Readers of The Walking Dead comic series, which the show is based on, know that a character named The Governor is one of their favorites.

While television viewers have to wait until season 3 to see him, we’re now learning that AMC already has someone they want for the role.

MovieWeb reports that they’re hoping to nab John Hawkes. The actor has been in Deadwood and Winter’s Bone.

The Walking Dead Wiki provides a sample (and spoiler-filled) summary of The Governor’s involvement with Rick and company:

Brian eventually comes to lead Woodbury under his new name, Philip. When he attains power he adopts the title, the Governor. He keeps the citizens of Woodbury safe, fed, and entertained. He stages cage match style fights in which two people fight in a circle, surrounded by shackled zombies. When Rick, Glenn, and Michonne reach Woodbury, Martinez hands them over to the Governor. The Governor appears friendly at first, but soon reveals that he intends to feed them to his group of captive zombies if they don’t tell him where they’ve been hiding out.

As Rick, Glenn, and Michonne attempt to escape the Governor cuts off Rick’s hand. Michonne retaliates by biting off a portion of the Governor’s ear. The Governor has Michonne and Glenn locked away and sends an unconscious Rick to the infirmary. The Governor feeds Rick’s hand to his zombie niece Penny.

Our guess is The Governor may not be an exact comic-to-television translation in terms of his actions. For example, we have a hard time believing Rick’s hand would get cut off in the show. Time will tell!