Along with new showrunner Scott M. Gimple, Robert Kirkman is at the center of The Walking Dead Season 4's development and knows the plan for the upcoming season. There are definitely a lot of questions about where the show is headed after last Sunday's Season 3 finale, and Kirkman discussed what we can look forward to in the fourth season during a recent interview.

As mentioned recently, David Morrissey is back as a series regular in the fourth season. Here's what Robert Kirkman told IGN about The Governor: "Yeah, he’s still very much in the mix. That’s certainly not the last that we’ll see of him. When we see him again and where we see him again, that’s the big question. It’s not going to be like it was in Season 3; it’s not going to be Rick and the Governor on a collision course with a conflict between them. He’ll be used in very different ways next season."

We'll see a different Carl and Rick in Season 4: "Rick has had a success. The people at the prison have survived this conflict with the Governor, he brought people from Woodbury into the prison, and he’s kind of had this big win. He’s had this moment where he’s brought people together and he’s doing good things. But he’s had this tremendous loss in that Carl has lost this piece of his humanity. This has been Rick’s main mission throughout the show, to protect his family. We’ve seen two very big failures on that front this season.

Moving into next season, we’re going to see a very different Rick, but one of his main goals is to manage this situation with Carl and see if he can bring him back from this darkness that’s crept into him. Whether or not he’s able to do that, we’ll have to see. But this is a big change in the character of Carl, but it’s something that’s going to be weighing heavily on Rick next season."

Although it seemed very likely, Robert Kirkman confirmed that the new season will take place at the prison once again: "I’ll say that there are a lot of familiar elements that are remaining. Michonne is still around, Rick and his group are still in the prison, the Governor’s still out there… so there are a lot of things that are carrying over from Season 3 to Season 4, but I can’t stress how different things are going to be.

There are going to be some radical changes to those elements that are going to bring in a lot of new storytelling. While [Season 4] does seem somewhat familiar, it’s going to be vastly different from Season 3."

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For more on The Walking Dead Season 4 from Robert Kirkman, head over to IGN by visiting the source link below. We'll have our exclusive interview discussing Season 3 and beyond with Gale Anne Hurd later this week. Catch up on our recent coverage with the following links:

Source: IGN via STYD