The season five premiere of the popular AMC drama “The Walking Dead” is just a few weeks away, and the cast has been revealing more spoilers about the upcoming season. On September 24 Wetpaint Entertainment talked to actress Melissa McBride about her character, Carol Peletier, and what fans can expect in the new episodes. The series will return for a sixteen episode fifth season on Sunday, October 12 at 9 p.m. on AMC.
Carol has appeared on the show since season one, when she was a battered woman with a bad husband and her twelve-year-old daughter Sophia. Carol has become a much stronger character of the past several seasons, especially after Sophia disappeared only to be discovered later as a walker. Her character became a ruthless survivor in season four, after she killed two people with a deadly illness to protect everyone else from becoming sick in the prison. She was later banished by Rick, only to return to the prison in time to save baby Judith.
McBride mentioned how Carol will be “more hardened” this season, which is partly due to killing Lizzie last season after she was playing games with walkers. The new season will be all about how Carol is affected by her past actions, especially in a ‘world where you can’t a break” and the future is uncertain. Carol will have a choice between just giving up and accepting the world for the bad place it is, or trying to continue to fight for hope. Previews for the new season have revealed that Carol and Tyreese do meet up with the rest of the survivors, and it will be interesting to see how accepting they are of her.
McBride said there is “a whole different energy” to filming in as a group, instead of the small episodes from last season when everyone was separated. Those episodes dig into the backstory and personalities of the characters, but when everyone is together there is “an intimacy” and people are genuinely missed. The fifth season will begin with everyone being stuck in Terminus, before breaking out and heading to Washington D.C. thanks to a possible cure known by Dr. Porter.
On September 24 Entertainment Weekly posted more spoilers for the new season, including that several new locations will be used in season five. McBride revealed that the characters “appreciate the pit stops along the way” because the journey they are on is so difficult. The characters will visit places that they have visited before and tried to escape from, as well as new locations. There will also be new threats explored in season five, some of which may have appeared in the comic book series.
