Yesterday Glen Mazzara, writer and producer on the widely popular AMC television series, The Walking Dead took some time out for reporters. In the hour long interview he
talked about the Governor, Michonne and what to expect in seasons 3 and 4. Mazzara also hinted about the return of a character we haven’t seen since first season…
Read the transcript below of that interview and get the inside scoop at what is in store for the characters on one of the hottest shows on television.
Glen Mazzara: Hi. Good morning, everyone. I want to welcome you and thank you for your time and your interest and hope you enjoyed the finale and I’m excited to answer your questions, so let’s get started right away. Thank you.
Reporter: Well, hey there, Glen. How are you today?
Glen Mazzara: Good. How are you?
Reporter: I just chimed in and missed your opening statement, so I apologize. Hey, I work for Culture Mod and we have quite a following for the Walking Dead. People are all chiming in on Facebook and Twitter asking me if you could give us some hints about the Season 2 finale. Correct me if I say the name wrong. Is it Michonne or Michonne?
Glen Mazzara: Michonne, Michonne.
Reporter: Okay. What can we expect from that character in Season 3?
Glen Mazzara: Michonne is one of the lead characters in the graphic novel, so we’re excited to finally introduce her. She is a loner. She’s a kick ass character. She’s very dynamic and we really see her as a very, very important addition to the cast. She’s a significant character and she’ll be carrying a lot of story, so we’re excited about her.
We’re also excited about (Danai Gurira) who is the young actress who is going to play this role, so we’re lucky to have her and look forward to seeing what she does with it.
Reporter: Are there plans to get T-Dog having some momentum in the story for Season 3? Lots of people are wondering. They feel like he’s been left out for Season 2.
Glen Mazzara: You know what? The T-Dog question, I’m glad you’re asking that. I’ve been surprised at this because I’ve worked on shows before that have had characters in the background and have been on a slow burn.
If you look at the (Dave Channelle)’s character, (Ronny) and the Shield, that was a character that we brought along throughout that series and he had a very significant role at the end.
With T-Dog, I’ll admit, T-Dog has been off to the side and has been forgotten. And part of my goal as show runner was to really address developing Rick’s character and some other stuff.
So poor T-Dog was left by the side. That’s something that now that he has survived the finale we’re going to correct. I think (Irony Singleton) has done a fantastic job of establishing a character and making people interested in him with just very, very little to say.
So, you know, that’s a strength of the show. I think moving forward hopefully we’ll make it a strength and that’s a character we’re looking to develop in a significant way. So that’s a fair question and, you know, we haven’t done our work yet with T-Dog but we’re going to roll up our sleeves and get to it.
Reporter: A last little question, are you going to make Lori’s character less irritating? That’s coming from a lot of people from the Dead (unintelligible) on Facebook. They all think she is just irritating with all the things she stirs up.
Glen Mazzara: I think Lori is a compelling, interesting character. I think she is realistic in a lot of ways and she’s certainly a character that people are talking about. So I don’t find her irritating.
I think it’s interesting that people are so focused on her and, you know, I think the work ahead of that is to see where the — in Season 3, you know, we really have to look at the Rick, Lori relationship and what it means that, you know, she put Rick and Shane in motion to try to kill each other. So that’s an interesting place for — to start and we’ll certainly examine that character.
But, you know, I don’t know if we really need to start creating false speeds to make her more likeable. I don’t — that’s not part of the plan.
Reporter: Thanks very much. I love the show and I’m a big fan besides covering it. Thank you.
Glen Mazzara: Thank you.
Reporter: HI, guys. Thank you so much for taking the time and congrats on a great finale.
Glen Mazzara: Oh, thank you. Thank you, Kevin.
Reporter: I have a two-part quick question. First off, there’s been a lot to chew on over the last couple weeks with the announcement of (David Morrissey) of the governor and the fact that we will be going to the prison and seeing Michonne and everything.
Do you see the prison (ark) as something being wrapped up within the entirety of the 16 episode Season 3 or could that go on beyond?
Glen Mazzara: That’s a great question. Right now I do see that prison as a significant storyline for Seasons 3 and Season 4. I do think that’s a major story line. You know, and I know we were on the farm for longer than perhaps people wanted. There were reasons for that.
I think what we want to do is make sure that that prison does not become claustrophobic. I think the farm played a little claustrophobic for people. The farm — now that the entire landscape has fallen to the zombie apocalypse and zombies are literally at the gate of the prison — if you see the graphic novel, that prison is really, you know, a very, very small, safe corner and there’s a lot of danger around. So it won’t feel like we are bottled up in the same way that we were in — on the farm in Season 3 let’s say.
So I do think that prison is a significant storyline. But we’re interested also in opening up the world. You know, the governor has a world of (Woodbury). There are other factors out there in the world, other groups. So I think that Rick’s group is really stumbling into a much larger world.
Reporter: Right, now, I mean, as early back as Season 2, Season 1, obviously everybody was wondering when are we going to get to Michonne when are we going to get to the governor and the prison?
And the walking dead on AMC is obviously its own animal. So now that we know that those are coming next season, I was wondering if in the back of your mind you had any additional comments, characters or storylines you’d like to tackle at some point?
Glen Mazzara: Oh, well, certainly. I mean, there’s a lot of great material from the comic book and we see, you know, this show would have to go on 20 years to get to all of it. I think the (Tyrese) character is someone that we’re interested in introducing at some point.
You know, we still have Morgan and Duane are out there from the pilot. We’re interested in them. So there’s — and there’s new characters that will be original to the series not coming straight form the comic book. So we are really, you know, I think I said yesterday to someone that I think Season 1 and 2 have been prologue and now it feels like we’re hitting the ground running.
And I sort of see Season 3 as resetting the show in terms of what I really hope it can be.
Reporter: Well, great. Thank you very much. I love the finale and I love the show.
Glen Mazzara: Well, great, thank you, thank you.
Reporter: Glen, thank you very much for taking time out to speak with us today. A terrific finale, thank you very much. A couple quick questions, are there any places the writers won’t go when writing against a sourced material because there was some darker places in the books and I wonder how far you guys are willing to go?
Glen Mazzara: Well, I know what you’re referring to and, you know, we have to put our own spin. This is a question that I think — I would say this, there’s no place we won’t go. Everything is on the table. This is a cutting edge cable drama. I’m comfortable with that material and we answered a lot of these questions on say the Shield and when I worked there, so I’m comfortable dealing with very, very edgy material.
That being said, you want to make sure that things are not gratuitous, that things are not offensive for the sake of being offensive. I don’t ever want the show to get too bleak. I think we’ve done a good job of creating characters that people care about. I think there’s a heart to the show.
So we will, you know, tackle issues in our own way but right now everything is on the table and I think if you take a look at those last few episodes we’ve been making some pretty bold choices and that’s where the show lives and that’s where we will feel we get the most entertainment value out of the story we’re telling.
Reporter: Super. (Unintelligible) those last few episodes. On the talking bit after the finale, Robert Kirkman assured everyone the pace set in those final three episodes would be carried through to all of Season 3.
It kind of sounded — and I’m just winging it here — it kind of sounded a bit like that may have been a little bit of a shot at Frank Darabont, that those were the episodes that…
Glen Mazzara: No, no, no, no, no. That is not a shot at Frank Darabont. You know, we respect everything that Frank has done. We would not be here if it wasn’t for Frank Darabont. We owe a great debt. I think his contribution to the show has been incalculable.
Reporter: Oh, absolutely.
Glen Mazzara: Yes, so…
((Crosstalk))
Glen Mazzara: No, but I think what, you know, there is a difference between the story that Frank — and Frank also wondered if we had pacing issues in the first half of the season, if there was enough story to carry us on the farm for an entire season. That was a question that we wrestled with s writers at the beginning of that season.
That being said, you know, it’s my intention that the show picked up the pace, you know. And I would say yes. You look at those last three episodes but I’m also very proud of the episodes that came before that. I’m proud of the pacing and the mid-season finale. I’m proud of the pacing and trigger finger in Nebraska.
You know, I thought that Nebraska, which did not have a lot of zombie action, had a very, very compelling last scene with Michael Raymond James. So, you know, we will continue to have fast-paced episodes. We will continue to have slower-paced episodes.
You know, the episode in which Dale was killed was a little more thoughtful. There was some more debate and I think we had a terrific ending there.
So week by week we want to keep throwing curve balls at the audience, you know, and so that you sit down and you never know what kind of episode you’re going to get. We are constantly playing with people’s expectations because that’s what horror movies do.
The minute that you know exactly what you’re getting at the beginning of an episode, I think it becomes less scary and less entertaining. So I’ll just say this. I think we’re — next year we’re just throwing curve ball after curve ball. That’s the goal.
Reporter: Super. Thanks for expounding on that. I really appreciate it. One final though is that I really like the way the pacing is going at this point in time. The drama — I don’t like all the zombie action, just, you know, week after week.
Drama, character studies, they’re just terrific. I really enjoy them and you guys are doing a great job. Thank you very much.
Glen Mazzara: Well, thanks. We’re trying. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.
Reporter: Hi. Thanks so much for such an excellent finale. It was just exactly right, just what a season finale should be. I really enjoyed it a lot.
Glen Mazzara: Well, thank you, thank you, (Erin).
Reporter: Where are you now exactly in the process of developing Season 3? Have you had any table reads yet, scripts read, anything like that?
Glen Mazzara: No, no, no, no, no, not yet. We have submitted outlines for Episodes 1 through 6 to AMC. They’re very excited about the material. We have pitched out through Episode 8. We’re currently working on those outlines.
And then all eight scripts will be written simultaneously. This was a process that (Darabont) took from (George Lucas) I think on Young Indiana Jones where we talk about all the episodes and then all the writers go off and write simultaneously instead of writing sequentially on other shows.
Every other show I’ve done you break Episode 1, someone goes to write it and then you break Episode 2. So we’ve got a very unique system here that really works well for our culture. I’m excited about using that method. I think it’s terrific.
So I’m — you know, I’ve obviously been very excited about the finale having to do press and all of this stuff and then I look forward to sort of the smoke clearing in a couple of days and then I will write the season premier. That’s all been worked out and we’ll have scripts done pretty quickly, I believe, because we’re excited about the story.
And then we start shooting in May. So the trains are moving and, you know, we’re very far along.
Reporter: Yes, it sounds like it. Is the writer’s room changing at all for Season 3?
Glen Mazzara: We have (Robert Kirkman) is obviously there and we’ve brought back (Evan Riley) who is just fantastic. (Scott Gampo) is brilliant. (Angela Lacain), immensely, you know, also brilliant. And we’ve added two writers, (Song Kim). (Song Kyu Kim), he’s a writer I’ve worked with on Crash and (unintelligible) and I just love working with him and (Nichole Beatty) who comes out of the (Milch) camp and just recently did Prime Suspect and she was also on (Rubacon), and so they’ve been terrific additions.
Let me also announce this, that we’ll have (Frank Renzulli), who was one of the original writers on the Sopranos will be doing an episode for us in the first half of the season. So I have not announced that yet but (Renzulli) who worked with me on Crash and is just, I think, one of the best writers out there really has a very, very exciting and pretty scary episode to write. So he’s working with us, too, so we’re looking for him to do that freelance.
Reporter: Great. That sounds terrific. Thanks so much for sharing that.
Glen Mazzara: Thank you.
Reporter: Hi.
Glen Mazzara: Hi, Kevin.
Reporter: I love the (unintelligible) and I’m just going to kick right into it. Is it safe to say that in Season 3 fans can expect to see the zombies take a back seat to a potential human threat as the episodes progress?
Glen Mazzara: No, that would not be fair. Zombies will never take a back seat, okay. We will always have the human drama and we would like to introduce a significant human threat.
But we love writing the zombie material and I think those zombies are now fully integrated into the world. We’re not waiting for the zombies anymore to reach us. They are there. They are within, you know, in our eyesight, you know, all the time. They are, you know, part of the landscape.
So we expect, you know, there to still be a balance of zombie and human threat but the zombies will never take a back seat on this show.
Reporter: So it’s safe to say there will never be an episode with no zombie action in it whatsoever?
Glen Mazzara: Well, okay, fair. I don’t want to rule that out. You know, there could be that but you won’t — but there’s no safe place from the zombies. So, you know, we do — we try hard to, you know, tell our drama but right now we — you know, right now we don’t have that episode in mind right now. You know, there will always — you know, we always see zombies as part of the world, as part of the threat and that just kind of ratchets up the stakes.
Reporter: Cool, cool. So can we expect, maybe those significant kind of quality, quantity to continue in Season 3 where you can have that instance with Dale when you have that one zombie? Are you going to have like zombie heroes in Season 3 again?
Glen Mazzara: Yes, certainly. I mean, you know, we don’t feel the need to have 1000 zombies in every episode, if that’s your question. You know, I mean, that finale was special. That was a particular story.
We, you know — but there’s — part of the challenge of this show is keeping the zombies fresh, keeping them interesting, keeping each set piece unique. I think, you know, the writers and Greg Nicotero and the directors, everyone, you know, buys into the vision of the show and everyone puts a lot of imagination into making sure that it doesn’t get repetitive.
So that’s something that we work hard at. And, you know, there could be episodes that have just one or two zombies but hopefully they’ll really push the story along and be as scary as hell.
Reporter: Cool, cool. And I have one final question for you. You mentioned a long time ago that the TV series will never catch up to the source material but if the ratings continue like this, I mean, do you think that’s still a possibility not and do you have a backup plan if it gets to that point?
Glen Mazzara: Well, you know, what’s interesting about this story is it’s exciting to write. It really inspires us as writers. So we are lucky enough that we are always generating more story and we can take stuff from the comic book. But we are finding our own way, you know, and sort of stringing beads together and saying what would happen next.
So, you know, we see the comic book as a treasure trove that we can draw from but, you know, we — right now, you know, I can’t imagine doing this for a long time. So maybe we will catch up to the comic book but I know (Robert) has no plans to ever end that comic book, so we’ll see what happens.
Reporter: Perfect. Thank you, Glen, so much. That was an awesome season, 10 times better than the first and I can’t wait for the third one.
Glen Mazzara: Thank you very much.
Reporter: Good morning, Glen, how are you?
Glen Mazzara: Good. How are you.
Reporter: Good. I want to start off with the character (Carol), (Melissa McBride), and maybe talk about her, I guess her journey this season in the prison and maybe the wild card of her and (Darrel).
Glen Mazzara: Well, you know, that’s been an interesting character because I think the trap with the (Carol) character is just to make her the grieving mom and she could fit into a very, very common character type, okay. I’ve seen that character on TV a lot.
That’s why we even wrote the scene in which she’s saying, you know, I lost my child. I’m not losing my mind. You know, he doesn’t want — oh, there’s sort of an echo there. She’s a woman who’s trying to define herself in this world. She really has no skills to contribute as of yet.
So we see that as a good think as that, you know, let’s dig in. Let’s try to — we have a terrific actress. Let’s dig in and try to find — go along on that character’s journey as she tries to establish herself.
So there’s a lot of very, very compelling material in the comic book, some of which we’ll use, some of which we won’t. And I, you know, think that whatever we throw at (Melissa) she’ll be more than capable to deliver it. So I’m exciting about writing that character.
Reporter: Great. There was also — I guess there was a possibility before Season 2 about Stephen King and (Joe Harold) coming on to write an episode. Is that still in the works?
Glen Mazzara: That is not. That is not as far as I know. No, that was I believe Frank’s connection, so we — I haven’t approached those fellows.
Reporter: Okay, great. Thank you.
Glen Mazzara: All right, thank you.
Reporter: Hi, thanks so much. I want to echo everyone else’s comment that particularly the second half of the season has really been fantastic and has really wonderful nail biting moment and a lot of character development and great story telling. But thanks a lot.
Glen Mazzara: Well, thank you, thank you.
Reporter: I wanted to know if the introduction of Michonne is going to signal potentially a
little bit more of kind of the fantastical sort of comic graphic novel feel of the actual graphic novel particularly with her being so kind of dramatically cloaked.
I know the show’s got a little bit more of the kind of a gritty realism, you know, which works for TV. But I wondered if we were going to kind of get a little bit more of that graphic novel feel in the third season.
Glen Mazzara: You know what? That’s a great question. That’s a great question and, you know, let’s be honest. The reason that the character’s cloaked at the end was because we had not cast the actress, okay. So that is a cheat there.
So it’s interesting because, you know, we were thinking about that character during the casting process, you know, and we were just wondering, you know, how theatrical is Michonne? That’s quite a theatrical entrance and that was something that we didn’t realize at the time.
You know, but then yesterday we were in the writer’s room talking about her and her back story and a lot of, you know, some of the writers had, you know, very heightened pitches, let’s say. And my sensibility is to keep the show grounded, to keep it gritty. That’s where I’m comfortable as a writer and as a story teller.
So I do think that that’s an interesting character. She comes from the comic book. She feels like she stepped off those pages into the show. I think that’s exciting. That’s a challenge for us but, you know, knowing me as a writer, I think I’m going to, you know, keep it real, keep it grounded because if it doesn’t feel real I think the audience will not be able to put themselves in the immediate circumstances of the story.
I think our show is successful because people watching say, oh, I’d be dead now or I’d kill that guy or I’d shoot him in the leg and get away. You know, that’s how — I think that’s what’s fun about the show. We’re very consciously trying not to keep the show too serialized, you know, not have an overdeveloped mythology so that it’s accessible to people in the way that a good horror movie is.
Okay, I find the best horror movies to be very simple and that’s something that’s important and so I think overall my entire intention of the show is to keep the show grounded, real and Michonne is going to be a great challenge.
Reporter: That makes perfect sense. I am sad to see Dale go. I think that was the sound of my heart breaking all over the country because I loved him so very much.
Glen Mazzara: Yes, he had to go. He had to go. He had to go because by getting rid of Dale that really, you know, you lose the moral compass of the group and, again, we just wanted to just, you know, burn it all down by the end of the season.
Reporter: And that you did, certainly.
Glen Mazzara: Yes.
Reporter: But that’s pretty much all — I think my other questions have already been answered, so thank you very much.
Glen Mazzara: Well, thank you.
Reporter: How are you doing, sir? It was a great privilege to speak to you as well as it was such a fantastic second half of the season. You guys did a really great job.
Glen Mazzara: Well, thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.
Reporter: (Unintelligible), according to the source material, was there anything that you wanted to continue from (Kirkman) (this time) or was there anything that you wanted to do differently?
Glen Mazzara: You know, as far as story lines or characters, you mean, related to Season 2 or could you rephrase the question or repeat? I’m not sure I see what you’re going for.
Reporter: In a sense for story lines and characters as far as the (unintelligible) would you want to continue on for what he has already (unintelligible) or was there anything that you wanted to do differently?
Glen Mazzara: No, I mean, I was — no, I love (Robert)’s material and I think that if anything, by introducing the possibility of the prison, by introducing Michonne and by, you know, obviously everyone knows we’ve cast the governor.
I’m interested in drawing the show closer to that comic book material. I think that, you know, the stuff coming up in Season 3 is really the heart of his work and I’d be crazy not to say let’s go in that direction.
So I think we’re interested that we have to do it our way so that it really still feels, you know, realistic and gritty and grounded, as I just answered in the previous question. But I’m interested in getting a little closer to some of the stuff (Robert) has because I just think it’s worthwhile. It’s just great source material.
Reporter: Indeed, it is. Just one final question, as far as the question with the Lori character, I know she’s — I know (unintelligible) lot of people everywhere (unintelligible) unfortunately even though she is a grounded character but yet she’s very — she was very (populating) as well.
But as far as for the season finale when Rick was telling her when it happened, you know, the look on her face it seemed like she had a sense of regret and then by the time he had dropped the bomb saying that (Carl) was the one that shot him in the head, you know, she had just like this — was surrounded with anger and she didn’t even want to be around him.
Was it the fact that (Carl) was involved or was it just how everything had turned out to be?
Glen Mazzara: Well, I think that’s a very, very difficult scene. And I give a lot of credit to (Sarah Wayne-Callies) because she has no dialogue in that scene and this is really, you know, I think some terrific acting where she is listening to him and you’re going through her internal process with her.
I mean, that’s, you know, we do have great actors. That’s one take. Go back and look at that. Rick is speaking and she is listening and that’s just one take.
And so the way that I, you know, I actually wrote that scene. And so I could tell you that, you know, to me she did not ask for Rick to kill Shane. She just said take care of it because Shane struck an emotional cord when he said you know it’s true.
She’s confused and this is a character that sanitizes the truth. She chooses to believe what she wants to be. She’s a control freak. That’s why she’s running around the kitchen saying we need to, you know, do this and that. Everybody, you know, thinks she has sexist roles. No, that’s what she can control. You can’t control the world.
So here she tried to control Rick. Things got out of hand and led to a murder. We play the deaths in our show as very, very real, okay. We really feel the effects of the deaths on our characters. That’s something we put a lot of effort into and so do the actors and the directors.
So when she learns that Shane was not killed by the zombie herd that he was killed by Rick’s own hand and Rick wanted to kill him, she’s horrified by the entire circumstance, she’s horrified by her own role in that as a catalyst, her own copability and she I believe is dealing with thoughts of guilt and self hatred.
She projects those onto her husband because who could possibly accept the idea that I made my husband kill my former lover? That’s a horrible thought. So she’s going to push that out of her mind and just as she’s trying to do that, bam, oh, and your son’s involved. So she’s got a lot going on in that scene and she is appropriately fucked up.
Reporter: Yes, that is true. That was very detailed. I appreciate that. As far as your previous questions have already answered mine as well. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. I look forward to another season.
Glen Mazzara: Well, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Reporter: Hi, Glen.
Glen Mazzara: Hi. How are you?
Reporter: Long time listener, first time caller.
Glen Mazzara: Oh, great. Thank you.
Reporter: But a huge fan of the season. I mean, it’s really, really great. So for us as audience members, there were a lot of holy crap moments watching the season. Did you have any moments that you really enjoyed writing for Season 2, favorite episodes or scenes?
Glen Mazzara: That is a great question. You know, I don’t know. It’s not a holy shit moment but you know what I think is really a wonderful scene that just kind of came out is where — in (Better Angels), Rick hands (Carl) the gun and he’s talking about — he says I wish I had something more profound to say.
And, you know, my father was good like that. And he hands him the gun. And, you know, yes, we do have a lot of holy shit moments but that is a scene that shows that this show has heart. And that was something that, you know, I know a lot of people are asking for flashbacks and are we going to learn something about the characters?
You know, Rick’s opening up about his past there and that his son is not going to have the kind of life that he had. So that was kind of an intricate scene that was really beautifully photographed by (Ron Schmidt) and (Guy Ferland) and well acted by (Chandler) and (Andy).
So, you know, I love that scene. I love any of the (Herschel) stuff. You know, I really love writing that character. I love I think (Evan Riley) did a phenomenal job with the, you know, the Michael Raymond James scene just blew me away. You know, I didn’t touch a word there. (Evan) just really knew how to write that.
(Angela Tang) with the jury scene where Dale is saying isn’t anyone going to stand with me? You know, it’s these little heart breaking moments that make me love the show the way I do.
You know, so the big scary moments, those are fun. Those are great. But I know they’re coming, so I kind of forget about the impact that they’ll have on the audience. But those little heart breaking moments where, you know, Dale, you know, or (Andrea) decides to stand with Dale, those break my heart every time I see them, so and it makes me love those characters more.
Reporter: Great. In last week’s talking dead you mentioned that you had originally planned to kill (Herschell) this season and had even talked to (Scott) about that. But then as sort of the season progressed and you were crafting it that didn’t seem like the right moment. Are there any moments sort of like that from earlier in the season where you guys sort of adapted and adjusted?
Glen Mazzara: In the first half of the season or do you mean other episodes of the second half?
Reporter: Previously in the second season.
Glen Mazzara: Well, yes, I mean, there were some let’s see — there was some material that — when I first took over there was some material that wasn’t working early on, you know, in the first episodes. We’re going to release some stuff on the, you know, DVD bonus features.
There’ll be added scenes there. You know, there were some stories that were tougher to break than others. Trigger Finger was a tough one because originally the concept was that we were going to, you know, be pinned down in a western type shooting and that didn’t make sense to me.
You know, when we started working on the script I said, well, if I heard shots and my friends were missing, I would just think they were shooting zombies and that’s why we, you know, have the guys outside the bar saying, hey, you know, (Dave), (Tony) are you in there? And they’re looking for them.
And then that added a new kind of horror that I hadn’t seen where we’re having a conversation with unseen assailants and shooting at them when we don’t even know who’s shooting.
There was a terrific shootout in The Wire that did that extremely well. So we were sort of inspired by that. I don’t know if that answers your question but it’s been a long road, so I don’t know. I’m sure there were many, many others as well.
Reporter: And how do you guys deal with sort of protecting the story lines and dealing with leaks? I mean, I know there was like information that (John) was cast in Frank’s new project before the Shane killing. And I think one of the armless zombies posted that he was cast back in December like on Twitter or something like that.
How do you work to protect that so that there can be surprises in the seasons?
Glen Mazzara: We want to really improve that. Leaks have been a problem and that is something that we take very seriously and also just the huge amount of attention that the show has — gets has been new territory for me.
So we actually internally have a security task force led by (Gale Anne Herd) and (Robert)’s on that and (Scott Kimple), who’s very computer savvy. AMC takes this stuff very seriously.
And we, you know, try to, you know, see where leaks are coming from and if they’re accurate or they’re not and then trying to get stuff taken down and it’s really like, you know, trying to sweep back the ocean.
It’s just really been amazing but it’s something that we take seriously and we hope we’re looking at our entire production process moving forward and, you know, we’re really going to have to adapt procedures that I have not had to adapt on other shows. Trust me, nobody cared about leaks on Crash or — that wasn’t my problem there.
But I know Lost had issues like this and there have been a number of shows. I guess JJ has had stuff in the past. So that’s something that we’re feeling our way through and taking seriously, especially moving forward.
Reporter: Right. Now, getting rid of Dale this season kind of changes some landmark beats further down the line in the comic book like the cannibal storyline and romance with (Andrea). Did that come up kind of as a debate in the story room about how you would handle that further down the road?
Glen Mazzara: Sure, it did. Well, you know, anybody can be cannibalized on this show, so we’ve still got that in our pocket. And as far as, you know, the romance with (Andrea), that was something that — we didn’t feel like — we just weren’t going into that territory.
If we were going to go into that territory, we would have. But we just didn’t feel that that was a story line that we were going to pursue, so we didn’t really see that as a loss.
You know, (Andrea), is certainly — you know, (Lauri Holden) is a beautiful actress and a terrific actress and so that’s somebody that we would certainly consider having romantic interest with other characters down the road. But — and she did with Shane, just a small, little pop.
But that was just not something that was — that we were — had been exploring and then abandoned. It just was never really on the table.
Reporter: Okay, and one last question. Any desire yourself to sit in the makeup chair and become zombified and stumble around in the background?
Glen Mazzara: Yes, I would love to do that. Unfortunately, I would probably be horrible at it and get fired Day 1 because I am a terrible actor. But I do want to do that. I think — how could I not? I’d be crazy not to. That’ll be fun. So I certainly do it.
I was also thinking of doing it for maybe TCA but I thought that would be hard to explain. So we’ll see what happens.
Reporter: Well, great. Thank you so much for your time, Glen. Awesome season, can’t wait for Season 3.
Glen Mazzara: Great, thank you, thank you.
Reporter: Hi, Glen. Thanks for taking time to talk to us.
Glen Mazzara: Oh, thank you.
Reporter: So how do you balance keeping the comic fans happy while also creating this show that stands on its own?
Glen Mazzara: You know what? Hopefully the comic fans are happy. I guess they are. But I think there’s — it’s by going into the, you know, as I’ve said, the heart of (Robert Kirkman)’s work and I think that the comic fans will be pleased with our plans for Michonne, the prison storyline, the governor.
We certainly will deviate from some of the material as we make it our own but I think that we are getting to the heart of the work and I hope they’ll continue to be pleased and supportive.
Reporter: Now, do viewer reactions — at least in this season, did viewer reactions to the first half of the season have any influence on what you guys did on the second half?
Glen Mazzara: That is a fantastic question. Let me answer it honestly. The answer is no because we were getting ready to shoot the last few episodes when Season 1 premiered in October. I’m sorry, when, you know, the Season 2 premier came out in October.
So we — you know, I was already, you know, deep into the story on the second half. So those — so I’ll admit I and all of us were surprised that some of those episodes were criticized for being slower, that the pace was so slow, okay, because I’m happy with those episodes and I didn’t see the pace as so slow.
I just thought that that was the show revealing itself to us, that, you know, if any story has its own weight and its own merit, that’s the way that story was being told.
So that criticism did not I think originally — you know, people gave it a few episodes before that criticism really landed for us. But we had shot everything. So it was always our intention in the first half to land on the big, you know, revelation of (Sophia) coming out of the barn and I think that was a very successful episode.
And then just my inclination as a show runner and as a story teller in the second half was just to amp it up. That was something that I’ve done on every show that I’ve worked on and I felt like that was right and we had also told a lot of our story that we as writers wanted to challenges ourselves and say, okay, let’s get past this. Let’s get to this. Let’s try to find new material.
For example, Lori whispering in Rick’s ear. That was a new dynamic. That was something that when we wrote it was, yes, that’s a new layer to that character. That was exciting to us.
So we started sort of playing with things and finding new ways to tell the stories and it just sort of came together in the back half of the season. But that was absolutely not because of viewer response because we were so far ahead in the production process.
Reporter: Yes, now, you had alluded to it a bit before but could you talk about what the casting process was like to find Michonne and the governor?
Glen Mazzara: Yes, I mean, I think with the — there were different processes, okay. So with the governor, we had a list of actors and we talked about, you know — and we pursued, you know, we discussed who would be right for this role and all of that. And (David Morrissey) was someone whose work I was not really familiar with.
But, you know, he came in and read and I just thought was terrific, you know, really had a lot of the qualities that we were looking for in the governor, okay. I don’t want to give away any story by saying what those qualities were but he had a take on the governor and he understood what the role was.
You know, some actors, you know, realize they’re going to play a villain and they say, well, yes, but he’s not really so bad. So, you know, (David) was saying that this is the role of a lifetime and I’m excited to play this.
(David) and (Andy Lincoln) were also friends. So (Andy) called me and said this guy is one of the best actors in Britain right now. We’d be lucky to have him. So that was exciting, you know, to us that (Andy) felt so strongly in (David)’s talent and his craft and then (David) came in and met everyone and, you know, we all were unanimous that he was fantastic.
Casting (Danai) for Michonne, that was, you know, we, again, wrote a scene, you know, an audition scene, not a scene that would ever be in the show and we opened that up and we went through a more traditional route where actors came in and, you know — getting back to the leak question — we had to be careful that the sides did not say Michonne so that, you know, that wasn’t on the Internet or whatever, you know, talking about that question from before.
And people came in and we had different actors and we really had a lot of very talented people and it was a difficult choice. But (Danai) just possesses a lot of the qualities, again. We really feel like she’s going to bring this kind of character to life that she’s going to make this character her own.
And I really feel that someone of her caliber will establish the character in such a way that, you know, years from now hopefully people cannot imagine anyone else ever playing that character. I just really think she’s going to own it in an exciting way. So I’m really happy with our casting. I think we’re lucky and these are great actors and we’re going to, you know, fuck them up and give them a lot of hard stuff to play and they’re saying bring it on, so I’m looking forward to it.
Reporter: Yes, and speaking of big characters, is there any chance we’re going to be seeing
(Merle) again soon?
Glen Mazzara: (Merle) is still out there and, yes, I’m excited to — figuring out what to do with him. So I would say he’s on the horizon.
Reporter: Great, thanks. Can’t wait for the third season.
Glen Mazzara: Well, thank you, thank you.
Coordinator: (James Hamilton) of (Geekstronomy), your line is open.
(James Hamilton): Hello. Thank you very much, Glen.
Glen Mazzara: Oh, thank you.
(James Hamilton): It’s a great show, really love it and I do have some questions. You mentioned that Season 3 is going to be closer to the comic book. The story line with the governor is really intense. Are there some things you’re not going to be able to do?
Glen Mazzara: Well, we’re working that out. We haven’t — you know, that still remains to be determined. You know, everything’s on the table and if we do those things going to do them in our way and, you know, but I don’t want to give away story and answer those. I’m hearing the subtext of your question and you’ll just have to wait and see.
(James Hamilton): Okay.
Glen Mazzara: I know what you’re up to. I know what you’re asking. I know what you’re up to.
(James Hamilton): I wasn’t trying to get you to spoil anything because I’m also a fan of the show. I like being surprised as well.
Glen Mazzara: Good, good.
(James Hamilton): But I do have a question. Someone earlier mentioned the character of Lori and changing the character of Lori because she’s annoying. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from readers saying that they think Rick and Lori are the worst parents on television because they cannot keep track of (Carl).
Glen Mazzara: Yes, that’s a funny question. You know, let’s look at this. Here’s my rationale for this, okay. I have three sons, okay, young sons. And, you know, a lot of times they’re under foot and I’m trying to kick them out of the house. Go do something else. Stop playing video games or whatever, you know.
So obviously you may not do that in a zombie apocalypse but let’s say this. There was a scene in which — and nobody noticed this scene — but in the scene where he is walking through the woods, okay, right. He’s like, you know, walking through the woods and he finds the zombie in the mud.
Before that, he comes out of the house he’s just kicking up dirt outside the barn. He’s actually picking up shell casings, the same shell casings that were used for the (barnmaggedon) slaughter, the guns that were used to, you know, kill all those zombies when they came out, right.
So he’s just kind of, you know, kicking around in the dirt. He’s bored. He’s a kid. He’s going to be precocious. He’s going to be mischievous. And he’s trying to establish himself in this world. He’s trying to find his way.
So, you know, there have been scenes where he’s sitting under a tree, he’s whittling and the kid is obviously bored and trying to find out what else is going on in this camp.
So I don’t know if it’s plausible that he would always be within, you know, in her eye line or wouldn’t he, like most boys, try to give mom the slip and go out there and get in trouble? That feels plausible to me. If it means that she’s a horrible parent, or Rick’s a horrible parent, well, it feels real to me.
So I hear that criticism but it kind of feels like it’s not really thinking it through to the way we are. It makes sense to us and if people don’t like it, well, then we’ll have Lori lock him in a cell when we get to the prison and won’t have any story for that character. So I don’t know what else to do. We’re trying to tell interesting stories here, you know.
(James Hamilton): Right and I do understand that. I mean, I was a kid. I know what it’s like. But I had to agree with one of my readers who said, you know, it seems every time something comes up Lori is saying, hey, watch (Carl) for me and then she goes off to do something like nobody else has a life, you know.
Glen Mazzara: Well, yes, but she’s doing — okay, but, then if she doesn’t do that — so now she’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t. So either she’s going to stay there and watch him, okay, or she’s going to say you watch him. So in both cases she’s watching him. She’s making sure, you know — so but what’s she really supposed to do?
So I don’t know. I don’t get it. If she doesn’t watch him, everyone’s saying she’s a horrible parent. If she has somebody else to watch him, she’s a horrible parent. And so then I don’t know. Is everyone going to really see a thousand scenes of Lori staring at (Carl)?
You know, so I don’t know. It makes sense to me and it plays real, so, you know, if it takes a village and this is a group, this band is sort of a group and a family, that’s the way we see it, it makes sense that she would say keep an eye on (Carl). I’m running over here to, you know, whatever she’s doing.
(James Hamilton): Yes, I see what you’re saying. I have one final, quick question for you. Now, you were just asked if you would want to be a zombie on the show. Have you had any big name actors actually try and get in touch with you and say, yes, I want to play a zombie on the show?
Glen Mazzara: Actually, no, believe it or not. Maybe they’re calling (Gale). She’s more popular than I am. So maybe they’re calling (Gale) or (Robert Kirkman). But no, nobody seems to have my number. So and now that I’ve said that I’ll probably get, you know, 1000 calls. But, no, nobody has been asking me.
I guess (Kurt Sodder). (Kurt Sodder) wants to be a zombie. He said something about — he tweeted me that he wants to be a zombie and then I get to be a dead biker. He won’t even give me a line in the show. I just get to play a corpse but he gets to stumble around in zombie makeup. So I don’t know if that’s the best deal but I love (Kurt), so maybe I’ll take him up on it.
(James Hamilton): Well, thank you very much and continued success with the show.
Glen Mazzara: Thank you, thank you.
(James Hamilton): Bye-bye.
Glen Mazzara: Bye-bye.
Reporter: Yes, Glen, thanks for taking the call.
Glen Mazzara: Hi. Thank you.
Reporter: Well, one of the things which was very interesting to me is I used the season finale to set down a few people which I write for a couple of newspapers with who have never seen the show. And they loved it even though they weren’t attached to it.
But one of them came back and said how are they going to engage people for Season 3 who don’t read comic books and catch up there because during commercials there was like, okay, how does this go? Sometimes it’s like we don’t know this yet and that way.
How are you going to engage that audience because with the ratings that you had for AMC with the season finale, there’s going to be a lot of pressure to grow that even more I would imagine? And also, if you do get that pressure with the greater ratings, is it going to have any effect on how you handle the show, especially going into Season 3, which can be a pretty dark place to go as we’ve already talked to you about?
Glen Mazzara: Well, let me say this. You know, that kind of pressure of bringing in new audience exists for every TV writer who writes a season premier in a year. Okay, that’s — writing a season premier is a particular skill, okay, where you have to, you know, catch up the new audience, you know, given them a point of access.
That’s something, you know, you do. In a way the season premier has to be like a pilot for that new season. So there’s certain things that have to be worked in. In a way, hopefully that’s elegantly done, that it’s not clunky, that it doesn’t feel like exposition.
So, you know, that’s what I’m working on now and I think we have a pretty exciting plan to do that. And, you know, people just have to jump in. We’re not spoon feeding the audience next season. Let’s say that.
You know, we have been criticized for being too slow, for taking our time. You see the kind of pace that we like. You know, I’m not saying that we won’t have slow scenes. I’m not saying that we won’t have dialogue. Somebody — I read one critic who was like the talking, you know, I don’t know any other show that’s not allowed to use dialogue.
But we’re going to have a break neck pace. We’re going to have deep character moments and people are going to have to catch up with the show. You know, there are a lot of fan questions that we are interested in having things happen off screen and then people say, well, wait, how did this happen, how did that happen?
We think our audience is very intelligent. We think our fans are dedicated and we really, really want to make it a satisfying experience. So I think people, again, by keeping the story telling simple, by not having a very complicated mythology, allows us to give people an access point for Season 3.
So it’s something we really do talk about and it’s something that I feel confident that we’ve got it cracked.
Reporter: Great. I love the — personally I love the different pacings between the first half and the second half of the season. And I guess just a final thing, so we (unintelligible) as a run up as promoting the show, Webisodes as catch up kind of things, character bios being used on the Web to educate new viewers then.
Glen Mazzara: Well, I know Greg Nicotero is working on Webisodes. Those Webisodes would be a different story line, a different part of the zombie apocalypse just like last year’s Webisodes were. And (Greg) and his partner were awarded the Writer’s Guild award, actually for Webisodes for that.
So that’s what the Webisdes will be and he’s starting that process and I think maybe he shoots next month. As far as character bios, that’s something that I would have to ask AMC about. Nobody’s asked me for that and I’m going to focus on the script, so if they want to write bios, they’re welcome to it but they haven’t. that’s not something that I’ve been involved in.
Reporter: Okay great. Thank you and I’ll let you get to someone else to get another question in. Great job.
Glen Mazzara: Thank you, thank you.
Reporter: Thank you. Hi, Glen.
Glen Mazzara: Hi, (Lee). How are you?
Reporter: I’m fine, thank you. I just loved both seasons. I think it’s just great work all over the place there. I’m actually going to go to a completely different subject here and ask about the inspection. I think that that is just a horrifying detail for everyone to have to take in. Is that going to be explored at all in the next season, the effect of this?
Glen Mazzara: Well, certainly. I mean, that’s something that, you know, will continue to play. I mean, let’s be honest, you know, (Andrea) does not have that information, which is interesting. And it’s something that I think is now a new element to play with.
You know, we’re not really interested in going back and explaining how the infections started or having a lot of science fiction elements talking about finding a cure or that sort of stuff. You know, that’s not part of (Robert)’s work. That’s not something that’s part of the working demographic novel.
So that is material we’ll probably stay away from. It’s a question of how do our characters deal with this knowledge? What does that mean? You know, I’m sure Lori is wrestling with question about, you know, what happens if she dies in childbirth?
You know, that’s a horrible, horrible situation. So this is something that’s really important to our characters and it’s something that I think will certainly, you know, play out in surprising ways. And we’re just, you know, again, writing the material now. So that all remains to be seen.
Reporter: Okay, thank you.
Glen Mazzara: Thank you. Okay? Hello?
Coordinator: Yes, at this time we have no further questions.
Glen Mazzara: Oh, well, thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. I really appreciate all the support and I’m glad that you’re as excited about the material as we are. You know, we all feel very lucky to be working this and this show’s sort of become something very, very special.
So I’m glad that we could have this chat today and we could all be a part of it. It’s really been a fantastic experience. So I’d just like to thank all of you for your time and support and interest. So thank you and have a great day.
Glen Mazzara: Okay, thank you. Thank you, everyone. Bye-bye.
The Walking Dead Photo Credit
Photo Credit: Scott Garfield/Courtesy of AMC
