The Walking Dead: Melissa McBride On Carol's Strength, Negan and Alpha Twists, and Rick Movies

Evolution of TWD

ComicBook.com: I'd like to start by going backwards. In these past two years, the evolution of the set really has been intense. You've worked with so many new people, some who have been on the cast that you might not have had a chance to work with before but also some who have joined the cast as others leave. What has this major evolution been like for you, having been there since day one?

Melissa McBride: It's been wonderful, and also it's difficult when somebody leaves, you know? But great relationships are formed. It's great to meet new people and have new storylines introduced, and have scenes with people that I've never had before. Opportunities with other players that I've not had before. So it's been a great evolution.

Negan Twist

CB: The way Episode 10x14, we see that Negan and Carol are in cahoots trying to take down Alpha and we see the flashback scene where Carol frees Negan from the cell. How early in the season did you learn about this, or did you find out kind of this late in the year when everybody else found out, and what was your reaction?

MM: I found out later that it was Carol and my reaction was, "What? Really? Wow. Okay. So, I get to work with Jeffrey [Dean Morgan]?"

CB: That actually sets up my next question. Do you think Carol might be a bit more open to letting Negan help this because she wasn't there on that Episode 7x01 sequence, she didn't actually witness the murders of Glenn and Abraham herself?

MM: Yeah, I think she certainly knows and has heard stories, and he's a legend, but in a way of a bit of a mythical character because she wasn't here. It's the first time we've ever seen them together and the first time they've seen one another, I believe. So there is that separation factor and knowing what he could quite possibly be capable of, and he also has the most to gain if she's looking for a cohort, a cohort to help her catch or kill the Alpha.

CB: What was it like for you guys to finally work together? Because I know you're no strangers to each other, but to actually get time on set working together must've been fun.

MM: It was so much fun, and I was so excited. But it was great fun, and we did the scene several times and did it different ways. He's a really fun actor to play with, trying different things, and I was just really happy, just excited, excited for that day.

Samantha Morton's Alpha

CB: You've had a good amount of time this year with Alpha actress Samantha Morton who absolutely crushed the role of Alpha. This week it was so different because I feel like Samantha, her Alpha was representing kind of Carol's inner monologue to some extent. Sharing the set, getting these intense days, just these super-dramatic sequences with somebody so talented. Can you talk about what that was like?

MM: It was pretty thrilling. Finally getting to have this dialogue and work with Samantha, and wrapped around this storyline that was her but me, her Carol subconscious and why is it embedded in the Alpha? I thought it was just a fascinating way to get these characters, get them and place them together. Yeah, it was very, very clever and interesting.

CB: Carol's past, going all the way back to the character Ed made her act as, and then with Ed being gone and who she becomes after that and the strength she gains, do you think that history though might be a part of why it is so easy for Carol to retreat into isolation, when things like this happen?

MM: I'm sure it is. Everything that she was then is a part of who she is now, or has fibers in the way she is now. For better or worse. So, certainly.

Carol's Strengrh

CB: In this episode, there's a scene where the roof falls and Carol is completely covered in debris. It looks like there's no way out. But Carol's strength, when she finally finds her strength again, that's what gets her through. That's what gets her past this mental block with Alpha. How symbolic of Carol's journey do you think just that moment alone is?

MM: I think it pretty much sums up her journey so far, that in a way it's never too late to do a lot of things. Even in that last line she says it's never too late. It's not too late to save yourself. It's not too late to face what you need to face. It's never too late to ask for forgiveness. It's never too late to find understanding and it's never too late to save your life.

I think in that moment where she was faced with life or death, she did what she had to do. She's done it before. It's going to hurt, but we have to do it. She dislocated her shoulder to get out from underneath that pile, and saved herself.

CB: I just want to send you my compliments for that performance. It was really something. You really did a great job.

MM: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Welcome Home?

CB: Then, at the end of the episode, Carol arrives back in Alexandria. Daryl opens the gate and obviously there's a strain after everything that happened over these past few episodes. Do you think there's a possible forgiveness there, now that Daryl has been enlightened? What can we expect from that relationship?

MM: I don't know because she doesn't know how enlightened Daryl is. I think it's one of those, "What does he know?" And he's like, "What does she know that I know?" "What does he know that I think he knows?" I don't know who knows what. So I think we're going to have to wait and see how that whole thing plays out, and where he's at, what he knows. We know what he knows. She doesn't know what he knows.

CB: Who do you think is Carol's biggest ally at this point? It might be Negan, right now.

MM: I think it might be Negan right now. Wow, have we not come a long way, haven't we?

Rick Grimes Reunion

CB: I loved your tweet with the picture of Andrew Lincoln the other day and the #bringhimhome. That phrase is being used by everybody now. Is that kind of the sentiment from everyone? Is the #bringhimhome kind of everybody's sentiment with Andy and Rick at this point?

MM: Yeah, I think it always was, since we saw him lift off in that helicopter.

CB: Do you two stay in touch at this point?

MM: I haven't talked to him in a while. I know he's doing some stuff, but I haven't talked to him in a while, and I talk to him through other people. I get the low down. So I'm very anxious to see what his work is on the Walking Dead, in the Walking Dead world.

CB: If Carol and Rick share the screen, what do you think the first thing Carol, with everything that's happened, wants to tell Rick about is?

MM: I think she would probably tell him that Judith is alive and well and is such an amazing human being. More than you could ever imagine, and she's so much like her mothers.

And him. "She's so much like you, Rick."