The Walking Dead Season 4 Teased By Series Creators
With only two months until the season four premiere of The Walking Dead, fans of the AMC TV series are anxiously awaiting its return. Season three only ended this past February, but it seems like a lifetime ago when we last saw our favorite zombie survivalists. With the Governor on the run and Rick’s group getting better and better at killing zombies, The Walking Dead’s new showrunner Scott Gimple and executive producer Robert Kirkman hint at a new threat that Rick’s group will come in contact with during the run of season four. Gimple and Kirkman further teased that this new threat has nothing to do with The Governor or herds of zombies.
In an interview with IGN.com during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, the AMC crew talked about what should genre fans expect from The Walking Dead season four. Rick’s group is still using the prison as a safe haven from zombies and the conflict with The Governor has yet to be resolved. Scott Gimple and Robert Kirkman explained:
As for the new threat, Gimple could only tease its nature. “It’s a force that you can’t just stab in the face, you can’t talk reason to.”
Kirkman elaborated a little, saying, “Possibly the most deadly threat that they’ve faced thus far. They’re still going to be dealing with the zombies, they’re still very much a threat. They’re still going to be dealing with humans, that’s still very much a threat. But there’s a new element thrown in, this new unseen force that is going to be extremely dangerous and possibly more dangerous than anything.”
While it’s unclear what Gimple and Kirkman are alluding to, the possibilities are endless. There is some speculation that Rick’s group could run into a group of cannibals during the course of the season. Cannibalism is a theme that is spread throughout The Walking Dead cannon, especially in the video game. The St. John Family in the video game is a family of cannibals that is a threat to the player outside of the zombies. There were also cannibals in the comic book that murdered people for food, namely Dale’s leg. It would be interesting to see if Gimple and Kirkman could get away with introducing cannibalism on a basic cable TV series.
The article continues to expand on the various characters throughout The Walking Dead. Tyreese (Chad Coleman) will play a bigger role in season four. He will ascend to a leadership role within the prison walls, much like he did in the comic book series. A new character named Bob Stookey (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) will be introduced in season four that will be a new source for conflict within the prison group. It’s curious to think if The Walking Dead writers will throw in a few references to HBO’s The Wire, considering both Chad Coleman and Lawrence Gilliard Jr. were series regulars on the critically acclaimed premiere cable TV series.
As for Daryl Dixon, actor Norman Reedus teased that Daryl will become a more mature character in season four. After the death of his big brother Merle, Daryl became his own man, while trying to keep the prison group safe from zombies and other outside threats. Hopefully Daryl and Carol will finally get together in season four too!
The Walking Dead will return with 16 new episodes this October on AMC.
