‘The Walking Dead’s David Morrissey Wants to Play The Governor Again

The Walking Dead alum David Morrissey would “love” to reprise his role as the one-eyed menace the Governor, the actor revealed in a fan chat conducted with The Guardian.

Asked if there’s a chance he’ll ever play the role again, possibly in an adaptation of Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga’s The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor novel, Morrissey answered:

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

The Governor, real name Philip Blake, was introduced in season 3 as the deceptively congenial leader of the picturesque Woodbury community.

When Rick Grimes and his band of survivors settled into a nearby prison, the two communities failed to co-exist — ultimately leading to a violent confrontation between Rick’s camp and the Governor’s army.

The conflict cost the survivors their newfound home, and culminated in Hershel’s death at the Governor’s hands before the villain himself was impaled by Michonne’s blade. He was then shot and put down for good by Tara’s older sister, Lilly.

After his death in the season 4 mid-season finale, Morrissey returned, briefly, in season 5 episode ‘What Happened And What’s Going On,’ as part of visions experienced by a feverish Tyreese as he succumbed to a walker bite.

Morrissey hasn’t appeared since that 2015 episode, and with his character long dead and that era of the show passed, it’s unlikely AMC explores a now-dead villain in his own series — but newly appointed Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple intends to expand the world of the undead with spinoffs.

Future projects will take the form of “traditional stuff, non-traditional stuff, stuff people don’t expect,” Gimple said, revealing he’s open to other series like spinoff Fear The Walking Dead or smaller mini-series Flight 462 and Red Machete.

Morrissey has called the Governor “the ultimate villain in the show,” topping even Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

“There’s been people that have come in and have sort of pretended to be like him, but no one’s ever going to take that crown,” he said. “And I think Negan certainly isn’t going to take it. He’s bad, but no one was like The Governor.”

The Walking Dead is expected to return to AMC with its ninth season this fall.