‘The Walking Dead’: Best of The Governor Marathon Guide

AMC will air The Walking Dead: Best of The Governor marathon Sunday, July 8, starting 11:45am / 10:45c.

The latest installment of a multi-weekend Best Of marathon event, Sunday’s nine-episode marathon highlights episodes of The Walking Dead featuring Philip Blake, a.k.a. the Governor (David Morrissey).

The first major human villain of the series, Blake was the seemingly put-together leader of Woodbury — an idyllic, walled-off community that neighbored the prison home of Rick Grimes and his band of survivors after the loss of the Greene farm.

After providing refuge to Andrea and Michonne, the katana-wielding warrior suspected Woodbury was not the haven it appeared to be — distrust that proved correct when Blake was revealed to be a volatile sociopath who later attempted to murder Michonne in a bloody fight that saw her claim his right eye with a shard of glass.

Blake terrorized the prison community, and his devastating attack on the prison walls eventually forced the survivors to flee. By the end of his tenure as arch-foe, the Governor cost Andrea her life and brutally murdered Maggie and Beth’s father, Hershel, decapitating him with Michonne’s sword.

In April, Morrissey said he’s open to one day reprising the role, but doesn’t expect to ever once again don the eye patch.

“I would love to play the role again, however there are no plans to do it. Not to my knowledge anyway,” he said.

“He was a character that I felt had great depth and complexity. Not just a cardboard baddy. A lot of my inspiration for the role came from the books written by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga,” Morrissey said of Kirkman’s comic books and the Rise of the Governor and The Road to Woodbury novels.

“I think these books are fantastic and I think it would be wonderful to do a mini series of them.”

3×03 ‘Walk With Me’

In his first appearance, the Governor is spotted at the site of a helicopter crash site by Michonne and Andrea, who learns Daryl’s missing and presumed dead brother, Merle, is alive.

The captured pair are relieved of their weapons and taken to Woodbury, also in its first appearance, setting Michonne on the defensive as the too-good-to-be-true community gives her feelings of uneasiness.

Later, the Governor and his men ambush a small military camp, killing the soldiers and looting their supplies. The Governor then takes his place sat in front of a gruesome trophy display: the decapitated heads of walkers stored in fish tanks.

3×05 ‘Say the Word’

The Governor’s undead daughter-slash-pet, Penny, is first seen in her re-animated state.

As the Governor’s right-hand-man Milton continues experimentation on walkers, an increasingly suspicious Michonne secretly reclaims her sword. Offered a spot on the Governor’s research team, Michonne threatens him before leaving.

Andrea stays behind and is witness to Woodbury’s deranged form of entertainment: a gladiator fight where combatants do battle near chained-up walkers.

Noting Andrea’s concern, the Governor waves off her disgust, telling her the displayed walkers are meant to lessen the Woodbury citizens’ fear of the monsters.

3×08 ‘Made to Suffer’

The Governor has since established a sexual relationship with Andrea and has secretly captured her old allies Maggie and Glenn, who are due for execution at the screamer pits.

Maggie and Glenn are rescued by an infiltration team of Rick, Daryl, Michonne, and Oscar, who engage in a shootout with the Governor and his men.

Michonne, who was since learned the Governor is concealing his dead daughter, creeps into his apartment and puts the girl down. Her merciful execution of the dead Penny sends the Governor into a rage, causing a brutal fight.

Michonne uses a piece of glass from a smashed walker fish tank to defend herself, stabbing the Governor in his right eye. The fight is broken up at gunpoint by Andrea, who chooses to remain behind.

The next day, the Governor riles up the Woodburians by informing them of the attack on their town by “terrorists” and branding the loyal Merle a traitor.

3×10 ‘Home’

After failing to quell the fears of his jumpy citizens, the Governor elects Andrea as Woodbury’s temporary leader.

Then, with loyalists Martinez, Shumpert, and other soldiers in tow, the Governor launches a surprise midday attack on the prison, killing Axel and nearly claiming the life of Carol.

The attack ends with a Woodbury soldier penetrating the prison’s gates, unleashing a truck-full of walkers into its yard before the Governor and his minions flee the scene.

3×14 ‘Prey’

Andrea has grown increasingly concerned about the quickly unraveling Governor, having mulled over advice imparted to her by Carol to have sex with the Governor and kill him in his sleep.

Following a failed meeting between Rick and the Governor initiated by Andrea, the Governor handed down a supposed truce: hand over Michonne and there will be no further bloodshed, secretly intending to annihilate Rick’s camp and reclaim Michonne.

In ‘Prey,’ a disturbed Andrea escapes Woodbury and attempts to flee to the prison to warn Rick and the survivors of the Governor’s plans. After a cat-and-mouse game, the Governor captures Andrea and returns her to Woodbury, where she’s then imprisoned in a torture room.

3×16 ‘Welcome to the Tombs’

Merle, having undergone a change of heart, attempted to single-handedly assassinate the Governor in ‘This Sorrowful Life,’ a move that ended with the older Dixon brother killed and reanimated.

In ‘Welcome to the Tombs,’ the Governor fatally wounds Milton, telling him, “In this life now, you kill or you die — or you die and you kill.” He leaves Milton to die just feet away from Andrea, intending for Milton’s reanimated corpse to feed on her flesh.

The Governor and his army then move on the prison with the intention of killing Rick and his entire camp of survivors. The prison group is prepared, evacuating into the nearby woods and launching a surprise attack that successfully wards off the Governor and his fighters.

Later, a pissed off Governor slaughters nearly two dozen of his own people before driving off with a horrified Martinez and Shumpert.

4×06 ‘Live Bait’

The Governor is next seen in 4×05, ‘Internment,’ quietly watching the prison from a distance.

In ‘Live Bait,’ abandoned by his last two followers, a lone Governor collapses and is taken in by sisters Lilly and Tara Chambler, their father David, and Lilly’s daughter, Meghan, who have holed up in their apartment building.

After bonding with the family – particularly Meghan — the Governor decides to leave alone before Lilly asks him to take her family with him.

On their journey in search of a save haven, Meghan falls into a pit filled with walkers, where she’s rescued by a savage Governor with nothing but his bare hands.

“I’m never gonna let anything happen to you,” he tells the girl.

“Promise?” she asks.

“Cross my heart.”

4×07 ‘Dead Weight’

Discovered by Martinez, the Governor and his newfound family integrate into Martinez’s group under the condition of his unchallenged leadership.

Despite his seeking redemption, the Governor murders Martinez and assumes control of the camp after killing Pete and threatening Mitch. Weeks later, the Governor, dissatisfied with the lack of security offered by the camp, decides to attack the prison a second time and claim it for his new family.

4×08 ‘Too Far Gone’

The Governor stealthily captures Michonne and Hershel, holding them hostage and rallying his own group of survivors by portraying Rick’s survivors as villains holed up in a prison.

“These people, they mutilated me. Burned my camp. Killed my daughter,” he lied.

Despite Hershel’s attempt to reason with the Governor, saying both sides can live together in peace, the Governor doubles down on his intent to claim the prison by bloody force.

The Governor and his people make a show of force against the prison, prompting Rick to mirror Hershel’s words.

“You put down your weapons, walk through those gates… you’re one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies,” Rick tells them.

“Everyone who’s alive right now. Everyone who’s made it this far. We’ve all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We’re not too far gone. We get to come back. I know — we all can change.”

The Governor, unhinged, whispers “liar” — and uses Michonne’s katana to decapitate Hershel, inciting fire on both sides.

Presented with the dead body of Meghan — killed by a walker — the Governor puts her down and, in a rage, orders his people to “kill them all.”

While savagely beating and choking Rick, just about killing him, the Governor is impaled by Michonne’s katana, who leaves him to die slowly.

A near-dead Governor is then come across by an angry and disgusted Lilly, who shoots him in the head, ending him.