Return of “The Walking Deadâ€: A Chat with Showrunner Glen Mazzara
AMC’s “The Walking Dead†returns tonight at 9 pm with a lot more on the line than the simple question of whether Rick and his group will be able to stay on Hershel’s farm.
There’s the question of how much of a ratings hit the show might take, considering its long midwinter hiatus. AMC split the second season into two parts, and tonight’s episode, “Nebraska,†will be the first new hour that has aired since November 27. The show’s extended absence from the schedule may be less of a concern than the deep divide among fans about the first half of the second season’s storyline. Read a few critical analyses and fan posts about the survivors’ extended camp-out on a farm run by a veterinarian with a no-kill policy towards his zombified kin, and it becomes apparent that people are either loving season two or loathing it.
Maintaining a high level of fan loyalty through the six remaining episodes won’t just be a test for AMC. It’s also a trial for Glen Mazzara, the executive producer who assumed showrunner duties on the series after executive producer Frank Darabont was fired. From the moment he took the reins, Mazzara has been in a tough spot, made tougher recently when details about Darabont’s scrapped Black Hawk Down-inspired prequel episode (starring “Being Human‘s†Sam Witwer) was revealed in various media reports.
Mazzara, whose previous producer credits include FX’s widely-acclaimed drama “The Shield†as well as lower-rated titles such as “Hawthorne†and “Crash,†seems to be taking it all in stride. “I was just telling someone, this is the first time I’m working on a show that people are actually watching,†Mazzara joked. “So I feel very lucky.â€
During the recent Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, IMDb’s TV Editor had a conversation with Mazzara about where the second half of “The Walking Dead†is headed creatively, during which he revealed some details about upcoming episodes and discussed how a lesson that he learned in the writer’s room for “The Shield†will influence the show’s pacing from this point on.
My first question is a point of clarification: How much creative input did you have in the first seven episodes of the second season?
A tremendous amount of creative input. This is a Darabont question, I guess? I wrote an episode during the first season, and I was brought on before any of the other writers. I helped hire them. I was Frank’s number two. But we broke these stories, we were locked in a room for weeks and developed these stories.
When things went down with Frank and I was asked to become the showrunner, we were shooting… I think it was our fourth episode. Our fifth episode came out. Our sixth episode I made changes to — just things where, you know, that script needed a pass. The (midseason) finale was written while Frank was there, but he had never given notes on that. That was a script that I polished and put into production. And then these episodes that are coming out are episodes that I broke with the writers. So I think that’s pretty clean.
But I will say, I went back and I had to re-cut these episodes. I cut these episodes, I’m responsible for all of the editing, post-work, music, I was responsible for all of the usual showrunner duties. So that was a tremendous amount of influence.
… Listen, I respect Frank and I’m happy that he wanted me as his number two. …I wouldn’t say we were partners, but it was a collaborative effort. Frank collaborated with us. But there came a point where the material was drying up in the pipeline, so I had to get in and do some polishing. That’s just normal business. But I will say that the overall arc of, a girl goes missing and then she’s in the barn, that was developed under Frank. The overall arc of the back half of the season, that was all mine.
I will say that, (regarding) the script for the midseason finale, I think I was lucky that we had a great writer and a great director on that episode. That was sort of me coming out of the gate. Does that make sense?
It makes perfect sense.
What I didn’t want to do was my version of a Frank Darabont show. I wanted to follow, and I wanted to honor the world that he’s created because that’s a world that I love. But I didn’t feel an obligation to try to become Frank Darabont. That isn’t fair to Frank and it isn’t fair to me.
…The voice of the show became different with the midseason premiere. Did you see it yet? That’s my voice.
There are a number of articles and blog posts that have voiced strong opinions about this season. There are people who are kind to it, and there are a number of people who haven’t been so kind.
Well, what are your thoughts?
I enjoy the show. There was never a week that I wasn’t looking forward to a new episode. But I do think there were a number of issues that just seemed to be endlessly cycling and never quite resolved, so that the characters couldn’t move on. I don’t think the issue was being at the farm – that, for me, was not a problem. I know for some people it felt like a bottle episode and their thoughts were along the lines of, “Obviously, it was because the budget was cut.â€
That is not accurate.
Yes… for me, there were some characters that were developed quite a bit. I enjoyed Darryl’s character the development. But the love triangle between Lori, Rick and Shane… there became a point at which the characters seemed very static, there was very little development or evidence that they were moving forward.
Fine. Okay. So how did you feel after watching the midseason premiere?
The thought that went through my head was, “OK, Rick has put his hat back on. Things are going to change now. Let’s go.â€
That’s right. I think Rick got a little lost in the first few episodes. Since I have become showrunner, I have pushed Rick front and center. You can see that in the midseason finale. Rick is the guy who steps forward and puts the bullet into Sophia. Rick’s humanity is his flaw. And Rick is now very much the central character, as he should be, of “The Walking Dead.†And he’s a more compelling character, I think.
There’s a very, very interesting scene, written by Evan Reilly, coming up.
The scene in the bar? There’s a lot of tension there.
Yes. I’m very proud of that scene. Evan Reilly wrote that scene, and Clark Johnson directed it. I think that we are doing a much better job in the second half of the season of progressing the story. There’s a very, very interesting scene in the next episode, at the end of the next episode, between Rick and Lori. All of a sudden you are seeing new sides of characters that you weren’t seeing before, and that’s something that’s coming out in the back half of this season.
I do agree that we can push deeper into our characters, and that’s what we do. But we also amp up the tension. We amp up the action. We amp up the zombies. Everything is on full boil. Again, it’s the back half of the season. So over the course of 13 episodes, you’re going to mark things out. I’m lucky in that I’ve got all the characters established, so we can push things a little bit. I have a good example. You want an example?
Please.
There’s a scene in an episode that you already saw, where Lori confesses the affair (with Shane) to Rick. That is something Frank did not want to do. He did not want that to come out. I felt that that was important to progress the personal stories as well as the plot of finding Sophia.
One of my early jobs was “The Shield.†I did “The Shield†for a long time. We had a rule on “The Shieldâ€: “Move it up. Move it up, burn the bridge right now, we’ll figure out how to get across the river later.†That is very much the motto I am using for “The Walking Dead†from now on. So if people felt like we were stalling, I’ll give it to you. But no more stalls.
In the midseason premiere, I think it’s denser storytelling. And yet, there’s not a lot of zombie stuff. It’s all character stuff.
But people do want the zombies, you know.
I love the zombie stuff! You know what? If you think about it, it’s only been a few hours after the barn…
And there are other survivors to contend with, too.
Yes. Couple of things. One is, the farm is no longer safe. The outside world will come crashing in. Two, the midseason premiere is taking place in a few hours after a HUGE zombie massacre. If we have another HUGE zombie massacre right then and there, it’s not going to feel real. It’s not going to feel plausible. It’s going to feel like a video game.
What’s interesting about this show is, if we do zombie attacks, some people say, “Ugh, it’s just the zombie attack.†When we don’t do zombies, people say, “Where are the zombies?!†You can’t win!
(laughs)
But we’re trying. I’m very proud of the (midseason premiere). That episode is indicative of the type of storytelling I want to do in the back half of the season, and I really think our best material is in these next six episodes.
Looking forward to it. Please develop T-Dog more.
You know what? I’ll tell you the truth: T-Dog is a character that has suffered because there are so many other characters. He has some great stuff coming up, some really great scenes. I think IronE Singleton did a terrific job, and it’s a matter of making room for him. That’s a character, if you really look at him, that character’s on borrowed time because he’s not tied into any major story. And yet, he keeps earning his place. T-Dog just gets through it, he’s becoming very interesting.
Sometimes those minor characters are on a slow burn. The Ronnie character was like that in “The Shield.†…We’re learning how to write for that character.
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