We are now less than two weeks away from the season 5 premiere ofThe Walking Dead.
Because last season ended on a cliffhanger, details have been scarce.
Also, could there be cursing this season?
Credit: Gene Page/AMC
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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What are the big themes youre going to be delving into in season 5?
Are they too far to be people anymore?
Have they been through too much, seen too much, suffered too much?
Could they go back to being real people?
And potentially anyone occupying this world is no longer what was constituted being a normal person before the apocalypse.
Now, this season is: Okay, they cant go back.
Who do they become?
This season will define these characters.
You know, last year it was is Rick the farmer or the gunslinger?
Now, its like, okay, hes definitely not the farmer, hes the gunslinger.
But what does that mean?
Who is he going to be?
What is his identity going to be at the end of the day if he cant go back?
Its going to be an interesting journey for all of these characters.
A lot of them had much better journeys to Terminus than others.
Some of them actually came out ahead, some of them had incredible losses.
This season, they all kind of wind up in the same place.
Physically, thats beginning, and emotionally, I think thats going to catch up with each other.
Lets talk about the people about Terminus, the speculation from the comics.
You said at one point If I didnt read the comics, would I jump to cannibalism?
Thats a totally fair point to make.
Thats the chatter, mister.
I would have been part of the problem, that chatter.
What do I say to that?
Its totally fair to go there.
I probably wouldve gone there myself.
It can be inspired by the comics, it can be totally different from the comics.
Terminus simply wasnt in the comics, and its its own thing.
Things you are seeing happening, some of those things are happening currently.
And we did a little of that, I suppose, last year.
A little bit with the Governor stuff.
That was much more full flashback kind of stuff than Im talking about.
Everybody forgot that they knew each other!
But I will say that time is scrambled up a little bit in the season.
A lot of these people stuck in this train car are meeting for the first time.
How are they going to mesh all together?
Is there going to be infighting?
In the comic, Abraham and Rick did not like each other at all when they first met.
And on top of that, a big aspect to it is theres Tara.
Rick and Tara have met before the train car, but they were on opposite sides of the fence.
And Tara was standing in close proximity to the Governor.
Thats a big deal.
Theres the whole Eugene in it all.
Its not necessarily very happy.
Its not going to be one thing as the back eight was last year.
Obviously, we see it in the group.
But its going to be a little bit of a mix between 4A and 4B, very much so.
Yeah, it really does initiate the gamut.
But theyre still very present.
I think its fun to do both.
But you do get to stay places for a bit.
NEXT: More romance in season 5…and cursing?
Speaking about other storylines, what can you tell me about Beth?
I can say Beth is alive, for sure, I can say that.
Im really happy when people ask me where Beth is.
I go, There she is.
Shes is in a place, in a situation, that looks fairly intense to me.
She does seem very much apart from our characters.
Seems to be on her own path.
And she takes quite a hit at the end, it seems.
Is she there against her will?
Im just gonna shift into viewer mode.
If shes there voluntarily, it does not look like its fun.
It doesnt look like shes having a good time.
But in this world, were doing alright.
People in that world dont have a lot of choice.
Talk about the man hes become now.
Rick is completely integrated now.
And hell need that.
And I think Rick is sort of at the height of that.
Thats kind of the mission statement there.
Hes not yelling it.
He says it very coolly, very certainly, and thats who he is now.
He doesnt blink to protect people who he loves.
He does not blink and he can get pretty scary pretty quick.
Anything on the relationship front?
Its basically been Glenn and Maggie.
In the comics, Rosie and Abraham are a thing and we saw a hint of that last season.
You will be seeing more of that this season.
That is absolutely an element this season.
They will be like, Whoa, okay,thatis happening.
We know youre introducing Father Gabriel Stokes from the comic and that hell be played by Seth Gilliam.
Any other newbies well be seeing?
People both from and not from the comic books?
Some people from, a bunch of people not from.
And yeah, theyre gonna be super significant.
Oh, and there might be a bleeped-out swear word.
I mean, it depends.
Im still working on it.
You shot it both ways with and without the swear?
or you havent shot that yet?
We shot it both ways.
So there is that possibility.
Actually not bleeped, but the way we do it on AMC.
Just dropping the audio?
Yes, thats how we do it.
So we might see that.
And I will say, on the walker front, there are some unbelievable walkers this season.
Yeah, it looks like monster makeup guru Greg Nicotero is on his game.
Yeah, and theyve just gotten more and more insane.
Hes doing great work.
Great, disgusting, horrible work.
For more Walking Dead intel, follow Dalton on Twitter@DaltonRoss.
