Robert Kirkman Discusses THE WALKING DEAD Season Finale - Spoilers

A lot of people didn't seem to like the season 3 finale of The Walking Dead. It didn't even really feel like a season finale, it was so lackluster. But according to creator Robert Kirkman, this is what they've been planning all along. He recently talked to Entertainment Weekly and answered some questions regarding how the season ended. 

For those of you who haven't seen the last episode yet, I wouldn't read this interview because it's full of SPOILERS. He discusses bringing The Governor back, why he killed the residents of Woodbury, his decision to kill Andrea and Merle, the crazy cold change in Carl, and what we can expect to see in season 4.  

On bringing The Governor back for the fouth season: 

That was always the plan. I think everybody involved in the Walking Dead has kind of caught on to that cable trope of bringing a big new character into a series and then, by the end of that season, that character magically dying or being written out of the show in some clever way. We really wanted to give people that sense that this was the kind of thing we were doing — but flip the script at the end. We’ve got a lot more to do with the Governor.

On if David Morrissey knew he would involved with more than one season: 

[Laughs] Yes, he was aware that he was going to be on for more than one season.

On why The Governor killed the residents of Woodbury: 

It was really trying to build on that self-destructive moment when you’re seeing that this guy who seemingly had it all together — who seemingly was capable of running this town and rebuilding a civilization to some extent — actually didn’t have it together at all and can very easily be frustrated to the point of completely ruining everything he had going. It’s a downfall, to a certain extent. It is a resolution to this season. The Governor is without all of the things he had before and it is supposed to be showing just how much this guy has spiraled out of control because of his interactions with Rick and the other people in Rick’s community.

On killing Andrea: 

That was huge. We spent many months of figuring that out and coming to that decision. It’s never an easy thing to kill a character and that one was definitely tough, because Laurie Holden is such a huge part of the show and it is quite a departure from the comic books. I can imagine there are a good number of fans that are frustrated by it and heartbroken over it and that’s what we’re going for.

On killing Merle: 

That was a huge debate. As I say, every death is an important decision. When it came down to it, it was everything that he does for Daryl. We had seen Daryl’s character grow so much without Merle and it was a lot of fun seeing him revert back to old behavior and seeing how having his brother around affected him. But in the end we felt that losing that character would activate the Daryl character in so many different and interesting ways that it seemed almost essential to the show. We also kind of made Merle a hero on the way out. That’s what that character’s journey ended up being and we thought that was very interesting.

On how worried we should be about Carl and his behavior: 

Very worried! Growing up in this world is not doing that guy a lot of good and it’s taking him to some very dark and interesting places and I think, coming back for season 4, Rick’s going to have a hard time reeling that guy in and trying to find a shred of that kid’s humanity and bringing it to the forefront. Because that guy’s taken a dark turn.

On where season 4 currently stands: 

I think, as of today, we’re halfway done writing. We’ve got almost half of the scripts in for the season and we start shooting in May and things are going really well. We’re very much knee-deep into it. I’m happy that these episodes have finally aired so that I don’t have secrets from season 3 and secrets from season 4 to keep. Now I can just keep it straight and not say anything about season 4 and that’ll be easy to do.

On what can expect to see in season 4: 

Season 4 is all about change. We’re going to see a lot has changed in the prison. I think a lot has changed with these characters. I think we’re going to see a very different Rick with very different motives and we’ll see how this conflict with Woodbury and the death of Andrea has affected everybody. And we’ll see a lot of new elements, as we do on every season of the Walking Dead. It’s going to be exciting and different and cool but it’ll still have zombies with it. It’ll still have the things that everybody loves.

What do you think about what Kirkman had to say about the decisions they made for the season 3 finale, and are you looking forward to season 4?