BradleyX2

it had an ending scene with Rick rummaging around in the house he's living in.

He finds a dollar bill.

He holds it up and stares at it.

He lowers his arms and stares into space for a few panels.

Then, he softly sighs: "......rats."

that Lori is pregnant.

The Walking Dead: Is Merle the Governor?

IGN talks to Robert Kirkman about some of the surprising new twists from "Wildfire." Plus, could Merle wind up becoming The Governor?

November 29, 2010

by Matt Fowler

Well, that was unexpected. Not that AMC's The Walking Dead TV series isn't going to frequently deviate from the comic series that it's based on, but in the latest episode "Wildfire," not only did we see Shane live, having not been killed before everyone leaves the RV camp, but we saw Rick and company head off to seek refuge at Atlanta's own Centers for Disease Control where a scientist named Jenner (Noah Emmerich) seemed to be working on a cure for the outbreak "I Am Legend"-style.

While this new CDC storyline seems like it might be a godsend for Rick, Carl and Lori, could we be watching a new take on the "Gated Community" story from the comics? Where the group finds a place that they very quickly learn is too good to be true? And still no Merle Dixon. Which means he's out there. And that there's a good chance that he'll be sticking round until Season 2. IGN had a chance to talk to the comic book series creator and executive producer of the TV show, Robert Kirkman, about these new developments and about whether or not Merle, down the road, might wind up taking the place of the famed, sadistic "Governor of Woodbury."

IGN: Once again, like "Vatos," this episode, "Wildfire," seemed to be a mix of the old and the new. The camp stuff felt familiar to those who've read the comics, but the new CDC plot took us all by surprise.

Robert Kirkman: Yeah. It's a funny thing. I set the comic book in Atlanta for fairly arbitrary reasons. Just because, regionally, it's the largest city where I started the characters out and I thought it would be a good safe zone for them to go to and that's why the comic takes place there. But Frank Darabont [Executive Producer], when he was brought in to the do the show, thought of a very interesting tidbit of information that I wasn't fully aware of and that's the fact that the CDC is stationed in Atlanta, Georgia. I had no clue. And he said "You know if the CDC is there then that's something that could be pretty useful to the show that we should probably explore." And so one of the big things that he's brought to the show is the CDC story-arc that begins and the end of "Wildfire" and continues into episode 6. So yeah, there are definitely some interesting things going on there. So stay tuned. I don't know how much actual zombie information we'll learn as far as what causes the zombie outbreak, but who knows? The show could surprise you.

IGN: Looking at message boards back during the airing of episode 3, I noticed that there were more than a few people, who obviously hadn't read the comic books, stating that they couldn't wait to find out what caused the virus outbreak. If they read the books then they would know that it's not something that ever gets directly addressed. But already, in "Wildfire," we got to see it head on. Was it because it's TV show and TV viewers demand answers faster?

Kirkman: That wasn't really a consideration. It was just a really good story idea. And I will say that, very early on in the comic book series I got all sorts of the same requests for answers and it's something that you just have to "beat out" of the fan-base as you go along. You just have to train them to know what's important and what isn't. To me, the specific origins of where the zombies came from has never been all that important. And I think that the fans of the comic book series, now, have come to understand that because they see where I wanted to go with the comics and what I've done. I think fans of the television show will probably fall in line with that thinking as well as the show progresses. Unless we reveal everything about what causes the zombies in episode 6.

IGN: Another big surprise for comic book fans was that Shane is still alive. Will there be more characters who die in the books but won't die in the show?

Kirkman: Oh sure. As you can see in "Wildfire," Shane is a perfect example of that. At this point in the comic book series, when they leave that camp, Shane is dead. And now they've already left the camp on the TV show and Shane is still alive. So it's still a question as to how long will Shane actually live on the TV show as he's already outlived his character in the comic series. I think that's a really cool thing. As the show progresses too, there will be characters who die sooner than they do in the comic book series and there will be characters who live longer than they do in the comic book series. All of the deaths won't exactly line up with how they do in the comics. Things will be different. And I think these differences will serve to make the television show as interesting and compelling, and have as many unexpected twists and turns as the comic book series does. And that's something that's been important to me from the very beginning.

IGN: Now Merle has already gone missing, so he's out there and he's already missing a hand. We're all assuming he's going to come back and cause trouble for Rick in a big way. Is The Governor character from your comic book series someone who could easily translate to a TV series, or will he have to be tweaked up a bit and given a new sheen? Like if Merle turned out, down the road, to be The Governor?

Kirkman: There's certainly a possibility of that, but I think people might be thinking a little too hard about it. I have had fans, after watching the third episode, email me or say something online on a message board about how they think Merle is going to be The Governor of the television show. All I would say to that is that I don't think people are going to be able to figure out this show that early. We have interesting things in store for Merle that will probably surprise you. And The Governor, as he is in the comic books, is a character that Frank [Darabont] really likes and he's very adamant that he wants to get him into the television show. So we wouldn't bring him onto the show in a way that makes him fundamentally different from how he was in the comic.