Yidio Focus: 'The Walking Dead' Season Two Spoilers, Stephen King Rumors at C2E2 Panel Discussion
by Richard Sharp
What’s the first thing you’d do in the event of a zombie apocalypse? Jon Bernthal from “The Walking Dead” says he’d “call up my best friend’s wife and see what she’s up to.”
Bahdumpbump.
Bernthal (who plays dirty, under-handed wife-stealer Shane Walsh in the show) joined Laurie Holden (heart-broken zombie-fighter Andrea) at C2E2, a comics and entertainment convention held this weekend in Chicago, for a fantastic panel discussion about the wildly popular, Golden Globe-nominated AMC series. Yidio hit the panel to find out what’s happening in the second season of one of our favorite shows.
King Rumors
The panel’s juiciest news came from Laurie Holden.
“I heard a rumor that Stephen King’s gonna write an episode for us,” she said.
While there’s no word yet on which episode King might write, Holden said King is in talks to write an episode for the show, which is based off of a successful Robert Kirkman graphic novel series. King has collaborated in the past with the show’s creator, Frank Darabonte, in “The Mist,” which Holden also starred in.
The actors also revealed that Darabonte will be writing but not directing the season opener.
Bernthal also confirmed that shooting on the show start June 1st of this year and that the next season will be 13 episodes.
Spoiler Alert: Season Two Details
On the story arc for his character in season two, Bernthal said, “I think we’re going to see a guy who’s lonely when season 2 starts. It’s a different kind of loneliness. He’s not lonely because he’s far away from the people he loves, he’s lonely because he’s right with the people he loves and he can’t be with them the way that he wants to. And I think that kind of loneliness makes you capable of doing some pretty heavy stuff.”
The biggest question for Bernthal will be whether or not that “heavy stuff” will lead to his demise. His Shane Walsh character is sort of The Walking Dead within The Walking Dead, as his character is already toast by this point in the storyline of the original graphic novel. Bernthal acknowledged he has his concerns about an early demise, but givent hat he had already gone past the point of no inked return, he thought he stood a good chance of sticking around for a bit.
Laurie Holden talked about the end of Season One and how the grief she felt will likely fuel her character in Season Two.
“I think the only reason Andrea left the CDC is because she didn’t want Dale’s blood on her hands. I think that she desperately wanted to check out and be with her sister. She’s lost everything and she has no love in her life, and I think there’s going to be a lot of resentment towards Dale in Season Two. I know that what he did was very selfless and loving, but I don’t think Andrea can see past her grief right now.”
Thankfully, all that grief will eventually morph into the intense urge to kick some zombie ass.
“I’m very excited about Andrea getting stronger, and finding her feet….She does emerge as a warrior and I’m very excited for her to put those boots on and start shooting off some zombies. But there’s a journey she’s going to have to go through, and I think that in she’s going to be a bit of a lone wolf in season two.”
Humans Headed to Hershel's Farm, Facing Greater Danger
For fans of the graphic novel (i.e. pretty much all the fans at the C2E2 panel we attended), Holden shared some spoilers about how what’s coming next in Season Two of the show might compare to the plotline in the books.
“I know we are going to get to Hershel’s farm in Season Two. But I can’t wait to get to the prison. Tyreese and Michonne and The Governor -- we’ve got some very bad ass people we are going to meet, but I don’t think we will get to the prison in season two because there is a lot to do, but we haven’t read the script so we don’t know.”
As with the past season, many of the most serious dangers the remaining humans face will come from within, says Bernthal.
“In this season, you’re going to see that these people are a lot more dangerous to each other than the zombies are.”
"The Walking Dead" returns to AMC in October of 2011.