Hello kiddies!
First of all — if you're reading this thinking "Oh shoot! Did I miss the premiere of season three of 'The Walking Dead'?!" — no, don't panic. This is just a blog about the special season three preview that aired on AMC this weekend, culminating with Sunday night's episode of the "Talking Dead" panel show.
Yup, I was that bored that I took the time to write a blog recapping a preview of a show that won't come back on the air for another three months.
To be fair though, I didn't sit on my couch and watch all 19 episodes as they were rebroadcast all day Saturday and Sunday, or the special black and white version of the series premiere on Sunday night. I do have a life after all! (By having a life I mean umpiring beer league softball, wading in a swimming pool at a condo park that I don't live at, drinking cans of cheap beer and making myself feel sick and sad by eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet.)
But alas...you came here for the goods about the season three preview, and that's what you'll get.
Michonne has me excited!
The money shot of the entire preview was an exclusive first-look scene of Michonne (Dania Gurira) stalking some walkers in a general store and then expertly dispatching them with her samurai sword. She then grabs some aspirin and ducks out. Michonne (pronounced MEE-SHONE) is clearly going to be a major part of season three, but you already knew that.
They also had a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a San Diego Comic-Con exhibit which will allow fans to have their picture taken as one of Michonnes' two "pet" walkers.
Series creator Robert Kirkman also said that there will be a "The Walking Dead Escape" obstacle course at PetcoPark during Comic-Con. Does anyone want to pay for me to fly to San Diego next week? I'll blog about it?
Other new (and old) characters
It was confirmed that ol' one-hand Merle (Michael Rooker) will be returning to the cast this season, and he has apparently made some interesting repairs to his severed mitt! Also, The Governor (David Morrissey) is going to be playing a pretty big role tormenting our survivors and trying to run the twisted outpost of Woodberry. Of the Gov, producer Glen Mazzara said "The Governor is a guy who believes that this zombie apocalypse is all about him. That somewhere down the road history's going to look back and there was one guy who kept the light on, who kept humanity going … he thinks he's the messiah."
Mazzara also said that Rick Grimes has to figure out how far he can push people, and it seemed like he said "Rick-tatorship" about ten times even though he probably only said it once.
Little Carl calls in
Fans of actor Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes) were treated to a surprise call in from the special little guy, who seems to be developing a complex about being portrayed as a little munchkin who's running around playing cowboys and injuns and crying when he spills his ice cream. Riggs said that Carl Grimes "is growing up, he's definitely not a kid anymore … no more crying or being told to get in the house. He's more of a soldier now, he's more a part of the group now." He then said that if he could pick any weapon to have during the zombie apocalypse it would be a flamethrower with a bayonet on it, and that he was "pretty okay on the video game."
Season Three will have a rocket launcher and a machine gun
On one segment, host Chris Hardwick visited the set to chat with props manager John Sanders, who showed off some of the weapons that would be featured in the upcoming season. Those weapons included a rocket launcher (that'll leave a mark!) and a machine gun, which Hardwick got to squeeze a few rounds out of, after taunting some imaginary zombies by saying "Hey zombies, suck it zombies." Oh yeah, and there will also be Michonne's sword, obvi. Hardwick got to swing a sharpened version of it into some hanging mat, which it easily cut in half, and then the sword hit a cement wall, slightly damaging the sword in the process. I think he was taking out his frustrations from asking the show producers questions and constantly being told "You'll just have to wait and find out."
Scared Straight with Steven Yeun
There was a pretty cool segment where Steven Yeun (Glenn) guides Hardwick around the prison set that looks to be the survivors' home base during most of season three. They actually constructed a prison from scratch and it looks pretty dang cool. Yeun even demonstrated how the actors are asked to just hock loogies on the floor when they're walking around to help develop that lived-in look. Yeun also whipped the fans all up into a frenzy by saying that the breakneck pace that last season ended in is going to be the kicking off point for this season. "It's just gonna get more nuts," he said.
Drew Carey looks like Michael Stipe with hair.
