The Walking Dead has consistently been the most popular San Diego Comic-Con television panel these last few years, and the panel for Season 6 was no different. On the panel were showrunner Scott Gimple, producers Gale Anne Hurd and Dave Alpert, stars Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Michael Cudlitz, Steven Yeun, Lennie James, Sonequa Martin-Green and Norman Reedus. The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman is sick, and Lauren Cohan is visiting family overseas.
After we were shown the world premiere of the trailer (which you can see below), the panel kicked off with moderator Chris Hardwick, as always, leading the way. Here are some highlights:
– The premiere of Season 6 will contain (approximately) 600 walkers, the most ever aside from the series premiere. It will be a 90 minute episode.
– The first screening of The Walking Dead premiere will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York before it airs on cable.
– One fan wondered if there will be a battle of wills between Rick and Morgan, as shown in the trailer? Gimple said they sometimes play with the truth in trailers, so don’t necessarily believe it. There will be some conflict there, however.
– There’s some playing with time this season, there will be many flashbacks. One episode is apparently entirely a flashback, according to Gimple.
– The Wolves, hinted at throughout the second half of Season 5, will be a part of S6. According to Gimple, “hopefully in a way you don’t expect.” None of the castmembers seemed bothered by the threat, though. “Bring it!” Cudlitz shouted.
– Actor Corey Brill – who played Pete in Season 5 – is being called “porch dick” everywhere he goes now. Chris Hardwick coined the term thanks to Pete’s first appearance.
– Does Andrew Lincoln miss the beard? His wife doesn’t. One of the weirdest filming days he’s ever had was the day he had to shower and shave on camera. He’s going to grow it back as soon as possible. The beard is a metric of where Rick is at, said Gimple, both in the show and in the comic.
– Gurira thought it was a very weird moment when Michonne had to hit Rick in S5. Lincoln claimed Guerra actually did hit him.
– Why didn’t Glenn kill Nicholas (Michael Traynor)? Yeun joked he’s got beautiful eyes. Glenn saw a version of himself in Nicholas, knows what it’s like to cross that threshold. It served no function to kill Nicholas at that moment, he had already won and proven his point. If he crosses that line, it’s game over for him.
– What has Morgan been doing out in the wilderness? Lennie James said the main thing was trying to find Rick, but maybe he wishes he didn’t. James hinted that we might find out more about what he had been up to. (Flashback episode?) Rick is the last person on Earth who knows who Morgan is, that’s the main reason he’s been searching for him. But there’s going to be fallout after the way they were reunited.
– Carl sees Alexandria as a restart button, said Chandler Riggs. He wants to make it his home. Carl sees the vulnerability of the Alexandra residents, and has sympathy for the kids who live there. Carl sees Enid as another survivor, she’s the one person who lives there who “gets it.”
– Melissa McBride on Carol’s biggest challenge in regards to hiding who she really is: Just not having her cover blown, finding out who the people in Alexandria are and what they’re capable of. Carol misses Tyreese (we never got to see her react to his death on the show.) Everything does is fueled by the loss of people, that’s why she’s doing what she’s doing, said McBride. She’s not a cold-blooded killer, she just wants to keep going.
– What does Michael Cudlitz admire most about Abraham? His honesty; he has no agenda, what you see is what you get. Nicotero thinks Cudlitz gets the best dialogue on the show.
– Is there anything special that Norman Reedus does to get into character? He listens to a lot of Motorhead, lots of coffee, and plays a lot of Candy Crush.
– Lauren Cohan sent Nicotero a text, he passed the phone to Steven Yeun. She was visiting her family. She wanted to tell the audience how much she loves them.
– Following Chad L. Coleman, Lawrence Gilliard and Seth Gilliam, it turns out The Walking Dead producers actually did try to get another castmember from The Wire but it didn’t work out. They have cast Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie) in a secret role. Ethan Embry (Can’t Hardly Wait) is also now in the cast.
The Walking Dead will premiere on October 11th at 9pm on AMC.