The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman Teases Washington, Alexandria Safe-Zone, & Ricktatorship

“Episode 509 is going to be a fan favorite episode in a lot of ways, and it’s going to be a fan-hated episode in a lot of ways,” Kirkman told EW, “because it is a somewhat brutal episode. Those are very hard for the audience here and there, but there’s a lot of magic in that episode as well, and a lot of really cool stuff that people are going to be very excited about. So it’s going to be a very special, very unique episode that I’m really excited for people to see.”

“I think that if you look at our season five B poster, there’s a map and there’s a line drawn on that map,” the writer/producer added. “So I believe it was Glenn or somebody had the argument of look, even if Eugene’s wrong, Washington would have infrastructure, Washington would be the place where they would be prepared for this kind of cataclysm. Washington would be a place where they would have resources stored up and plans in place. And so if there’s any place near us, and honestly we’re not geographically that far away, that would be a place where we could possibly find safety because where else are we going to go? And so it’s entirely possible that when we get back they’re going to Washington.”

Of course, about an hour’s car ride from Washington is Alexandria, Virginia, a town which in the comics has walls around it and represents a “Safe Zone” where Rick and company have lived since shortly after the fall of the prison.

Asked about Alexandria, and whether the casting of Alexandria native Aaron means something for the upcoming midseason, Kirkman answered, “You know, look: There are certainly fan favorite characters from the comic books that people are excited to get into the show, and I think that Aaron is one of them. Aaron’s a character that’s still around in the comic book series and has certainly been on a lot of adventures and has had a lot of memorable story line stuff, and as characters to be adapted from the comic book series go, certainly a big one. You know, the timelines do seem to be aligning, but you never know. We could be throwing you a curve ball. We could be bringing in a character from much later and bringing that up earlier. You never know with us. We could have changed things up. Or you could be exactly right.”

He also said that, at least for the time they’re on the road, the group will be more or less listening to Rick’s orders.

The Walking Dead returns on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PM  on AMC.