In a lengthy chat with our friends over at Digital Spy, Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break) has talked more about reprising her role as 'Lori Grimes' in the highly anticipated third season of The Walking Dead. The actions of character over the past two seasons have divided fans, but with Shane now out of the way and a baby on the way, things promise to become even more interesting (and complicated) for her and Rick. Check out some highlights below, and be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the page to read the interview in full.
On Exactly How Much Time Has Passed Since The Season Two Finale:
I'm not actually supposed to talk about where we exactly pick up but the threads we left hanging at the end of the season we pick right back up at the start. We start fraying them into little tiny pieces again.
On How It Feels To Move From Hershel's Farm To The Prison:
Yeah, there was a day towards the end of the second season when Andy and I were sitting next to each other on rocking chairs on the porch at Hershel's farm while they set up the scene. You're watching the sun go down over the fields and all of a sudden it hit me and I turned to him and I said, 'Andy, next year we're in jail!' And we both simultaneously half wept and half laughed because that farm was so good to us, it was so beautiful and I think it was a really interesting counterpoint to the hideousness of the world that they're in. The prison, then, is sort of the opposite. There's nothing poetic about it. It's a very literal place and it's also a heavy-handed metaphor for the ways in which our security requires us to be our own captives, which is to say, we lock ourselves in at the end of every night, like the way you kennel a dog. It's given this show, even just aesthetically, a completely different character from last season because the colour values are different, the air is different, there's not as much sunlight and that kind of thing. It's an incredibly bold departure, I think, from seasons 1 and 2.
On Her Favourite Moment In Season Three So Far:
At this point, my favourite moment happens between Rick and Lori at the end of the second episode. In season 3, Rick and Lori have really lost each other, profoundly and they are both trying to find a way to summon the courage to reach their hand across the gap and bridge that divide. At the end of the second episode is the first tentative hint of that attempt to reach one another.
On How The Show Will Handle Lori's Pregnancy And The Reaction Of The Other Characters:
I think Lori's quite anxious. I think Lori, in some ways, thinks she has the reverse of the Midas touch. Everything that she touched in the last season turned to s**t, pardon my French! When it comes to the pregnancy, she is very anxious that none of the people who have become her new family, extended family, not just of Rick and Carl but also of Hershel and Beth and Glen and Carol, that none of the people in this new family put themselves at risk because of her pregnancy. Either because she is less capable or because they want to make sure that she gets the best food. I think she feels unworthy of special treatment. I think she is very keen to do as much as she possibly can so that no-one makes any sacrifices for her.
On Whether We'll See Lori Take On More Of The Undead:
I do rack up a couple of kills, which is nice. What we've discovered is this is no longer a world where some people are the fighters and some people are the homemakers. Lori and Andrea have this argument basically about whether or not Andrea should be working to help Lori and the other people who are doing the cooking and cleaning and craving a community or whether Andrea should be out with the people with the guns. And I think what we see in the third season is that that division has broken down. Everyone now has to be able to protect and defend, to forage and so that's Lori, Carol and Beth every bit as much as it is Daryl, T-Dog and Rick.