We Are The Walking Dead

“When I was a kid, I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn’t answer. He said that was grown up stuff, so…. So I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him, but he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he steeped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up he told himself, ‘rest in peace—now get up and go to war.’ And then after a few years of pretending he was dead, he made it out alive. And that’s the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do, and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC I know we’ll be okay, because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead.”

Rick Grimes rarely discusses personal details with the rest of the group, but in Season 5, Episode 10, "Them", he states what is sure to become the most iconic pieces of dialog in the series.

With Bob, Beth and Tyreese gone, everyone in the group is finding it difficult to go on, compounded by the lack of food and water (the dogs probably weren't too filling). Rick’s speech, given in a desolate barn is intended to inspire the group.

According to Andrew Lincoln, "Them" is the closest The Walking Dead has come to a  Cormac McCarthy story.

He told Entertainment Weekly:

"When I was preparing for the first season of this show I read a few things and The Road was one of them. I just thought that is a modern parable. I mean that’s what it is: It’s a kind of classic parable and that’s the closest thing I can equate it to. I think there’s a simplicity, a directness, and a poetry in that book. Certainly the script had it and I hope we’ve managed to capture that in episode 10."

What did you think of Rick's speech in Episode 10?  Did you prefer the comic version?

Who Will Be In The Walking Dead Spin-Off

Here is what we think is going to go down by the end of Season 5 on the Walking Dead. Purely speculation, but you heard it hear first.

Noah, played by Tyler James Williams, will re-unite with Morgan played by Lennie James as a nephew or similar relative. This pair, will with a few other members of the hospital and Rick's group go in a different direction than the rest of the Walking Dead cast, and onto a new spin-off show, or at least long enough to kick it off as Morgan did on the parent series.

Morgan, who appeared in Season One, and for the great episode, "Clear"  in Season 3 was teased at the end of the first episode this year, after the credits, but we have not seen him since.

Morgan was the first person that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) encountered when he woke up from his coma in Season One. Morgan had saved the life of the former policeman, who was disoriented and unaware of the zombie apocalypse plaguing the world since he was hospitalized.

As he adjusted to the new situation, Rick briefly stayed with Morgan and his young son, Duane (Adrian Kali Turner). The father and son taught Rick how to defend himself and parted ways after raiding the local police station for guns and ammunition.

Rick wanted to leave the area and search for his family in Atlanta; however, Morgan couldn’t leave until he killed his "walker" wife.

Rick held onto a radio throughout Season One as a way for Morgan to get in touch if he decided to head to Atlanta. Many episodes led off with Rick talking into the radio to an unavailable Morgan.

In "Clear" found Rick, Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) searching for weapons at Rick’s old police station. It was in town that the group ran into Morgan. But Morgan wasn’t the same man who Rick had met in the past. Time and loss had changed him. Morgan had failed to kill his zombie wife. He explained that he had been too weak to pull the trigger, dooming his son. Duane had been approached by his reanimated mother, who attacked and bit him. Since then, crazy Morgan had holed up in a building with guns, ammunition and booby traps to stop any walkers in the area.

Morgan had refused to return with Rick’s group, who were staying at the prison at the time. The character’s fate remained a mystery until this season. Wearing a mask to cover his face, Morgan had been tracking man-made marks throughout the woods.

TVLine has reported that the Walking Dead spin-off will focus on two small families as well as another character, comprising the six central figures in the spin-off series. There will be the Cabreras, a father and son; the Tompkins, a single mother with two teenaged children; and Andrea Chapman, who is reeling from her own personal tragedy.

The full cast as listed by TVLine includes:

SEAN CABRERA | A Latino male in his early 40s, Sean is a good man trying to do right by everyone in his life.
CODY CABRERA | Sean's whip-smart and rebellious teenage son. Known as the angriest kid in town.
NANCY TOMPKINS | A thirtysomething single mom to two kids, Nancy looks like the girl next door, but there's an edge to her.
NICK TOMPKINS | Nancy's screwed up teenage son. He's too old to stay home, too scared to flee.
ASHLEY TOMPKINS | Nancy's mostly level-headed teenage daughter. Her ambition is in direct proportion to her older brother's failures. She loves her mom but it's time to get out of Dodge.
ANDREA CHAPMAN | A somewhat wilted flower child, fortysomething Andrea — yep, another Andrea! — has retreated to the outskirts of the city to recover after a horrible marriage.

So far there is no official word that Williams or James will be in the new series, or in next season of The Walking Dead, so we feel that as guest characters, the pair will serve as a bridge between the two shows, and possibly hopping in between them in the future.

A Sneak Peek at Season 5 - Only a Few Days Left!

In this clip from AMC, the cast and crew of The Walking Dead share their expectations for Season 5.

Will Season 4 End With A Ned Stark Moment?

In HBO's Game of Thrones, the first season ended with one of the most shocking moments in television (well, for those of us who hadn't yet read George R.R. Martin's books anyways) when the perceived main character was beheaded.

In the television version of The Walking Dead the main character, Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln has a similar role to Ned Stark. He is in an incredibly rough situation, and has already survived multiple life-threatening situations, all the while remaining a role model for his son, Carl.

Now as what remains of the group converge on Terminus, the audience all know there is going to be a very tense episode ahead that will leave our heads spinning until the Fall, when the Walking Dead returns.

We know main characters are going to die. The trailer for the Season 4 finale of The Walking Dead above does little to change our view of that. The message talking about "Community for all" sounds like it's supposed to be a welcome and encouraging greeting, but it's creepy. Even the name 'Terminus' is creepy.

Also, in one (potentially) final lesson from father to son, in the clip above, Rick shows Carl how to set a snare.  We can be pretty sure the irony is that Terminus also a trap the group is headed for too.  Even Joe so much as told that to Daryl.

At All Things Walking Dead, we think Rick is on the chopping block (and in Terminus that can be particularly grizzly).  The T.V. show has already demonstrated it is fine with getting rid of characters that are still alive in the comic version.

What could be more shocking for fans, and create even more of a buzz for the show, than to have Rick Grimes killed off?  Dale, no; Andrea, no; Rick, for sure.

Just remember folks, we called it.

Rick Grimes

Rick Grimes is a sheriff's deputy from a small town outside of Atlanta who is wounded in the line of duty at the beginning of the Walking Dead story-line. When he wakes up, he discovers the world has become a zombie apocalypse.  Like the audience and reader, Rick is thrown headfirst into the Walking Dead's world.

While Rick in the coma, his best friend and partner Shane leaves Rick in the hospital during the chaos of the initial outbreak figuring he is dead.  Shane then takes up an affair with Rick's wife, Lori. Although Lori later admits to the affair after learning she’s pregnant, Rick tells Shane he had already figured out the truth on his own.

As the story's main protagonist (so far) Rick struggles to cling to the moral code he represents as a police officer. In the story of the Walking Dead, this is often easier said than done. At one point early in the story, Rick states, "We don't kill the living, only to subsequently realize that the philosophy does not necessarily play out when “the living tried to kill us.”

Becoming the group’s leader, Rick takes the responsibility upon himself of keeping everyone safe as well as finding them a safe refuge.

When his son Carl is accidentally shot by Otis, a man living in a secluded farmhouse with Hershel's family, Rick thinks he’s found a haven. But even the farm eventually proves to be unstoppable to a walker horde, and needs to be abandoned.

Meanwhile Shane's affair with Lori is not the only strain on Rick and Shane’s relationship.  Shane was the initial leader of the group when Rick met up with them outside of Atlanta.  Shane constantly questions and betrays Rick’s leadership as he struggles with his own demons, including the sacrificing of Otis to a walker herd to save himself.

The struggle for power among the living characters of the Walking Dead is a prevalent theme, and the corrupting influence of power and the path to get it are continually played out.

Shane accuses Rick of being unable to make the hard choices to keep people safe, like killing the walkers Hershel has hidden in his barn.   Shane plots to murder Rick, blame the murder on the "escaped captive" Randall, and assume leadership of the group. Rick, however, aware of what is happening is able to use his cunning to kill Shane first. “Damn you for making me do this,” Rick cries.

After escaping from the walker attack on Hershel's farm, his leadership is again questioned when he reveals that he’d been keeping a secret from the group.  Just before the group escaped the demolition of the Center For Disease control building, Dr. Jenner let Rick know that everyone is infected, and that when people die, they will become walkers, even if they are not bit.  Rick did not tell the group, possibly because he did not know if it was true, but when Shane turns soon after Rick killed him, the truth is confirmed.

“I didn’t ask for this,” Rick counters. He maintains there’s still a place where the group can fortify and build a new life, but invites anyone who wants to leave to do so. “If you’re staying,” he warns, “this isn’t a democracy any more.”

In The Walking Dead, Rick isn’t nearly as calm and collected as he is in the TV series. In fact, on the Hershel's farm, it is Rick that confronts Hershel and says the walkers in the barn must be put down. This is also due to the fact that Shane is not as much of a main character in the comic as in the TV series.

In The Walking Dead television series, Rick is played by British actor Andrew Lincoln.

Lincoln is the son of a civil engineer father and a South African mother, a nurse. He was educated at Beechen Cliff School in Bath, and then the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Lincoln's first big break came when he was cast as Edgar 'Egg' Cook in the popular UK drama series "This Life". Various roles followed including that of teacher Simon Casey in the Channel 4 series "Teachers", and as Mark in the hit film Love Actually. In 2010, he was cast in "The Walking Dead".

Discussing the character of Rick with Fangoria, Lincoln commented:

"I think his humanity is pretty intact but his ruthlessness, his decision making, has moved into a Shane point of view. There is an uncompromising nature that I think has happened over time to Rick. The other thing to bear in mind is that he is the most isolated, both in his group and in his relationship. I don't think he is in the most stable-certainly when I was playing it, I wanted it to be this instantaneous, almost Pavlovian reaction to the situation. Certainly, in season one and season two, I don't think he would have been so quick to make that judgment call. That's one of the joys of playing Rick. The moral ambiguity of the show is the most interesting part for me-certainly as an actor-because in any other world, any other situation that wasn't Hell you wouldn't make these kinds of calls. You wouldn't be pushed into this corner to make these calls. The thing that dignifies him and helps to justify the situation is the fact that he always has their safety as a priority, so it becomes this sort of selfless act even though it's incredibly evil. His humanity is never fully taken away from him, although as we go through this season it diminishes and diminishes and that's all I will say."