The Walking Dead Showrunner Glen Mazzara talks Season 2 Finale

Over the last couple of days, I've been releasing a number of features from my recent conference call with Glen Mazzara. We covered zombie infection rules yesterday and are back with Mazzara's comments on big events in season 2 and tonight's finale:

**Spoiler Warning: Don't read this if you haven't seen up to episode 2.12**

**Minor Spoiler Warning: Glen talks about minor items related to tonight's finale, but does not appear to give away any major spoilers.**

Will there be more deaths in the season 2 finale?

Glen Mazzara: “There's more bloodshed coming, I will say that. These characters have felt that they are safe on this farm and they've been wrong… I guarantee there will be bloodshed.”

Comparing deaths on the TV series versus the comic:

Glen Mazzara: “We’re not afraid to kill characters. We’ve been doing it. By the time the finale ends, in the past 6 episodes, we’ll have more deaths than number of episodes. I won’t tell you what those numbers are, but if you count up all the deaths we’re certainly on a good killing spree right here.

But you have to build to it. You have to anticipate it, you arc to it, you design it. Because again, we want to have it land emotionally for the audience, have it land emotionally for our characters, and propel the story forward.

It’s all about the story and the character. We don’t really have other concerns. I know that fans have their favorites, but we are really focused on telling the most exciting, surprising, compelling, emotionally rewarding story that we can.”

Will the finale be a cliffhanger?

Glen Mazzara: “I will guarantee that people will watch this finale and want to know what comes next. I think a lot of the diehard fans will say: "I can't wait for October." There are things that are clearly setting up stories and there's also a nice payoff to some of the emotional stories that then open up new storylines for season 3. People are going to have a lot of questions in a good way when it cuts to black.”

Will we see more T-dog in the finale?

Glen Mazzara: “I will say that T-Dog fans will be happy to see some terrific stuff from IronE Singleton in the finale. If you look at T-Dog’s statements at the beginning, he realizes that he is very much an outsider within this group, and he doesn’t trust anybody. In our minds, he’s very very smart because he keeps his mouth shut. He’s not drawing anyone’s attention. He’s not drawing anyone’s ire, and his agenda has been to survive, and he doesn’t trust any of these people. In the finale there are some reason to love T-Dog, but there is a method to our madness here.”

What can we expect from zombie kills in the finale?

Glen Mazzara: “Greg [Nicotero] was very involved in all of the zombies in the finale, and I can’t say what specific scene, but it is interesting. There’s an event in the finale that we were talking about something and Greg said, “Let’s use what Robert did in the comic book.” So there was an event in the comic book that we adapted and it was Greg that pointed it out. The scene wasn’t really working, it didn’t have the juice, and Greg said, “Well Robert just did something in the comic book that really shocked us.” So I said: “Great, we’ll steal that.” ...and we put it into the show.

So it’s different characters, it’s a different scenario, but it was great that we had this treasure trove of Robert Kirkman’s work and Greg was the one who said, “Let’s do this” and then we just wrote it up and shot it. So that was a great way where the whole Walking Dead team came together to solve a particular story problem in the finale. And I think it’ll be an iconic moment. It certainly is a standout moment.

Could Lori safe in tonight's episode because she is pregnant? Is killing a pregnant woman going too far for you?

Glen Mazzara: “I will say this: if it’s earned and it’s character-based, and it propels the story forward, nothing is over the line for us.

Dale’s death propelled the story forward in a big way, even Lori going out to talk to Shane… Shane’s death propels us forward, so we have certain criteria for any death and I will honestly say that no character is safe. We have examined at different times killing every character. No one is safe on this show.”

Why did Rick kill Shane instead of Carl?

Glen Mazzara: “We do want to see Carl grow into that badass, but Shane’s death really became about Rick taking action. That’s a very, very personal death. They beat the hell out of each other two episodes prior. [Rick] even gives him a gun and says, you need to find your way back. He’s overlooking the fact that there has been this affair.

He’s really given this guy every chance to repent and the fact that Shane is leading him out to his murder… Rick has had enough. Rick has to take action, and so that murder became about Rick and we realize that there were concerns about this being different from the comic book. Obviously, Carl shoots him in the comic, but we did not want Rick to be passive and just watch his son kill Shane. We did not think that that was the right story. It would have had to be Rick’s story.”

Was Shane’s season 2 death always planned?

Glen Mazzara: “That was always the plan coming into this season. It was always the plan for Shane to die. That was something that we had worked out from day one and that was a storyline that was taken from the comic book. We moved that up to Episode 12, so that was not a finale. We moved that up because as we started working on the material on the back half and as we changed the pacing of this show, that story just ended up moving and we just had a much better finale to land on.”

Carl changing after Dale's death:

Glen Mazzara: “We got a lot of mileage out of Dale's death… and I think that it's a process of him growing up in this world. Whereas everyone else is trying to hold on to the pre-apocalyptic world, Carl is quickly forgetting it. Lori and Rick are at different levels of recognizing that, but I think Lori recognizes it more than Rick.”

Will Rick always be the focus?

Glen Mazzara: “I’m very interested in focusing on Rick. He is the leader of the group and I think that this season has always been about Rick dealing with questions of leadership. We've had different obstacles that he's had to face both personal and marital…

...all of this stuff I think led to a very, very decisive act where Rick kills Shane. That's one thing: people talk about Shane being killed off… well Rick killed Shane. Rick took action in a very big way and so that's a statement we're saying about our main character. He's evolving as a person and a leader and as life becomes more difficult, what is he willing to do? That killing was a lot messier then the killing in bar.”