The first half of The Walking Dead just wrapped up on AMC and we have several months to mull over the occurrences that we witnessed in the mid-season finale. One of the most intriguing things we saw was Shane's emotional eruption; one that had been building for some time. I think most would agree that Bernthal is among the breakout stars in the series and his character will lead to some very interesting story line twists and such. Bernthal recently talked with The Wrap about his character and the direction his relationship with Rick, played by Andrew Lincoln, could take. Here is a snippet from the interview, which you definitely want to check out, so hit the link below for more from Jon Bernthal!
TheWrap:Are you getting a lot of feedback from fans, and how strongly they're reacting to Shane and his actions in season two?
Jon Bernthal: You know, I am. I mean, it's always kind of garnered strong reaction, both good and bad, from the beginning. Before we even started, you know, I remember going to New York, last year, before the show had even aired, and when I was announced at Comic Con … everybody sort of announced their name and what character they were playing, and I said I was playing Shane, and I just got this chorus of resounding boos from the audience. (Laughing)
In the comic book, he's sort of this … I think he could be perceived as this kind of one-note, sort of villainous kind of character. But I always thought, even in a comic book, there's so much more to him. I think he's just a character that kind of got caught up in a situation that was so much bigger than him.
TW:So where did you land on the issue of Shane killing Otis? Is he a hero or a villain?
JB: I think it's really important when you're playing a character to love him and believe in him, and to never act out of … I don't think people act out of evilness. I think that Shane is a guy who is really trying to adapt to this new world order where things like shame and emotion and a moral compass, where they, I think he looks at those as things that will hold you back in this world.
You have to make hard decisions and you have to sort of build this wall around your emotions.
What's so interesting about the character is that that's an impossible thing to do, and he's an unbelievably emotional guy. He's a hard feeling guy, and it's impossible to build a wall around your heart, and I think that he's really trying hard to show how he's different than Rick … (that) he's the guy who's willing to make hard decisions, and he is a survivor.
TW: In season one, it seemed clear Shane's purpose was to protect Lori and Carl.
JB: But then Rick came back, and in season two, he has definitely taken the leadership role, yet Shane doesn't seem to believe Rick can hack it in this new world. So is his purpose, in his mind, still to protect Lori and Carl?
Yeah. I think that's it. I mean, I think it's very important to remember that in the beginning, this decision to take Lori and Carl and try to get them to Atlanta and try to get them to safety, to just do whatever it takes to keep them alive, that came out of a love for his best friend Rick, and I think that's what makes it so interesting.
Somewhere inside of Shane, he really feels like all of this was an unbelievably unselfish, altruistic move for his friend, the exact guy who now he feels like he's getting in the way of. And that's where you start to get feelings of betrayal and feelings of, all the guilt and shame that he feels for sleeping with his best friend's wife. But I think (Shane) feels like the kernel of all this was him just trying to be a good friend.
Shane's a very driven guy and once he sort of made the decision that his life now is all about keeping (Lori and Carl) alive, then he fell in love with these two people. He loves being a father figure for Carl. He loves being Lori's man. You know, once he adopted that, anyone who gets in the way of that is getting in the way of his mission and violating his code of why he's now alive.
TW: So where can he and Rick go from here? They're kind of dancing around each other right now, but that has to boil over eventually, right?
JB: What's so interesting about the second half of the season is that Rick is going to prove that he's very much capable of keeping these people alive. What that does to Shane is really, really interesting. You want somebody to be a certain way, and then they prove that they actually are that way, and what happens then can be very explosive.
Be sure to check out the rest of the interview, where you can get more great information about the remaining episodes of Season 2 of
The Walking Dead, which returns to AMC on February 12th.