The Governor is a fresh face to The Walking Dead, but for those of us who have read the comics, we know the depth of his character. But showrunner Glen Mazzara says we might not know him as well as we think.
So this ambitious, handsome, and charming guy decides that he wants to run a little town called Woodbury. What could go wrong? He has to have the best interests of his people at heart, right? According to Glen Mazzara’s interview with TV Guide (and the tank full of heads in “Walk with Me”), he might not be such a lovely guy after all.
“Our take on the Governor is that he’s charming, he’s duplicitous, he’s unpredictable, but at the end of the day, he is a dark character. I was afraid that if we kept too much of that material at bay that fans would feel, ‘This is not the Governor from the comic book!’”
Well that explains the outright murder of the military men and the aquarium heads.
Mazzara thinks those moments make the Governor more credible. The head tank scene makes Mazzara and the producers say, “Yes, this is our take. This is a recognizable character. This is the guy from the comic book. We’re going to do it our way. We’re going to tell our story. We’re going to flesh him out.”
While Michonne is still very wary of the Governor, Andrea seems to already be drinking his kool-aid (or tea). What does this bring to the Governor’s character?
“It makes him more unpredictable. The fact that he goes back and forth between good and evil, it makes him feel more real and accessible. It’s more complicated. If the Governor is a straightforward villain from the beginning, then you just really get into an escalation of violence every week. We’re more interested in a sinister twist and turn every week.”
With those “sinister” twists, the Governor is also working on understanding the walkers. His sidekick, Milton, is hard at work on explaining what makes them tick, but why does the Governor care?
“I think he cares about these walkers because it’s a major problem. He has to understand this. If he can control walkers, or if he could understand them, that lays in with his agenda, which I think is not just power over a little town; I think this guy wants to build an empire. I think he sees himself as a historical figure on the world’s stage. He sees himself as a future emperor. By controlling walkers, he can control people.”
Whoa, a future emperor? He does have some lofty aspirations, and maybe he’s a little disillusioned about how powerful he actually is.
A meeting between Rick and the Governor is bound to happen, but when will we see it?
“I’m very proud of the way the writers constructed that story. It’s coming. People will not have to wait that long. We still have some stuff to get up and running, but I think it’s pretty exciting. I’m really, really happy with it.”
We can’t wait to see that.