The Walking Dead Season 5 Will Bring In A Lot Of New Characters According To Robert Kirkman

“I think the coolest thing about coming back to season 5 is that we really hit the ground running,” Kirkman said. “What I mean by that is that we very quickly deal with the situation that we left them in — this trapped, victim situation where they’re kind of at the mercy of the people of Terminus. We really kind of expand the story from there very rapidly, so I think this is going to be a pretty fast-paced season with quite a bit going on. News is already out that Seth Gilliam has been added, and we’re bringing in new characters like we always do, and I think season 5 is going to be our best season yet. I think when people finally see the premiere, they’ll see what I’m talking about.”

After giving the reporter a bit of run-around regarding whether or not Gilliam — who has been spotted on-set wearing a priest’s collar — will be Father Gabriel from the comics, Kirkman returned to the idea of adding characters to the series, asked whether they would be new, or from the comics.

“Both. There’s a lot of new stuff coming. Look, the thing that makes me the most proud of The Walking Dead is the fact that it is such a continually evolving show,” Kirkman said. “We never rest on our laurels, we never go ‘that status quo works, let’s figure out a way to stay in that mode.’ We’re always pushing boundaries and doing new things and changing the ways we tell stories. We tried some new things in season 4 and they worked pretty well and they helped tell some really great stories, and we’ve done that and now we’re moving on. We’re gonna do some new stuff, and a lot of that involves bringing in a lot of new characters. There’s going to be some big changes ahead, and it’s gonna all be cool stuff.”

The Walking Dead returns to AMC in October. The exact premiere date and first full trailer should be revealed next week at Comic Con International: San Diego.