The third season of The Walking Dead will air on October 14th later this year on AMC and will include such fan favourite characters as 'Michonne' and 'The Governor' as well as locations like 'The Prison' and 'Woodbury'. Fans are hoping it will be more exciting than the second season which, while still a damn good TV show, was more than a little slow in places as the survivors found themselves on Hershel's farm. In a feature over at Entertainment Weekly, the cast of the show have shared their thoughts on such criticisms. Be sure to click on the link below to read comments from Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes) and producer Gale Anne Hurd.
Robert Kirkman - Writer/Executive Producer
I know that we’re all very proud of season 2, and we’re very happy with how it turned out. I think that once you see it all as a whole, you see how the first half — that some people said was slow — kind of built to a cool moment and really facilitated what happened in the later faster paced episodes.
Andrew Lincoln - Rick Grimes
I don’t watch the show, and I don’t read reviews. I stay out of the equation. All I knew is, I always had a sense that they wanted to play it out as a big movie. They always wanted to say that it’s a big story we’re telling and if you stick with it you will be rewarded. That was always Frank’s intention and Glen’s too. I shot it, so I was like, ‘I know what’s coming.’ I remember doing a lot of press for Spain, and Spain was going, ‘More Zombie.’ And I was like, ‘Please believe me, there is more zombie killing coming.’ Of course we want to get the balance right. We’re still learning what works and what doesn’t work. You can please some of the people some of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time. You can’t please all the people all the time. That’s just taste, and that’s cool. What I keep saying to people is that there is a very vocal, very extreme group of people that want a certain thing from this show. And they will watch this show. They will because it is extreme — more extreme than any f—ing thing I’ve ever been on. And the stuff we’re doing this season is out of the ballpark — it’s crazy what we’re doing this season.
Norman Reedus - Daryl Dixon
People are going say whatever they’re going to say anyway. If we killed a zillion zombies last season everyone would say, ‘There’s no storyline, they don’t talk enough.’ So f— ‘em! I’ve been trying to get into Game of Thrones. I can’t tell if it’s the future or the past, but those motherf—ers talk the whole time. Do I gotta bitch about it, or am I going to watch it and enjoy? I’m going to watch it and enjoy. People are going say whatever they say. You have to talk to tell a story. It’s not a cartoon. The pace this season is definitely amped up. We’re just talking faster.
Laurie Holden - Andrea
It’s not a Glen Mazarra – Frank Darabont thing. It’s storytelling, and I think that, first of all, you can’t please everybody — there’s always going to be a hater. But it needed to develop slowly in the beginning for the story — to get to know the characters, to really set up the conflict so you could go quickly and just have this tornado of action. But it can’t be like that all the time. I think it all ended up the way that it was supposed to.
Steve Yeun - Glenn
You take it personal in a way because this is something that you’ve worked hard at — and as a group, as a collective, you feel like you put your blood, sweat and tears into this. But at the same time, you realize that the arts are subjective. You accept what they give you, and then subsequently laugh when they say, ‘I can’t wait for the next season.’ And you’re very thrilled and happy about that. We know how this plays out by virtue of us filming this. So for me, it was always just like: Wait for it; wait for it. There’s a plan; we’re all here. There’s a solid checks and balances system of not letting something go too far one way. It’s a beautiful group dynamic, and I think it’s a testament to the cast and crew and writers and producers; everybody has their gear that they work. We get it, we’re not perfect, and obviously, last season wasn’t perfect. But you tweak, you stay consistent as well. You hope that people come back and watch.