The Walking Dead showrunner talks Season 5, calls it extremely brutal

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

“The Walking Dead” showrunner Scott M. Gimple is going to be talking up a blue streak now that the zombie series is only two months away from premiering. In a new “Dispatches from the Set” via AMC’s official site, Gimple talks about how the new season differs from the last one, budding romance, and the apparently brutal circumstances our survivors will have to endure.

On this season compared to last:

The second half of Season 4, especially, had a lot to do with these characters being separated in the most extreme circumstances. The beginning of Season 5, they’re obviously not that separated. There are a couple of characters that are still [away] from the rest, like Carol, Tyreese and Judith. Everyone else is pretty much together and that’s a stark difference. I would say from more of a thematic place, things are going to get extremely brutal and life is going to get that much more difficult for these characters, but they are together, so they have more support. They have each other to lean on and they’re going to need to lean on each other quite a bit.

On the show continually reinventing itself:

Every episode, the show reinvents itself. We’ve always approached it like we’ve got a brand new paradigm in 8 episodes. The pleasure of the show is taking all of these different characters’ stories and interweaving them so that they affect one another. That can be a challenge. As far as production challenges go, it’s a very ambitious season in terms of scope. We’ve been battling all of the elements — and not just Georgia weather. It’s totally self-inflicted, but everyone has been up to it.

On how the creative team decides who lives and who dies:

It’s never an easy decision, but it’s always in service to the story. When characters do die, the story led to that point. Sometimes it can seem shocking and totally random, but it all has to add up. It’s an aspect of the show and a reality of the world.”

On how “love and romance” will figure into this season:

Love or romance is going to be an element this season. It’s not going to be an element in a huge part of the season, but as we get towards a specific part of the season, it’s going to become more of a reality and a complication. Human nature, all the good and bad parts, are things that both complement and compromise survival. Love is part of that.”

To read the full interview, head over to AMC. “The Walking Dead” returns on October 12th.