The Walking Dead: David Morrissey Was “Really Upset” The Governor Killed Hershel

David Morrissey says “a lot of tears” were shed when the villainous Governor proved he was Too Far Gone and murdered Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) with a sword on The Walking Dead. Outside the gates of the prison where Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) holed up with his children and their group of survivors, Rick watched in horror as the one-eyed Woodbury bad guy threatened a hostage Hershel and Michonne (Danai Gurira). The midseason finale of Season 4 ended with the Governor wielding Michonne’s katana and decapitating Hershel, ending Wilson’s tenure as a series regular on The Walking Dead. 

“We’re all upset [when we’re killed off]. The thing I was really upset about was killing Hershel,” the Governor actor said during a panel at Fandemic Tour Atlanta. Morrissey remembered Wilson, who died from leukemia aged 76 in October 2018, as “one of the greatest men I’ve ever worked with or known.” 

“He loved being on the show, and so did I,” Morrissey said before recalling learning he would be the one to kill off the fan-favorite Hershel in “Too Far Gone.”

“You’d read [the script], you’d turn it backwards to make sure you were still alive [laughs]. As the season is going on you think, ‘Someone is going to go.’ I got to the trailer, looked at [the script], and then I saw I killed Scott. I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m never going to be able to walk down the street again. This is going to kill me,’ [laughs]. So it was really tough.”

But Wilson previously had a private meeting with then-showrunner Scott Gimple, who told him the bad news: Hershel was to die in episode 408. On the day of the shoot, Wilson was in good spirits as Morrissey steeled himself to give Hershel one of the most gruesome and gory deaths from the comic book. 

“He came out [on set] and he was sort of shaking everybody’s hands saying, ‘We’re going to make a great one, it’s going to be a great episode.’ And we did it, and it was really, really tough,” Morrissey said. “There was a lot of tears that day. All the crew turned up in their suspenders because Hershel wore the suspenders, and on the day I died, they all came in with eyepatches. But you have to get on with the work. You have the sentiment and you’re upset because you’re not going to see your mates again, but you’re there to do a job and you have to do it.”

While Morrissey was “upset to be leaving” — the Governor is stabbed by Michonne before being shot and put down by Lilly Chambler (Audrey Marie Anderson) — it was more upsetting seeing Wilson sent off. But, Morrissey confessed with a laugh, “I was happy that I got to beat up Andrew Lincoln, that was great.” 

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