The 2013 Paleyfest kicked off last night with a panel of the cast and crew of AMC’s The Walking Dead. In addition to some details about the remainder of the third season, they talked a little bit about the upcoming fourth season.
I think there may be a wee bit less of the run and gun. And [we’ll] get a little more into some of our characters, Executive Producer Greg Nicotero told EW. The challenge with a show like this, when you have a big ensemble, is you dont want any of the characters to get lost; its important that we know what Carols story is and that we know what Beths story is. And when youre trying to service a lot of characters, it becomes challenging. Watching the first season of Walking Dead and seeing how grounded it was, thats really important to all of us. Andy Lincoln and I spent a lot of time going through the scripts and making sure we feel that theyre grounded. Because thats what keeps our audience coming back. The walkers and the gore and the action and stuff, thats fun, thats the popcorn part of it. But if you dont have characters that people are invested in, you lose your audience.
If this doesn’t sound like a good idea to you then you should speak out, because creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman says they’re listening to you.
We have the best fans in the world. If you go to the site, you see the message boards and can find out what they like and what they dont like. We look at that, so we know sort of what fans want and what we dont. Theyve given us a lot of interesting ideas. Were ultimately going to do something thats entirely unique and ours, but the fans are going to be very happy.”
Earlier this week, we revealed that production on the fourth season will begin in Atlanta, Georgia on May 6 and executive producer Gale Ann Herd says they’ve already mapped out the first eight episodes of season 4, which is set to air this October.
The Walking Dead has just five episodes left in its third season. It airs on Sundays at 9/8c.
