Live: 'The Walking Dead' panel at Comic-Con

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief

Published: July 13 2012 | 21:12

Last updated: February 9 2021 | 07:38

What next for the band of survivors in The Walking Dead? Find out in our live coverage of the show's panel at Comic-Con.

Next up on the agenda for today, it's The Walking Dead!

An action-packed second season finale saw the remaining group of survivors back on the road and back in disarray after the farm was destroyed and naughty Shane was killed off by Rick. Now, as season three approaches, the gang are taking a trip to prison...

Note that all times in this live blog are Pacific, which is eight hours behind UK time and three hours behind East Coast.

2.31pmAfter another play of the trailer, that's a wrap on this panel. Join me again in a few for the Game of Thrones panel!

2.26pmLast question. Why are the women on the show written so scary? Why don't they do the killing themselves? Mazzara: "That's a great idea, maybe they will," he says with a hint this season. Callies: "I think Lori did everything she could to handle Shane. She brought it to Rick - she didn't tell him to kill him, she told him to watch his back, which wound up right, because Shane tried to kill him and the right man won that fight."

2.25pmNicotero has found a woman in the audience who he is going to make a zombie bust of. Bit random.

2.24pmMorrissey: "I think if I was given half the chance I'd be like him. We like to think of the best aspects of ourselves, but we don't know what we're like in this challenging world."

2.23pmGurira: "She's so insanely sharp and her instincts are so spot on, it's amazing. I hope I could get as smart and sharp as her, but definitely there's an aspect of me that I have a bit of lionness in me."

2.22pmCohan: "Maggie's a romantic, which I have in common with her. And I like boys that usually attract twelve year olds."

2.22pmYeun: "Early on, Glenn was a reflection of how I was when I was younger - chip on the shoulder, things to prove. I wasn't as popular with the younger ladies back then! I have no idea what's going on."

2.21pmHolden: "Andrea's changed a lot on journey. I think now, today, I'm probably closest to Andrea personally. Mind you that could change at any moment because she's kind of mercurial."

2.20pmCallies: "The number of people who've come up to me and said 'I can't believe you slept with your husband's best friend!' and I'm in the grocery with my daughter and I'm like 'I'm Sarah and I play a homewrecker on TV'."

2.19pmWho is most and least like their characters? Lincoln: "This is the joy of being an actor, you get to people you would never really be. I love Rick but I don't think I'm anything like him." Callies: "I would hope I'm pretty different from Lori in some significant ways. I imagine my husband and real-life daughter would prefer that."

2.18pmAnother underage girl comes up and professes her love for Yeun. "We know your demographic now Steven," says the moderator, "and we know you should not now be allowed at Legoland."

2.17pmCould Daryl ever come into the comic book? Kirkman: "Never. No! I have the story in the comic book plotted out for quite a long time, and working something new into that is, errr.... thanks for the question."

2.16pmGirl: "If you were in an apocalypse for real, would you survive?" Yeun: "Me, or everyone?" Girl: "I don't really care."

2.15pmA girl flirts with Yeun, then reveals she's 12.

2.13pmWill we find out the history of Daryl Dixon? Kirkman: "The show doesn't necessarily like to look back, but I will say there is a new game coming from Activision that features Daryl and Merle back in the early days of the apocalypse killing zombies."

2.12pmHow did they get away with Andrea grabbing Shane? Holden: "It was just a hand. You should see what we did that got cut!"

2.11pmLincoln: "We're lucky that we film down in the south and the dialect is of that area. It's just the rhythms. I'm like a sponge, I just sort of absorb inflection. Also I just love living and working in America. My coffee shop people, Aurora coffee shop in Atlanta, don't hear this silly coice I put on for Comic-Con... they only hear the real dialect. I just stay in dialect."

2.09pmA boy called Carl, dressed as Rick, asks Lincoln and Cohan how they developed such convincing accents. Cohan: "We work with a wonderful dialect coach. We have skype sessions every Sunday, it's like church. Andy sets such a good example."

2.07pmAudience questions. Brazilian woman says the show is a hit there. She asks Lincoln which other role he would play on the show. "I'm having a bromance at the moment with Norman Reedus, but Carl is a great character. He is such a gifted actor and the stuff he's doing this season is going to blow your mind. He makes choices that are way beyond his years. His journey this season is something I'm watching very closely... it's a thrill."

2.05pmWhere does Lincoln think Rick is at right now? "I certainly think this season you meet him at a place where he has been pushing people away to protect his son, and in so doing he loses his humanity. Rick has isolated himself from the group and his marriage, and that's the way he's protecting everyone. I'm currently going batshit crazy by the way, the last few weeks [of filming] I'm going bananas."

2.04pmDifferences between US and UK productions? "The heat. In the UK we don't really get the heat like you do in Georgia, but it's still great. I was in Doctor Who as you said, it's a very well cared-for show. It's very similar to this show, in that it's made for by people who care for it."

2.03pmHow was it for Morrissey joining an established show? "I came into the show as a fan, I've known Andy for a long time, I just loved it. When the opportunity came I was very excited. The thing they can never prepare you for is walking onto set and discovering they have a great crew. People want to be there. They want to work on this show."

2.02pmWhat are the physical demands for her? "Interestingly I learnt early on about the magic of going to this natural foodstore and getting all these health things. Cherries are really good for the joints. It's really been helping me feel really good at the end of the day."

2.01pmHow has life changed for Gurira since she was cast as Michonne? "It's completely different, amazing. I've been able to learn how to use a Katana sword. I've been embraced by the most phenomenal group of TV makers ever.

2.00pmYeun says that all of the cast now have "the black lung" from the new air conditioning on set.

1.58pmCohan: "I think Maggie's pretty lucky right now, because she still has more family left than anyone else. We are now thrown into an absolutely insane world. The farm was a walk in the park compared to where we are. Maggie and Glenn are super tight now."

1.57pmYeun on Glenn in S3 - will he accept love? "He can't just dive in, you've got to play it right. With Glenn this season, it's really a blessing to play this part because I get a very identifiable arc of someone that starts off as a boy and he grows up into a man. First season was showing that, second season was realising that, and third season is manning up and doing what he's supposed to be doing. It's a blast."

1.55pmHolden on Andrea's separate storyline this season: "At the end of season two, I was saved by this wonderful woman, Michonne. It's a very different season for Andrea. She's met this alpha female and they become very good friends and they watch each other's backs. It's wonderful storytelling as the battle the elements in this apocalyptic world."

1.54pmReedus - how has Daryl evolved? "He's a guy that's under the thumb of his big brother Merle. Being away from Merle, he's finding himself needed and appreciated, and making bonds with these people. He'd fight to the death for this people. He's kind of growing up. I love playing him."

1.52pmCallies: "It's wonderful [to be here], even though I know there are some of you that are mad at me. And that's cool. We'll talk about it later. But this is our only opportunity to deal with you guys. You're honest and you're raw. It's also really humbling."

1.51pmLincoln: "Just so you know, everybody is busting their guts to bring the best season we've ever brought to you. A big salute to the crew as well, because they are phenomenal."

1.50pmThe cast are all now fully out. The moderator asks how they're all feeling. Lincoln: "I think I'm having an out-of-body experience at the moment. This is insane. The shooting schedule is crazy - it's hot, it's fierce, it's brutal and we love it that way."

1.45pmExclusive trailer alert! You'll see it soon enough, but lots of shots of Michonne, the governor, Woodbury and the Prison. And it ends with a shot of Merle brandishing a gun.

1.44pmHurd adds that the new season will start the very next day around the world and on Fox channels around the world within one week.

1.43pmAnnouncement: premiere date is Sunday, October 14 at 9pm on AMC.

1.42pmHow true can they stick to the depths of horribleness in the comics? Mazzara: "One, it's about staying true to the spirit of the comic book - raw and visceral - and we want to have these new characters and develop them, have people invested, so when you see incredible stuff happen to them, it hurts."

1.41pmMazzara has an announcement to make. "I'm so excited about this show, I love the people we work with. I really think we're in the zone on this one. We keep pushing each other." Come on Glen, on with the announcement!

1.40pmHow true sticking to the comics? Hurd: "Michonne kicks ass with a Katana sword. The intensity level is incredible. We've got our cast inoculated now. The new people realise just what they're in for and what we expect."

1.39pmHurd: "This season it's been fantastic. We have not only a prison location but we're introducing Woodberry and the characters that populate that, the kick-ass Michonne and the Governor."

1.39pmNicotero says his episode was written by Angela Kang and features three different things from the graphic novels.

1.37pmNicotero: "We're going to do some animatronic puppets this season that we didn't get to do before. We're going to keep you guessing." He adds that he finished directing his first episode (I'd guess episode five) about a week and a half ago.

1.36pmImprovements to the zombies? Nicotero: "Every year we want to show and refine and determine what we love about certain zombies. We're always changing the contact lenses and the dentures, we put bald caps on the guys. We really wanna sell this year that they're decomposing, emaciated and hungry. And there's a lot of them."

1.35pmAlpert: "The comic book is something I've been working on with Robert for years, so seeing it transform onto the big screen is one of the greatest experiences of my life. I feel like the pace really started to pick up at the end of season two. We're starting to put our foot on the accelerator now."

1.34pmKirkman: "We have a prison, that we've built. It's pretty amazing. It doesn't look like a backlot."

1.33pmKirkman: "We open on a scene of I can't tell you, and it quickly transitions into a scene of you'll have to wait and see."

1.33pmHere's Chris now. He's bouncy. Out come the crew.

1.31pmTwo minutes to go, apparently.

1.28pmThe moderator for today's panel is Chris Hardwick of The Talking Dead.

1.25pmWe're about to get underway. The tight snake outside the men's has dissipated.

1.23pmThe two big new cast members for the next season are Morrissey, who plays a major new villain, and Gurira as Michonne, the hooded figure whom Andrea sauntered off with at the end of the last season.

1.19pmOn the panel today we have Andrew Lincoln (Rick), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori), Norman Reedus (Daryl), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Lauren Cohan (Maggie), Danai Gurira (Michonne) and David Morrissey (The Governor), as well as executive producers Glen Mazzara, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and Dave Alpert, plus special effects maestro Greg Nicotero.

1.16pmIf you missed my blog for The Big Bang Theory just now by the way, you can find it here.

1.14pmSpeaking of the bathroom, there appears to be a crazed supervisor outside of the men's who is instructing those queuing to form a "tight snake". He doesn't seem to get why shouting "we need a tighter snake guys" is making them all laugh.

1.13pmAfter a quick bathroom break, it's straight on to the next panel! Not too many people have left in the interval, which is bad news for the many thousands still waiting outside to get in.