Q: So…we saw in the trailer that Rick is holding Judith, but at the end of the season, she is still with Carol…

Kirkman: Spoilers! You’ll see. There’s a lot of misdirection going on in this trailer.

Q: As far as Terminus, how are we going to see all of these characters coexist?

Kirkman: That’s really the question. Is this a unification between two factions? Does it seem like Rick is the kind of person who is able to maintain a relationship for any length of time (in the state that you saw him in at the end of Season Four)? Does it seem like the “Terminites” would be agreeable to that? These a all things that will be answered very soon in the season. There is still a lot to be revealed is all I will say.

Q: What are your thoughts on breaking away from the comic toward the end of Season Four, and how is it being a part of the Writer’s Room and working on new things like Terminus?

Kirkman: If we were adapting the comic book directly, I would be incredibly bored and would not want to work on the show. I’d be writing the stuff that I had already written before. Things like Terminus and other new elements keep me excited and engaged in the writers room. I’m always all for it and pushing for that kind of stuff. With that being said, I will say that Season Five may possibly have more comic book moments than any season has had thus far. There’s certainly a lot of ground to cover, and there’s a lot there that we are going to be getting to very quickly. We will be getting to it in new and different ways in Season Five. You guys won’t see it coming. We will be going along a similar tack that we did in season four, and then all of sudden you’ll go “wait a minute, they’re doing the Ben and Billy story! Holy crap!”. We will be doing stuff a little bit “remixed” as Scott Gimple says.

Q: We recently saw a time jump in the comics, have you thought about doing that in the TV show?

Kirkman: Not really. If we continue at the pace that we’re going, that’s the material we would be thinking about closer to Season 12. We aren’t planning that far ahead in the television show. I’m very happy that I am able to produce the comic with the same level of freedom, and without oversight in the same way that I’ve always done. It’s essential. I’m still telling the comic book story that I’ve always wanted and intended to tell. We will deal with it when it gets to the show.  Q: In the trailer there is a very similar moment to the comic that puts Glenn’s life in danger…someone coming at him with a bat. Is this something we can expect to see this season?

Kirkman: You can expect anything this season! I will just stop there. Anything is possible. 

Q: Is there any kind of theme to Season Five?

Kirkman: There definitely is… but it will emerge. It is something that is happening with all of the characters, and by the mid-season finale you’ll get a sense of what direction were going in. There is something that ties the entire 16 episode arc together in a big way, but none of that has been indicated in the trailer, and there is no way of answering that without giving away some pretty huge spoilers. I will say that it all does involve the trip to Atlanta that has been mentioned in the trailers. That journey changes things quite a bit for these characters and this story. 

Q: When you created the character Negan (comic character), did you think that the character would be this popular? The fans want to see him in the show, and there has been the fan casting discussion of wanting Jon Hamm for the role…

Kirkman: Well that (casting) is never gonna happen. How much I love a character when i’m writing them is usually an indication of how the audience is going to feel about them. I absolutely love writing that character, and where I’ve been able to go with him. The extensive vocabulary… It’s been a lot of fun. I’m equally as excited about bringing this character to the show as the fans are. We don’t want to rush it, and we want to do it in the right way. If I had introduced Negan 20 issues earlier in the comic, I don’t think it would have been as cool. We’re gonna make sure we take our time. … Thanks again to Robert Kirkman and our friends at AMC for arranging this interview opportunity.

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