What's Next for The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead came to the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour Saturday, as producers and select cast members spoke about the show, which will resume its second season on February 12th. The group fielded questions about what's to come and why certain decisions are made on the series.

When it comes to how much they decide to stick to the comic book or to diverge, Robert Kirkman, the creator of the comic book and an executive producer and writer on the show, replied, "It's a give and a take. It's an evolving process. As we get deeper and deeper into the show, I think that it's important to note that the comic book series and the TV show exist separately, and while the comic book series has a lot of cool stuff in it, there's also a fantastic writers' room with a lot of guys that have a lot of great ideas. So we're able to sit back and mine the best from my comic book series and take it and change it and transform it into the television show that you get to watch. So sometimes, it will be completely different. Sometimes it will be exactly the same, and that will always be an evolving process as we go through making the show."

The midseason finale ended with the discovery that the missing Sophia had been transformed into a zombie, and Rick having to shoot her. Discussing her thoughts on this plotline, Melissa McBride, who plays Sophia's mother, Carol, said, "My initial reaction was, 'No… they did it,' because I had heard this might happen, and I was upset to see that Madison [Lintz] wouldn't be returning. She's so fun to work with. She's so professional."

As for where Carole goes, in the wake of this tragedy, McBride said, "I think she's just going to absorb the reality. For me, in Carol's heart, she knew that she would probably never see Sophia again, or if she did, she wouldn't be alive. But I don't think this is what she expected. But the minute she comes out of the barn, and she realizes what's happened, I think that's reality, just she's face to face with the reality of something that she thought might have happened and the unknown that she put her faith into is kind of gone now. So I think she's going to be in a little bit of a limbo of where to put her faith, questioning those things, and she might find some strength in herself instead of looking everywhere else to put it."

Executive producer and showrunner Glen Mazzara remarked that Carol has, "always depended on other people, and what's been very interesting is that Daryl really became her knight in shining armor. He took up that quest to find that girl. The fact that that quest failed, that she wasn't saved, I think really affects their relationship and forces Carol to learn to stand on her own."

He added, "It's one of the traps with that character is just to make her the grieving mom, just to hit that one note. So we've said, okay, moving forward without that child in jeopardy storyline, who is this character? And it's really, I think, put a lot of focus on that character from a writer's standpoint. How do we find something new to say with that character? So I think people will hopefully respond."

If you're a viewer waiting for the characters to find out the secret behind why the zombie outbreak began, probably best to not hold your breath. As Mazzara explained, "We've talked about that, and that's something that's not really addressed in the book, and that's something I would like to keep. This show is about our characters and about them trying to stay alive, hold onto their humanity, find a safe place, hopefully rebuild civilization. I mean, just everything's collapsed. So they're under incredible duress. It doesn't feel right that they would have those answers, and even if they did have those answers, what would they do with them? So I think part of the success of the show is that it feels immediate. It feels like we're following the little guys, and they don't have the answers, and they desperately need them to survive. So let's say this, that internally, we don't know where this zombie outbreak started, how to cure it, anything like that. We haven't really discussed it. We're more focused on the continuing storylines."