The Walking Dead‘s David Morrissey, who stars as The Governor, discusses working alongside Andrew Lincoln and also compares the parallels between The Governor and Rick Grimes ahead of The Walking Dead season 3 finale, 3×16 “Welcome to the Tombs.”

The Walking Dead‘s David Morrissey has firmly asserted himself as Rick Grimes’s toughest opponent yet as we delve deeper into season 3. Last episode we saw the first face-to-face meeting between Rick and The Governor, and, although it ended in a tense stalemate, Morrissey gave his best performance for the series in 3×13 “Arrow on the Doorpost.”

“Rick spent most of season 2 debating whether he should kill someone. You get to the open of season 3, he gets into that prison and he kills someone right off the bat.”

Morrissey sat down with the LA Times to discuss working alongside Andrew Lincoln, as well his own character, and how working in Georgia has made an impact on himself.

The heart of 3×13 “Arrow on the Doorpost” lay in the hands of The Governor, who warmed his way into Rick’s ear, by pinpointing talks that would get Rick thinking, and to give The Governor an upper hand. But, it’s been rare in The Walking Dead season 3, seeing both The Governor and Rick in the same scene, and thus, working alongside Lincoln has been distant. Had they rehearsed those stand-off scenes at all that featured throughout 3×13 “Arrow on the Doorpost”?

Morrissey said, “We didn’t rehearse it, no…Now I’m on the show and I never see Andrew. We get to this episode where it’s the first time we’ve worked together and on the days we were shooting, we didn’t really hang out or sit down for cup a coffee. We kept our distance while we were filming. Which was fine. I think we needed to do that. We guarded our own space. Then we tried to see what happened within that dance with each other.”

Morrissey continued, “The thing about filming a scene like that is time is not on your side. It’s not like doing a play or a movie where you’ve got a few weeks to talk about it and what the beats are. You really have to throw into it. We were making choices, not quickly or broadly, we’ve both thought about our characters and what we wanted to do. But there was very little discussion around it as a scene. We were just reacting to each other.”

The episode featured heavily on foreshadowing, parallels with a streak of old Western mise-en-scène and there’s no doubt that Rick epitomised the outline of a Sheriff with The Governor playing the antagonist to an extremely good effect. And with these themes running through the veins of the episode, Morrissey seemed to enjoy the imagery of 3×13 “Arrow on the Doorpost.”

Morrissey commented, “There’s a sense of guns on the hips in that world. There’s a sense of a westernization already in the culture. Carl wears a sort of cowboy hat. It already has that going for it. The grain store. The whiskey. I always think when you see Daryl on his motorbike, he could be riding into town on a stallion. We’re never a million miles away from that genre.”

“He listened to the darker side of himself, certainly when his daughter is taken away from him so brutally.”

But how does Morrissey view The Governor in light of this post-apocalyptic world? The Governor has lead a completely and utterly different life since the Walker outbreak, and there’s no doubt that all of these characters are completely unrecognisable to the people they were once before. But what characteristics define The Governor?

Morrissey explains, “I think the Governor is playing a Governor himself. I read the books ‘The Rise of the Governor’ and ‘The Road to Woodbury’ and I wanted the writers to explore that side of the character. Woodbury is a success story. People can leave their door open. In this world that’s an unheard of advantage and privilege. That feeds his ego. We all know that power can have a corrupting influence on people.”

“He listened to the darker side of himself, certainly when his daughter is taken away from him so brutally. And his daughter was his humanity. She embodied his humanity. She was his gateway to the past. She was filled with happy memories. She was the best of him. Once she’s taken away form him in a cruel and brutal way in front of his eyes, that’s what tips him into a darker brutal person, out for seeking revenge.”

But, The Governor isn’t the only one who’s going through battles. His counterpart, Rick, is also a man who’s listened to his darker side, and with some of his humanity taken away from in, in the death of Lori, the contrasts between Rick and The Governor begin to look considerably shallow.

Morrissey notes, “I think you see the difference between him and Rick in season 2. Rick spent most of season 2 debating whether he should kill someone. You get to the open of season 3, he gets into that prison and he kills someone right off the bat. He too has been brutalised by this world. That’s where I see the Governor. He’s a victim of his time, rather than inherently a bad person.”

After Sunday night’s airing of 3×13 “Arrow on the Doorpost” focus is beginning to shift towards The Walking Dead season 3 finale, and the upcoming fourth season. With just 3 episodes left, Robert Kirkman has teased that “there may be a casualty or more” in regards to The Walking Dead season 3 finale. With lips absolutely locked, there is still the possibility of any of the characters receiving the axe, but could it be The Governor? Will The Governor see out season 3, or even make it to season 4?

Morrissey said, “I can’t say whether I’m coming back to the show. That’s the other thing. I say I’m ready to go back to work, but any work, really. I can’t say whether I’m in The Walking Dead season 4 or not. You’ll have to have to wait until the end of episode 3×16 to see if I actually get through The Walking Dead season 3.”

What are your thoughts on Morrissey’s comments? Will The Governor make it to The Walking Dead season 3 finale? And if he makes it into season 4, what predictions do you have for The Governor?

The next episode of The Walking Dead 3×14 “Prey” airs this Sunday at 9pm ET/PT over on AMC.