THE WALKING DEAD: Michael Rooker Reflects On Merle's Violent Exit

We lost a bastard on Sunday, but what a glorious bastard! Merle Dixon went out in a blaze of glory when he went to confront The Governor and his men alone - and probably would have succeeded if it wasn't for a pesky walker getting in on the action. This was followed by his brutal beating and murder at the hands of The Governor, and in a very emotional scene, his zombification and discovery by his brother Daryl. The actor who brought terrible life to Merle, Michale Rooker, was a surprise guest on The Talking Dead afterwards, and thanks to the following transcript from Comicbook.com we can bring you what he had to say in full.

When Hardwick said that Merle became the guy that Daryl hoped he would become at the end, Rooker leaned in and said, “Merle was already that guy.” Rooker added, “You know what. You don’t just become someone new. You know under stresses you do…don’t get me wrong, people do change. But you know that was already inside Merle.”

When asked why Merle let Michonne go in the car, Rooker said, “You know what, I think he got tired of listening to her. She wasn’t needed anymore. I had already figured out I’m going to do this with her or without her, and I didn’t want to listen to her anymore. I’m sorry. Get out of the car, please.”

When asked if Merle went on a suicide mission, Rooker said, “I don’t think it was ever...in my mind it was never a suicide mission. In my mind, it was hitting the beaches. Ok, yeah, granted you may die. But you don’t think of dying. You go and you do your job. My job, plain and simple, I think you already stated it, was to go in, make an entry, take out as many as I possible can and make an exit. Well, you know, the exit thing didn’t happen. Although, I’ve got to tell you, I did make quite an interesting exit, but it wasn’t the one I was thinking of.”

When Hardwick suggested that Daryl stabbed Merle so many times to get back at him for things he had done, Rooker said, “Ah, I think you’re way off base. I don’t think that’s the reason at all. I think you just get into…he was emotional of course he lost it. His brother’s gone. And we have always said to one another, this is not on camera anywhere, but you make that pact, just like we [pointing to The Governor] make that pact as members of Woodbury, you don’t leave anybody alive as a zombie. You’ve got to put them down, plain and simple. That’s the only humane way to do it.”

When asked if Merle’s hart was with the prison, with Woodbury, or just with Daryl, Rooker replied, “Merle’s heart has always been with his brother, and his with mine.”