‘The Walking Dead’ season 4 spoilers: Who crosses paths with Andrew Lincoln?

For most of ‘The Walking Dead” season 4 (or at least the part of that we’ve heard about already), Andrew Lincoln’s Rick is going to be in a little bit of a different position than he has been in the past on the series. Gone is going to be the hard-nose leader who made the tough decisions, and in his place will be someone a little more focused on family and being a good father. When you think about what Carl especially probably needs right now, it’s for the best that Rick is able to be a little bit more of a watchful dad.

But is he going to stay so even-keeled and level-headed for most of the show? That is where things start to get a little bit interesting. According to TV Guide, Rick is going to come into contact with a different sort of survivor in an upcoming episode, one that has his own sort of horrible resume of things that he has done in order to survive in this world. And what will he learn from him? Basically, he could see this in his own bizarre way as evidence that there may not be any hope for him to change.

The idea of Rick without a possibility of redemption is a frightening thing to think about, mostly because there are times in which we feel like this is what the character really uses as a primary motivator. Without it, he could become either more of a shell of a man, or a guy who just altogether gives up and allows the horde to sweep him away. We want to ultimately see him as a man of balance, where there is both the protective father side of him, and also one who knows how to lead when it is called upon, but not necessarily all the time.

Want to hear some more scoop on “The Walking Dead” season 4? Then just click here, where you can listen to a radio interview we did talking about both this show and some other topics.

Photo: AMC