‘The Walking Dead’ season 4 spoilers: Exec talks return of David Morrissey as regular

At this point, odds are that you have already heard the welcome news that David Morrissey will not only return to “The Walking Dead” for its fourth season, but that he is going to do so as a series regular. If you love The Governor, you have to be overjoyed about the fact that this means the character will be around to cause all sorts of havoc for Rick and the survivors moving forward … especially now that he has more motivation than ever.

However, you have to say from the standpoint of traditional storytelling that it is a little bit of a shocker that the character is coming back. As a way to build tension, and to make sure that the hero always has a win reasonably fresh on their resume, it’s not common for a Big Bad to last longer than a season. You don’t want to run the risk of the villain becoming sympathetic, and having a character around for too long can cause that to happen.

So why make things different here? In an interview with IGN, executive producer Gale Ann Hurd makes it clear that one of the primary reasons to keep Morrissey around is actually to buck expectations of what most people think will happen with a villain on a serialized show:

“The Walking Dead” will never do what’s expected of us. You always expect that the big bad will be killed in the finale. It’s really unlikely we’re going to do that. I think that there’s more to be done with not only the character but with the conflict that we get to see, the difference in leadership between the Governor and Rick.”

In addition to this, Hurd also added that there will likely be at least some time that passes between the end of season 3 and the start of the new one:

“I don’t think it’s changing… Yes, there will more than likely be a passage of time. It’s unlikely to follow directly after the end of [the finale].”

What do you think: is there more story to tell with The Governor, or would you have rather seen a new villain enter the picture for season 4? If you want to read some debate on another “Walking Dead” series regular, be sure to visit the story over at the link here.

Photo: AMC