The Walking Dead

What does Andrew Lincoln’s exit mean for the epic zombie drama?

The Walking Dead comics, new showrunner Angela Kang tells Pilot TV, follow an elegant design. “You start with one man alone. He starts out looking for his family, then he finds this nomadic group who settle in various places and get into skirmishes. Now, they’re trying to build something bigger.”

With Andrew Lincoln’s departure confirmed, The Walking Dead TV show now has to reach the “build something bigger” stage. “Rick Grimes was the character that brought us in,” says Kang, “but some of [these other] characters have been on almost as long – Daryl, Carol and Michonne.” We can expect a strong storyline for fanfavourite character Maggie now Lauren Cohan is also leaving the show.

The bigger picture is that the new season jumps 18 months where “weather and time and giant herds of thousands of Walkers have started to take their toll”. Resources are scarce and bullets are in short supply. Walkers – more degraded than ever – remain a threat, particularly as there are fewer guns.

“Now that the war is over,” says Kang, the focus is on “rebuilding a civilisation”. To prepare, the writing team researched historical parallels after WWI and WWII, such as the rise of fascism and neo-nazism.

There’s a new threat too, as teased in the San Diego Comic-con trailer. “People find themselves wrestling with the question of ‘are these Walkers changing? Do they behave the way we always thought they do?’”

Don’t expect absolute fidelity to the comics though. “We try to take creative risks. Sometimes it pays off,” Kang tells us. With a nervous laugh she adds, “I hope that they’ll go with us along on the ride.”