliffhanger, but it’s much closer to a cliffhanger than what we had last season. TVLINE | And lastly, will T-Dog be allowed to speak again? [Laughs] T-Dog definitely has a lot of cool moments in the finale and a lot of lines. I apologize for that. It’s one of those things where certain characters have to recede into the background to give room to the other characters because we have such a large cast. But every character will get their moment to shine — T-Dog included. Source: TV Line |
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| Kenny | Mar 12 2012, 01:27 AM Post #67 |
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'Walking Dead' Dissection: Robert Kirkman Dishes on 'Monumental Event' The comic book creator/executive producer answers burning questions about Season 2's "Better Angels" episode and addresses the "key moment that people will always be talking about." "This is going to be a key moment that people will always be talking about over the life of The Walking Dead show," that's how comic book creator/executive producer Robert Kirkman describes Sunday's shocking episode of the AMC drama. To call it a game-changer for the zombie series would be to underestimate the last five minutes of the hour, in which -- despite plenty of fair warning that his character wasn't long for this world -- Jon Bernthal's uncontrollable Shane was killed. Twice. And as if Rick (Andrew Lincoln) stabbing his best friend to death -- marking the loss of the second major character in as many weeks and third overall this season -- wasn't enough, Carl (Chandler Riggs) killed him a second time after Shane had been turned into a zombie, delivering a dramatic shot to the head of his former father figure. With Rick and Carl as well as Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) learning a major clue into the possible origins of how zombie apocalypse began -- Is everyone infected? Is it a blood virus? Is it airborne? -- The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Kirkman to discuss the episode that turned the series on its head, how Shane's death connects with Jenner's whisper in the Season 1 finale and that incoming herd. The Hollywood Reporter: Congratulations on making the worst-kept secret still incredibly shocking. Robert Kirkman: Hopefully too many people weren't spoiled! If my Twitter feed was any indication after Dale died, none of those spoilers reached most people. So, I feel like there are still some surprises left for most people watching the show. THR: But it's Shane! When did you know that this is where his storyline was going? How was that decision made? Kirkman: We knew that he was going to die before we cast Jon Bernthal. If the first season had been 13 episodes instead of six, Shane's story would have been told all in that first season; it would have been much like the comic book where Shane dies at the end of the first volume. But because we had that short of a season, we ended up expanding it to really be able to tell that story to its fullest. We knew from Day 1 when we sat down in the writers' room to pull out the second season that this was going to be the season that Shane died. It was always about working toward that and building up that character and setting up this confrontation between Rick and Shane. THR: And what a confrontation that was: You killed Shane twice. Can you discuss the importance of having Rick stab him versus shoot him? Did he suspect what could possibly come next? Kirkman: The stabbing was something out of necessity. We wanted it to be a really close and brutal kill. We also wanted it to be just definitive. Rick knew he was going to have to kill this guy; it wasn't an accident and it wasn't some kind of last-minute thing. He knew that Shane was never going to stop. He took an opening and killed him; this is clearly a murder. It was a moment where he caught Shane off-guard. That was something that was very important to us. Leading up to the shooting with Carl, let's just say that Shane coming back as a zombie in this scene without having been bitten by a zombie after having just been stabbed by Rick is something that we connected through the Jenner whisper secret and is something that is going to be revealed in the next episode. THR: Was the stabbing Rick's way of disposing of Shane while also testing Jenner's theory that everyone is already infected? Kirkman: I don't think he had control of the situation to that point. But it may have ended up being a happy accident. We'll have to see. THR: Is Carl aware of he witnessed? Kirkman: Carl knows that he shot zombie Shane. All he knows is that he came into a clearing, saw Rick upset and saw zombie Shane come after his dad and killed him. If he hadn't felt responsible for Dale's death in the episode prior and hadn't been in a position where he could have killed a zombie to save someone and do it, he may not have had the strength to be able to gun down someone who was like a father to him in zombie form in order to protect his father. So, Dale's death really informed that scene a great deal. All Carl really knows right now is that he was a zombie. THR: How will Rick change now that he's finally killed Shane? What will seeing what Carl is capable of do to their relationship? Kirkman: This is what this world does to people. This is a guy who has now murdered his best friend and has the weight of the world on his shoulders in that Shane is no longer around and there is a large group of people back at the farm that depend on him. And as a father, to have to deal with the fact that this is the world that his son is now living in and already has blood on his hands is really going to grate on him. We're going to see some big changes in Rick starting in the very next episode and leading into the third season. He's going through quite a bit of a transformation and I think people are going to be surprised where we take him. THR: In terms of what Rick and perceivably Glenn and Daryl are going to do with the knowledge of what happens after you die, is this going to be something that we see them share with the rest of the group? I mean you've got this huge pack of hoarders closing in on them. Kirkman: It looked to me like a herd is headed for the farm. I don't believe that Rick will have time to tell them anything that he might have figured out. So, maybe they won't find out. THR: How does Shane's death change the whole group dynamic? Kirkman: That's something that we'll definitely deal with in the next episode back. It was upsetting to lose Jon Bernthal and not have him be a part of the show moving forward. It's a real tribute to him as an actor and to Shane's character in that his death is going to affect every single character in the show. Shane's death is going to cause shockwaves that will be felt in the show in Season 3 and beyond. Where that murder takes Rick and what it causes Rick to do moving forward -- the way it shapes his behavior -- is definitely something that is going to end up being a large part of the foundation of this series. So while it does suck to lose him, this is a monumental event. This is going to be a key moment that people will always be talking about over the life of The Walking Dead show. It's a big event. THR: What does Shane's death mean for Daryl, especially knowing that Merle is still out there? Kirkman: There's two different aspects of Shane's role: the adversarial aspect and the partner aspect. Whether Daryl starts to move more toward the partner side of things or the adversary side of things is something that we're just going to have to watch for. Rick is going to have to lean on Daryl a little bit more in order to keep his group running. Whether or not Daryl responds to that remains to be seen. THR: Let's get to the herd: Is this the same pack from freeway in the October premiere? Robert Kirkman: Our finale is going to have a very cool opening scene that will reveal what this herd is and where this herd came from and also kind of inform the audience a little bit on zombie behavior and how herds form and what they do. You'll get answers to all that kind of stuff in the very first minutes next week. THR: How will the herd's arrival and knowledge of what happens after death push everyone into Season 3? Kirkman: The show has always been more about survival than it is about finding answers. I think a long-term exploration of what the zombies are and how they work and what caused them, there's always going to be new information that they're going to be learning about the zombies. But on a bigger picture scale, finding out what the causes of everything is, that's boring. I don't think that that's anything that these characters even have time to deal with just because they are so focused on survival. They are going to be spending much more time trying to find food than they are trying to find answers. THR: How important was it to find a way to stay true to the comics in Shane's death? Kirkman: In the writers' room, we felt Rick was passive at times and wasn't handling things himself. So to end this season with Carl killing Shane for Rick would have been a misstep. It was very important to us in the development of Carl as a character to have him have a hand in it. That's how we came upon the idea of, in a sense, both of them killing Shane. What excites me about that scene is when Rick stabs Shane, even if you read the comic and you know that Shane is more than likely going to go in this scene, I always like that there's probably been about two or three other scenes in this series thus far where you're thinking, "Wait a minute, Shane could die right now, couldn't he?" That knife is still as much as a shock to comic readers as anyone who's watching the show for the first time having never read the comic. Staying true to the comic and adapting things as closely as we can when it fits and when it feels necessary is something that's very important to me. I talk a lot about the different changes in the show and how I like and I support them and how some are actually my suggestion. That does sometimes scare fans and they're like, "What are they doing, he's changing too much." But it is something of a balancing act. When we can stick a little closer to the comics it is something I'm very supportive of. I think this is a scene that kind of straddles the line in a cool way Source: The Hollywood Reporter |
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| Kenny | Mar 12 2012, 02:40 AM Post #68 |
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Season finale summary. Lots of spoilers. Spoiler: click to toggle
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| wiggleworm | Mar 12 2012, 10:18 PM Post #69 |
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Hidden cause of Spoiler Talk: Spoiler: click to toggle
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| shavemedusa | Mar 12 2012, 10:35 PM Post #70 |
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Omg this is crazy I can't wait |
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| Kevc1980 | Mar 13 2012, 01:22 AM Post #71 |
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Last night's show was amazing..I love when shows have the balls to kill of major characters and proving that no one is safe...Plus what a game changer...Is everyone infected and it just stays dormant until death? Is that what the guard in Atlanta whispered to Rick?
Edited by Kevc1980, Mar 13 2012, 10:25 AM.
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| Kenny | Mar 18 2012, 09:44 PM Post #72 |
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Wow! What a finale. The farm burning down, Jimmy and Patricia being eaten, Michonne saving Andrea, the prison reveal... all amazing stuff. I didn't want the episode to end. I can't believe the turnaround this show has made in just five or six episodes. It went from being a mind-numbing bore to one of the most entertaining shows on television. I can't wait for Season 3. |
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| Kenny | Mar 18 2012, 09:46 PM Post #73 |
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Walking Dead Postmortem: Which New Character Holds the Key to the Group's Future? [WARNING: The following story contains major spoilers from Sunday's The Walking Dead and the graphic novels which inspired it. Read at your own risk.] While Shane's death in The Walking Dead's penultimate Season 2 episode was the worst-kept TV secret of the year, the AMC drama made up for it with an awesome surprise in the finale: Fan-favorite comic book character Michonne finally made her debut. The episode saw the group chaotically driven away from the farm by hordes of zombies. Two characters met their demise — R.I.P Jimmy and Patricia! — but most of the survivors were able to reunite on the highway where the group rallied earlier this season when Sophia disappeared. That group didn't include Andrea (Laurie Holden), who fell behind and seemed poised to meet her end when a zombie attacked. Enter Michonne, the hooded figure trailed by two armless and jawless walkers, who quickly saved Andrea from certain death. Walking Dead boss on how the show's latest death changes everything Meanwhile, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) faced the scrutiny of the group after revealing that not only did he murder Shane (Jon Bernthal), but also that everyone is infected with whatever turns people into zombies. (And thus, he revealed the long-awaited answer to what Jenner (Noah Emmerich) whispered to Rick at the CDC). Plus: The group ended up camped out only a few miles away from the prison, another fan-favorite location in the comics. So what does this all mean? TVGuide.com turned to executive producer and comic creator Robert Kirkman to get the scoop on what's ahead: Rick finally took control of the group, but he now seems to be no better than Shane. Will that be the journey we'll now see him on? Robert Kirkman: Exactly. This whole season has been about Rick emerging as a leader and taking that role. He was very reluctant at first, and he had to prove himself worthy of that role over the course of the season. But now that we have Rick taking charge and saying, "These are going to be my rules [and] by the way, I've killed Shane, this is who I am. If you do not like this you are welcome to go." The fact that the characters don't leave and they stay there huddled by that fire with him is very important. I don't think that all of them are there because of loyalty. A good number of them are there because of fear. I don't think that's necessarily where Rick wanted things to end up, but that's certainly where we are leaving things. Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) backed away from Rick when he told her he killed Shane, yet she essentially dared Rick to take out Shane a few weeks back. Why the big turnaround? Kirkman: She was terrified of the situation that was coming up with Shane. She wanted it to be dealt with, [but] I don't think she knew where things were going. I don't think she knew that Shane was going to sink to the depths that he sunk to... [or] that she could have ever conceived of Rick handling the situation in the way that he did. So, this is a modern American woman learning that her husband is a murderer. That's very terrifying to her. And also [she] sees that her son has been thrown into the mix — that he witnessed this, and actually shot a zombie version of Shane. That's something that's going to be weighing on her for the foreseeable future. But Carl (Chandler Riggs) cried about killing Shane in that final scene. Perhaps he hasn't lost all his innocence? Kirkman: This is a kid that is going to be growing up in a world that none of us could ever imagine. So, he is definitely going to grow up fast and be capable of things that we wouldn't expect a child to be capable of. That is something that we are going to be exploring a lot in Season 3. We are going to continue to toe that line. Yes, he is capable of murdering someone who is a friend of his and a father figure if they are a walker. But he is also still capable of being upset by that. And learning that his father turned that guy into a walker is going to be upsetting to him. Michonne's appearance in the finale was the best-kept secret ever. Will she be similar or different from what we've seen in the comics? Kirkman: I can say that personality-wise, she's the Michonne you know and love from the comic. You can definitely see, just in that one scene, pretty much everything that makes her cool is intact. She is definitely on her own. She is definitely a capable fighter. We will be dealing with her personality and her back story and all that kind of stuff in Season 3, but ... this is going to be the character that people have been clamoring to see in the show. The finale hinted that the third season would take place at the prison. Kirkman: When we ended the first season, there were a lot of questions. In the off-season before we launched the second season, there was a lot of speculation as to what story we were going to follow. It was just a complete unknown as to what was coming next, and Season 2 doesn't end that way. We've seen the show, we know the Governor (David Morrissey) is on the horizon, we know the prison is there. We get a sense as to what is coming next and that's really exciting, especially if you've read the comic book series. What can you say about The Governor? Kirkman: The Governor in the show is definitely going to be The Governor in the comic. While I think that people are going to like the character, I don't think it will be because he is doing likable things. I don't think it will be because he appears heroic. I think that he's definitely going to be a character that people love to hate and are absolutely entertained by, but also somewhat terrified of. He's definitely going to be a very important character and a very nuanced character. We are not going to be watering him down. Now that the group knows that everyone is infected with whatever turns people into zombies, how will that change the dynamic of the show and their outlook on life? Kirkman: It makes things somewhat more bleak, somewhat more hopeless. I think that that's why Rick, even when he started to fear that Jenner's warning was actually true, he kept that information to himself until he had to reveal it. So, it's going to put everybody in somewhat of a dark place and that is definitely something that we will be exploring in the third season. Shane turned into a zombie very quickly. Can you comment on the speed with which people become walkers after death? Kirkman: It's not exactly scientific, but it varies. It varies on the age and health of the person when they're dead and it also varies on the suddenness [with which] they die. I think that Shane was stabbed in the heart, so I imagine he would bleed out very quickly. That's a fairly sudden death, which would bring about the change somewhat more quickly than if someone were just to die a less-violent death. It is variable. Amy (Emma Bell) is also a very good example of that. Her whole neck was ripped out. We are not exactly pinning down how long Rick was sitting in that field. Did you spend the whole season building toward Andrea having to survive on her own? Kirkman: That was her arc. It was taking Andrea from this person who wanted to die in the CDC to this person who refuses to die and is capable of surviving pretty much against all odds. It was really about making her an awesome character and somebody that people could really root for. Having her and Michonne together is going to be a really cool thing, and we're going to be exploring that quite a bit in Season 3. Was burning down the barn cathartic for you? Kirkman: It really upset me because Greg Melton, who is our production designer, oversaw the construction and the design of that barn. That barn looked absolutely amazing. It was built for the show. It wasn't there before, and it looked like it was about 100 years old. It kind of broke my heart that we ended up burning it down. There is a wide shot of the barn collapsing, and the way [director] Ernest Dickerson got that shot with the zombies lumbering at you is they were just shooting over and over and over. Every time the zombies would get closer, he'd go, "Back to your mark!" and the zombies would just run back to their marks. They just kept the film rolling. [He] kept filming the zombies coming to you and then running back... because we had no way of knowing when the barn was actually going to collapse. It was a fun process. Source: TV Guide |
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| Kenny | Mar 18 2012, 09:52 PM Post #74 |
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'The Walking Dead' Dissection: Glen Mazzara and Robert Kirkman Spill on the Bloody Finale AMC's The Walking Dead capped its record-breaking second season in epic fashion Sunday, with a bloody finale that pushed Rick and the group forward in a huge way. After stabbing Shane (Jon Bernthal) to death in last week's penultimate episode, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) learned that Jenner's (Noah Emmerich) whisper in the Season 1 finale at the CDC was, in fact, true -- everyone is infected and, without a fatal blow to the head, will come back to life after death as a zombie. His return to Hershel's (Scott Wilson) farm, however, is interrupted as a massive herd of zombies closed in and took a hefty toll on the survivors, with Otis' late wife, Patricia (Jane McNeil), and Beth's (Emily Kinney) boyfriend, Jimmy (James Allen McCune), among the casualties. After everyone split off, most of the group was quickly reassembled on the highway where the season began and they lost Sophia. Once the surviving members of the group were reunited, Rick was forced to explain Shane's death -- and in doing so, shared the details of Jenner's secret, instantly facing the wrath of everyone, including Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies). Meanwhile, Andrea (Laurie Holden) was forced to fend for herself and outrun the herd, nearly falling victim to the undead before a mysterious hooded woman with a sword came to her rescue just as it looked as if her time was up. So where does the group go from here? The Hollywood Reporter caught up with showrunner Glen Mazzara and executive producer/comic book creator Robert Kirkman -- who both penned the installment -- to discuss the heart-racing episode, why comic book fans are probably jumping for joy at the sight of the hooded woman (Michonne!) and which character nearly joined the body count. Plus, how are they approaching the 16-episode third season, which promises to be their biggest season to date. THR: The farm attack is epic. Everything happened so quickly, including Jimmy and Patricia's death. We totally thought Hershel was a goner. Glen Mazzara: That's something we've been building to. If Lori needed a road map to town when she crashed the car, how do you think zombies are doing on those back roads? They're just wandering around in the woods. They're idiots. And let me say, that was an interesting flashback that we did. That was a flashback to the fall of Atlanta and the herd forming. Robert Kirkman: We've gotten to a point where viewers are surprised when we don't kill someone; anybody can go at any moment. We finally built that kind of anticipation to the same level that it is in the comic book, which is really exciting to me. THR: Were there discussions about increasing the body count in the finale? Kirkman: There was a script that was released where Randall escaped and killed Herschel and he died in the same episode with Randall and Shane. Herschel proved that there was a lot of story left to be told with him, which we'll see in Season 3. So, he's around for a while. Mazzara: The plan was always to whack Hershel, and I actually told Scott Wilson, "Thanks for everything you've done, but in the next script we're going to kill off your character." We started writing that and it felt like Hershel's death was playing as a plot device and we were getting no emotional resonance. It was just playing as a gratuitous death. This was one of those examples where we won't play a shocking death for the sense of death; we have to get something out of it. We got nothing out of it. If you look at the shot of Hershel looking back and seeing that barn burning and his farm completely lost to the zombies, that shot was well worth it because we see the farm was really a character and you can only see that through Hershel's eyes. So it was the right call to keep him alive. THR: How will the loss of Patricia and Jimmy impact him? Mazzara: He's already changed more than anyone. Now he's a badass with a shotgun and it's like Scott Wilson is suddenly an action hero. Moving forward, he understands what it's like to live in this world and he's willing to just lock himself in a car and just wait for them to show up. He's already lost everything and he's interested in moving on. In a sense he's also a voice of reason and moving forward both he and Daryl (Norman Reedus) could be different types of consigliere through Rick. THR: Why does Rick confess about the Jenner whisper when everyone's asking about Shane? Mazzara: People are asking questions about Randall and they start asking questions about what happened with Shane. Rick wants to confess about Shane, but he can't, so he throws out the easier confession about Jenner's secret. He steps to the side and Lori confronts him about that Jenner's secret and he really opens his heart to her and confesses Shane's death. She doesn’t have the reaction that he wants, so they step back to the group and when he confesses his role in Shane's death, his murder of Shane to the group, he's already sanitizing and rationalizing his confession. So there are three confessions: Jenner's secret, his honest confession to Lori and this disingenuous confession to the group. Kirkman: I don't think he had confirmation that Jenner's whisper was actually true until the moment that he saw Shane come back to life. What do you do with that information? I think he's smart enough to realize that knowing that could actually make things more dangerous. That's him exhibiting good leadership skills. THR: How will the group handle news that they're all infected -- and that Rick knew since the CDC? Mazzara: People immediately question what kind of leader is Rick. Is he worthy? Has he morally advocated his role to lead them? He presents them with a very pragmatic option: If you don't like it, get the hell out and there are no takers. At the end of the finale, the true horror is Rick when he says, "It ain't a democracy anymore." That's the true horror. Kirkman: That's a really important beat to end the season on. The important thing to note is that no one leaves. So no matter what they think about what Rick did with Shane and how they feel about this revelation, they're sticking by him. They may be sticking by him through loyalty or through fear. That's something that we'll be exploring in the third season. THR: What's Lori most upset about, that her husband is a murderer, that he killed someone Lori loved, Carl's hand in Shane's death or that he finally revealed that everyone's infected and he's been keeping it a secret? Mazzara: All of that is going through Lori's mind. Rick murdered Shane and she did confess she had feelings for Shane. Her son was a part of it. They're all infected. Is her baby infected? We're out on the road, where is she going to give birth? What happens if the baby dies? What happens if she dies? All of these questions are going through her head. The thing that affects her most is that she played a role in Shane's death. She put those two men at odds, she whispered in Rick's ear and then she talked to Shane at the windmill. She realizes that this has been over her, and in a sense she has been an active participant in Shane's death. So she can blame Rick for that, but she's horrified by her own culpability. Kirkman:Rick is doing all of this to protect Lori and Carl and at the end of this season, it looks pretty clear that he has lost them by doing this. Lori doesn't want anything to do with him. Carl is very upset when he finds out that Shane was murdered. Rick is not going to be in a good place moving forward. THR: Carol (Melissa McBride) turns to Daryl and suggests they leave the group. Robert Kirkman: She's so terrified that she still stays. Everybody's going to be voicing their discontent. Learning that everyone carries this virus or whatever it is inside of them and people coming back to life is unavoidable. It's terrifying and you can't really do anything with that information other than go eeew. We'll be dealing with a lot of that stuff in Season 3. THR: Will determining the cause of the outbreak be something that the group, now that they know they're all infected, spends time on? Mazzara: Robert has not been interested in addressing in the comic book, and I'm not interested in addressing in the show. That being said, if it leads to new story -- if there's something that's important that we get out of it -- I'll be the first one to write it. But right now the cause of the zombie outbreak seems irrelevant. I always want the show to play like a horror movie every week. If you define what caused the outbreak, that puts us in a world of science fiction, and this isn't science fiction to me, it's horror. In my mind that's two different genres, so that is an important distinction to me. THR: Did you consider keeping everyone split up as the cliffhanger? Mazzara: That's something we certainly considered, but we didn't want to have too many storylines moving into Season 3. There were a couple of days where we were thinking of splitting off Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) so we had three different storylines. That didn't feel right. Kirkman: This whole season was about Rick stepping up and accepting, owning and proving that he's worthy of his leadership role. At the end of the day, you can't really be a leader if you don't have a group to lead. It's very important to get them, to certain extent, back together by the end of the finale, especially when you see what we're doing with these characters in Season 3, which you get a pretty good glimpse of at the end of the episode. THR: Why was it important to bring the sword-wielding Michonne in now? We were totally expecting to see The Governor considering his recent casting. Kirkman: We're transitioning into a new world. This has very much been a show about what's going on in this world, how do we survive; everyone is scared. We're going to be moving into a different world where everyone knows how to survive and they're faced with more adversaries, danger and different kinds of threats. That's very much what Season 3 is going to be about. Introducing Michonne the way we did is a big part of that. This is the first time we've seen someone who's out in the wilderness, on their own. She certainly seemed capable. She saves Andrea and she's carrying a sword. This is a very strange visual for fans of the show. Fans of the comic book know all about her and I'm sure are very excited to see her. I like to think about how the audience that just watches the show takes that. I think that that is such a bizarre and jarring image. It really speaks volumes as to what you're going to be seeing in Season 3. THR: Andrea almost joined the body count but Michonne appeared from out of nowhere to save her. How will her arrival impact Andrea? Will there be a time jump? Mazzara: I don't want to answer that. We're working through the material but part of the goal of splitting Andrea off is to examine that character. Andrea's always been defined in light of other characters: Shane, Dale, Lori. Kirkman: That'll definitely be something that we'll be talking about over the course of the summer as we start promoting our third season. THR: Have you cast Michonne? Mazzara: We're in that process now. Kirkman: We're keeping secret on that for now. THR: Her arrival mirrors what's in the comics -- showing up with two chained walkers and a sword. How closely will her story following the comics? Kirkman: I don't want to spoil anything, but if people do want to run out there to grab those comics to look at them, they will get some glimpse of what's coming up in Season 3. THR: In the comics, Michonne arrives just before the group finds the prison -- which is when Rick also meets Tyreese. Could we expect to see him next season? Mazzara: Tyreese could possibly be next. There are some other surprises that could also be next. We have this treasure trove of material to work from. We've told our farm story. We've told our Rick, Lori, Shane story to an extent. Now it's time to put our characters out on the road and into the world. We know they're at the gates of that prison. We know Michonne is in the world. Obviously people know from casting it that The Governor is out there. The prison does equal the governor's story. I think we're getting to the meat of Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead universe. THR: How much does the comic influence what you're looking for in an actress to play Michonne and what you'll be writing to? Mazzara: This is really a character that we will make our own. This will be our version of what's in the comic. We know that she's a loner, we know she kicks ass. But we have some other traits about that her that are not in the comic book that we'll deviate. There's an interesting process as we start to write this character and bring her to life. We see this character as a significant character, not just as someone who's in the mix. This is a major addition to the show. THR: Are you looking for a name? Mazzara: I don't want to say who's in the running, but we are really looking for someone who inhabits the traits of the character. We don't feel like we need to bring in a name for this. We really feel like we want an actress who's going to be identified with the character and bring the character to life. THR: Robert just told Michonne's back story in a six-page special. Any plans to incorporate that? Mazzara: We have an idea of Michonne's back story and that is something that we will address in a surprising way. I know people are going to ask, are we going to go back and do flashbacks of where Michonne was when the outbreak broke out. Probably not. THR: The season brought them back to where it began, near the highway where they left Sophia, with a final glimpse of the prison in the background. Was that intentional? Kirkman: To a certain extent. They were a lot more optimistic in the first episode than they were in the last. The characters have definitely gone on a long journey. Moving forward, the way we pan up and reveal that the prison is just on the horizon, we are saying there's definitely new things on the horizon and different things that they're going to be encountering. So we're not necessarily leaving them in the exact same place. THR: Last year there was a lot of behind the scenes turmoil with Frank Darabont's departure, with Glen's addition coming during in the middle of the process. How are you approaching not just your first full season, but also your biggest, with 16 episodes? Mazzara: The show is a bear to produce, but we have a great team that now has figured it out. What we've done in these past seven episodes is make each a thrill ride. I guarantee there is no filler in Season 3; there's no stretching it out. Every episode is going to land a punch. Every episode is going to continue to be just as packed, just as dense as these last few episodes. We've hit our stride and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm not nervous about it at all. Kirkman: We've pretty much completed the bulk of the first half of the season. So, the first eight episodes are pretty much locked. We're moving forward full steam ahead to try and make sure that Season 3 is as explosive and just as dramatic and awesome and compelling as the last half of this season has been. I think we've got some really cool things in store. Source: The Hollywood Reporter |
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| Kenny | Mar 18 2012, 09:55 PM Post #75 |
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Walking Dead Boss Dissects Killer Finale, Talks Michonne's Arrival, 'Spoils' Season 3 The Walking Dead closed out its second season Sunday night with a pair of deaths (R.I.P. Patricia and Jimmy), a game-changing revelation (Jenner did whisper to Rick that everyone is infected), one major character introduction (Michonne!) and a confirmation of Season 3′s setting (prison!). Oh, and Rick finally started channeling his inner badass! Below, executive producer Robert Kirkman deconstructs the spectacular episode’s most memorable moments and teases a Season 3 he promises will blow Season 2 “out of the water!” TVLINE | So, Patricia and Jimmy got the hook. Was it just that they were the most expendable at this point? We never treat a character as expendable, nor do we treat a character’s death as being something that is of varying importance. This was very much about these characters who had lived on this farm pretty much all of their lives. Hershel was very connected to the farm, and losing the farm and losing these people at the same time is going to mean a lot for him — as well as Maggie and Beth — in Season 3. It’s unfortunate to lose Jimmy and Patricia, but every character death is going to have ramifications for all of the other characters that continue on and each one of them is important in their own right. TVLINE | Which surviving character made it off the farm by the skin of their teeth. In other words, did you come close to killing anyone else only to change your mind at the 11th hour? This is going to sound coy, and I apologize for that, but almost all of them. One of the things that’s always been important to me with the Walking Dead comic book series is that you always be willing to get rid of every character at any moment if it serves the story. I’ve always tried not to grow any kind of attachment to any character. And also, there have been times where I’ve had big arcs plotted out for [someone] but at the moment it seemed like the right thing to do to completely get rid of the character. And now that we’re getting further and further into the show, and we’re able to tell the stories [with] high stakes, pretty much everything is on the table when we sit there in the writers room. There’s some pretty terrifying, crazy things discussed. And every character, at some point, we’ve talked about, “Now? Later? When are we going to do this?” It’s a dangerous show. TVLINE | Some fans were grumbling about how there were long stretches this season without any major Walker sequences. Were you just saving your zombie budget for the finale? It really comes down to storytelling. If you listen to music at maximum volume at all times, it eventually becomes quiet to you; you get used to it. We do stories where there aren’t a lot of zombies so that when there are a lot of zombies it’s that much more jarring and terrifying. If we had five zombies in every episode that did five cool things, it would eventually become white noise. So we have to bring it out, show it to you, get you terrified and then pull it away and watch the characters react to what they’ve just gone through… Lull the audience into a false sense of security. There’s obviously a budget — I mean, it’s TV. But the season is structured in a way that we know what’s coming and we know when to show our cards and when to hold our cards. It’s all part of an overall plan. TVLINE | Let’s talk about Rick. As I was watching his big speech to the group I couldn’t decide if this was a man in the throes of a psychotic break or someone who was finally, for lack of a better turn of phrase, growing a pair. Which one was it for you? I like to think at [all] times it could be 50/50. This world definitely takes a toll on you. Rick just murdered his best friend, his wife appears to be disgusted with him and, instead of going, “I’m really upset; let me figure out how I deal with it,” he turns around and he’s got nine people going, “We’re scared — what do we do?” He’s forced into this leadership role and, at the end of the episode, we see that he is taking this on and it is affecting him. And he’s growing darker. And he is saying, “Hey, you want me to be the leader? That’s fine. I’m going to be the leader. You don’t like it? Fend for yourself. Let’s see how you do.” He’s growing harsher in this world. And the series is always going to be about whether or not he can retain his humanity, or whether or not he is going to become some kind of hardened monster that really exists only to provide survival for him and his family. TVLINE | Lori’s disgust over Rick killing Shane confused me a little. Didn’t she just a few episodes ago all but order Rick to whack him? A lot of that anger [she's expressing] could be directed at herself. I think she feels partially responsible for sending these two men on a path. That’s the moment where she found out that Shane was dead. And not only did she find out that Shane was dead, but her husband totally killed the guy! This was a family friend. This was a guy that used to come over on weekends and watch football in the house and things like that. It was a really emotional moment that is going to drive her a little batty. Having to handle those emotions and looking at the guy that kind of caused the situation, she’s not going to be considering, “Oh, yeah. I did this. I should calm down.” She has these emotions and she doesn’t know what to do with them. TVLINE | What does having Andrea cut off from the group do for your from a storytelling standpoint moving into next season — and we’ll get to her run-in with Michonne in a second. Andrea had a really interesting arc in the second season. We start off with her somewhat suicidal and upset that Dale wouldn’t allow her to remain in the CDC and die. And over the course of the season, we’ve shown her find a purpose for living, and also find the means to survive at all costs. And at the end of the season, we really put her to the test. She is out on her own. She is for all intents and purposes in the most danger out of anyone in the group by the end of the episode. And we’re going to be exploring that a little bit more in the third season. But really just putting her in the pressure-cooker situation and seeing how she fares and how she’s going to do and how she’s going to survive is going to be interesting thing to follow in the third season. We have some really cool stuff planned for Andrea. TVLINE | The introduction of Michonne was an incredible moment, but I’m curious: Why did you decide not to show her face? Was that just an issue of the role not having been cast yet? We thought that it would be a little bit more mysterious. And, also, in the interest of keeping these things secret, the casting would’ve been announced right away. And because it is such a short scene, we didn’t cast an actress; we used a stand-in. And as far as her relationship with Andrea goes, she cut the head off of a zombie. She could easily stab Andrea next in the first minutes of Season 3, so who knows what that relationship will be like? TVLINE | Have you cast the role? There will be announcements forthcoming… TVLINE | I’ll take that as a yes. [Laughs] TVLINE | How will the TV version of Michonne be similar/different from her comic book counterpart? She will be very similar to her comic-book counterpart. Most of the characters as they’ve been translated into TV are pretty much exactly the same character. Andrea is Andrea, Rick is Rick and Michonne is going to be Michonne. Now, the stories that we’re going to tell with her are going to be somewhat different at times. The show has always followed the comic book to a large extent, it just has different divergences from time-to-time and we’re definitely going to continue that in the third season. But the fans have expectations for Michonne, and I can say with full knowledge that their expectations are going to be met. They need not worry. TVLINE | Did you always know the season would end with her introduction? Did you ever consider, perhaps, teasing the Governor’s arrival instead? There was a lot of stuff thrown around. It wasn’t really planned early on to have Michonne show up at the end of the season. I have to give credit to [executive producer] Glen Mazzara. He came into the writers room one day and was like, “We’ve got to add this scene. It’ll have so much punch. We have to build to this. It’ll be great. Let’s go ahead and introduce her now.” The original plan was to hold her for Season 3 and introduce her then. TVLINE | The episode ended with the confirmation that Season 3 would be set in the prison. Not a big surprise but a cool reveal nonetheless. What I really like about the transition from Season 2 to Season 3 as opposed to Season 1 to Season 2 transition is that when we were moving into Season 2 there were so many unknowns. All of the questions were, “Are we going to see the farm? Are they going to follow the comic?” And now that we’re moving into Season 3, we’ve seen Michonne. We’ve seen the prison. We know that that the Governor has been cast. So the fans really have a clear indication of what kind of things to expect in the third season and where we’re going and some of the stories that we may be telling if they’re familiar with the comic book series. Our third season is definitely going to be our best season yet. I’m really excited to get into it. It’s actually hard for me to do interviews about Season 2 because I’m like, “Oh my God, Season 3 blows this stuff out of the water. You just wait.” We’ve been working on Season 3 for a few months now. We’re wrapping up the first half and we’ve got everything nailed down. I can’t wait for people to see it. TVLINE | Any other major characters aside from The Governor and Michonne that will be introduced in Season 3? There are still some surprises around the corner. We wouldn’t be revealing so much in our final episode of Season 2 if we didn’t have so much more to reveal in the marketing [campaign] for Season 2 and also in the episodes when the season begins. There are a lot of surprises around the corner. TVLINE | Will Season 3′s 16 episodes be broke up into two parts? I don’t know if this is 100 percent confirmed, but the idea is we will do eight-and-eight. Getting eight-and-eight will almost be like doing two seasons a year, which is cool. Source: TV Line |
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| Mateo | Mar 19 2012, 12:07 AM Post #76 |
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Punk Cabaret is Freedom
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Agreed. I went from loving it last season, even though it kind of puttered in the last two episodes, to being bored beyond belief last fall, to falling in love with it all over again. Loved, loved, loved the finale. I hope they keep this momentum up for season 3. Seems like there is lots of good stuff to come. |
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| Kevc1980 | Mar 19 2012, 01:19 AM Post #77 |
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I feel the same way. Really enjoyed season 1, but was so bored with the search for Sophia in the first part of season 1. Now with season 2 over, Walking Dead has moved to the top of my list of favorite shows. I was literally on the edge of my seat during this finale. It was absolutely phenomenal. Was anyone else freaking out for Andrea? I honestly, was crossing my fingers they wouldn't kill her off..She has quickly become my favorite character. Also, I love that we got a few cliffhangers. Season 3 can't come soon enough..At least I've got Mad Men to pre-occupy me. |
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| Daytime | Mar 19 2012, 10:34 AM Post #78 |
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Posted Image |
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| shavemedusa | Apr 3 2012, 01:57 PM Post #79 |
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I have loved this show from the beginning and it has not disappointed me ever. I for one didn't mind the first half of last season. Its important to build up the characters so that you can really get invested in them. That way when they die it becomes a real holy Shit moment |
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