The Walking Dead: Andrew Lincoln Walker Stalker Panel Recap

Over the Halloween weekend, the cast and crew of The Walking Dead assembled in Atlanta, the hometown of the show, for an annual Walker Stalker convention. Thousands a fans flocked to Georgia's capitol city for a glimpse of their favorite actors, some whose characters have perished on the AMC series and others who press on through the apocalypse.

Several panels took over the Thomas Murphy Ballroom and show room panel stage at the Georgia World Congress Center on Saturday and Sunday to offer inside looks at the upcoming season and recent episodes.

On Sunday, Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln and Daryl Dixon actor Norman Reedus took the stage to start the day.

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"I got attacked by a 12-year-old the other day calling me a bunch of dirty names," Reedus said. "I beat the s--- out of him. He was 12."

"Norman forced me to watch the fan reaction in my trailer," Lincoln said. "It's the craziest thing. He looked at me and said, 'This is our legacy.'"

He calls Steven Yeun an incredible friend. He reflects on how few people are still with the show from the first season.

The panel is opened up to fan questions. Lincoln and Reedus joke about Reedus' hair and smell in the mean time.

Lincoln is asked about the Season 7 premiere moment when his Rick character was being forced to cut off Carl's hand. "I don't really know," Lincoln said. "I just learn my lines. Do my homework. Listen to a bit of music. Look Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the eye..."

"There's still that moment of unity we can build on this season," Lincoln said.

Reedus pokes fun at Lincoln and makes a motion similar to Predator and says that is how Lincoln prepares for a scene. He goes on to discuss the difficulties of coming down from tough scenes.

"We started this show with an incredible ensemble," Lincoln said. "When they go, yu want to honor their performances and the legacies that they leave."

"They're definitely still with us, all the time," Reedus said of Yeun and Michael Cudlitz.

Lincoln says he always campaigns to keep characters alive. He writes long e-mails to Scott Gimple. He calls Yeun one of his best friends and says he brings a lot of energy to the set and dressing well. "He taught me about hip-hop," Lincoln said before reflecting on Yeun and Jon Bernthal dancing around on set. Reedus explains how people like Bernthal set the bar high for performances.

Lincoln says that as an actor, he would lose himself on set with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, so much that the crew wouldn't want to look him in the eye. He says Morgan fit in right away and praises Greg Nicotero's directing.

A fan asks how the show has changed them. Lincoln says Reedus' muscles got bigger. "It's harder to go to the grocery store," Reedus said. He always looks forward to working with The Walking Dead family.

"The only thing I ever thought about was, 'I hope Maggie forgives me,'" Reedus said. On the way to Talking Dead, Morgan said he is going to blame Reedus for Glenn's death. "I only thought of Maggie and I'm like, 'How am I gonna deal with Maggie?'"

A fan asks about how Rick and Daryl will handle Negan.

"Kick his ass," Lincoln said.

Josh McDermitt and Jeffrey Dean Morgan take the stage for a hug before walking off. From back stage, McDermitt says, "Norman is so sexy, isn't he, Jeff?"

"How can you hate that guy?" Reedus said.

Lincoln discusses Rick's relationship with Michonne. "My mom's been campaigning for that relationship for years," Lincoln said. "I wish, in one sense, there had been a couple more scenes that had been sewn earlier."

"I think what we wanted, in that episode with the couch, was just that moment of, 'Of course, it's been staring me right in the face all this time that the person that I love is right here,'" Lincoln said.

Lincoln asked Gimple if Rick had any flicker of defiance against Negan at the end of the episode. Gimple told him, "Absolutely not." As for whether or not it will effect Rick and Daryl's bromance, Lincoln says it will because Negan took Daryl away from him.

A fan asks if they discussed Negan playing God and if it was purposeful. Lincoln says it was purposeful. He says his brother screamed the TV, yelling, "This is biblical!" He says he wanted Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan to be the song which closed out the Season 7 premiere but it was too expensive.

The next fan asks where their inspiration came from if it came from music. Lincoln listened to a lot of David Bowie, Prince, and Motown. He is a huge fan of the "Blackstar" video. Reedus says they talked about putting together a list of songs the actors listen to. Lincoln enjoys Once We're Thieves but no one has heard of them.

A fan cries trying to ask a question so Reedus and Lincoln walk off of the stage to hug her. Back on stage, Lincoln discusses how he enjoys connecting with fans.

A fan asks what version of Rick we will be seeing this season.

"How do you know he makes it back to Alexandria?" Reedus jokes.

"I think you may be seeing that this season," Lincoln said. "A lot of this season is gonna be the after effects of this earth-shattering event and how each of the individual members of the family deal with it in their own way."

"What you're going to see is a much bigger show this year," Lincoln said. "There's gonna be hobbits, dragons, and little imps."

A fan asks which season was their favorite and Lincoln jokes that his is Season 8. Reedus says he is not particularly loving filming Season 7.

"At least I punched that f---er," Reedus said.

A fan asks if Linncoln wants an Emmy as badly as the fans wants him to win one.

"There is not enough love in this room to satisfy me," Lincoln said. "The truth is, man, I wouldn't exchange this for the world." He only wants to tell the story of The Walking Dead. "If I'm looking too hard outside of that, then I'm not enjoying my life or being in my life. So much of the gig for me is doing. It's actually being in the space and living this incredible journey with this guy Rick Grimes and his incredible family. That's enough, man." He does not want it to become corporate. "I do this because it's in my heart. It's in my bloodstream."

The next question is which type of scenes they enjoy most.

"He like nudity," Reedus said.

"I actually do! That's true," Lincoln said. He loves palying Rick Grimes because it is so varied. "Norman really doesn't know what we're gonna do because he doesn't read the script."

"There's nothing better than doing the scene with Steven Yeun, escaping from Atlanta when it was raining," Lincoln said. "To be able to ride a horse into Atlanta with guns on your back and zombies chasing you is a dream come true." He particularly enjoyed the scene with Daryl and Rick calling each other brothers.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.