WARNING: This post contains light details but could be interpreted as spoiler-ish – if you’re worried about that sort of thing, I’d hit the BACK button, like now.
Looks like the hype around The Walking Dead Season 3 has officially begun. This weeks’ issue of Entertainment Weekly features The Walking Dead on not one, but four covers featuring various members of the cast, including new characters such as Michonne and The Governor and the return of Michael Rooker. Here are all 4 covers for you to peruse:
In addition to the 4 covers, Entertainment Weekly has an in depth, somewhat spoiler laden report from the set of season 3, complete with character breakdowns, hints and details about what’s to come and a ton of attention to the new characters of Michonne and The Governor, who are being ported from the pages of the comic to the show. We also get some very good looks at fan favorite Michael Rooker, who looks to be reprising his role as Merle. We last saw Merle as a vision of Daryl ‘s (Norman Reedus) subconscious, but it looks like Merle is back in real life and it probably won’t be pretty. In addition to these juicy, they’ve got some photos from on-set and in the tablet edition of EW this week, portraits of Andrew Lincoln (Rick), Michael Rooker (Merle), and production shots of Michonne and The Governor:
You can see it all in this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
fan favorite michael rooker? his character was a primary reason i downgraded this from from a “much watch each week” to “meh. i can wait until its on netflix instant.” it surprises me there are people out there who like him.
good to see they found a way to make a nod to the comic with him visually, though.
I love Merle.
for real? i guess i’m in the minority.
he just struck as me as the most stock-characters in a show already filled with stock characters. and i’m saying this as someone who likes the comic quite a bit. it was too much backwoods deliverance hick for me to swallow.
If you don’t love Michael Rooker, then you don’t love ‘Murka.
I’m a HUGE Rooker and Merle fan. Hated that he was gone – glad to see him back
he seems just like *such* an unbelievable caricature. like, so broadly done it’s like he was painted using a steam-roller. let me be clear: i found him unbelievable in a show with effing *zombies*. let’s make it specific to merle – what’s the draw? and show your work, “he’s awesome” doesn’t count. 🙂
Love Michael Rooker / Merle. I hope he comes back and eats a chocolate covered pretzel from Rick. His Badass Brother Daryl is one of my fav’s as well.
The draw is that Rooker puts in a smoldering performance, especially the scene from the first season where he’s trying to escape the handcuffs. he goes from crying to rage to praying to laughter in the space of 6 minutes and it’s ridiculous to watch.
now as far as the character goes, trust me, as someone who lives in Texas and has been all over the south, when you get out of the big cities and small towns and meet folks who live out on there own and never come into town but once a month for groceries and feed, you meet guys just like Merle. I’ve met guys who struck me as even worse or at the very least more vocal about their hate for anyone who isn’t a member of their family
@mark.: What RoiVampire said. Rooker is riveting and charismatically evil. And Merles definitely exist, sadly.
i thinks that’s my whole point. i would disagree with calling rooker’s performance smoldering and would more go with “dramatic black hole,” but that’s me. as an actor he’s not to my taste and i’m cool with other people liking the way he plays his part.
but here’s the thing: i totally agree that there are people out there like merle and have interacted with more of than i care to remember. the problem is that the character of merle based on what we’ve seen goes like this – is tough, cuts off hand, hates ethnic minorities. that’s not a character to me, that’s a handful of writing shortcuts thrown on screen so we think we know a character that is, in fact, woefully underdeveloped. (this is also the same reason i remember not liking t-dog). given more time, we may get a more fleshed out person, but as of right now there’s little i’ve seen of merle as a character that tells me who he is and why i should give a rat’s ass about him.
let me also add, i’m not trying to bring the hate. i genuinely am curious and am glad that the show has as strong a following as it does. good on amc/kirkman/these actors. sorry about dominating the thread, ya’ll.
Rooker was SO BAD in the episodes he was in the first season. He played it way to over the top and the writers certainly didn’t help the stereotypical nature of his character.
His return is yet another reason I have no desire to watch this season.
How can the addition of Merle not be a GRREAT thing!? Look at that photo…Rooker is a great scary actor and the dude has a machete for a hand!!!
@TNC: But it’s not gonna stop you from trolling the recap threads, is it?
You’re wrong about Rooker. You’re confusing performances that you don’t like with bad ones. Again. Rooker’s made a decades long career out of playing creeps and psychopaths. You don’t compile his kinda body of work if you’re bad at it. Also, he was born and raised in Alabama, so I’m pretty sure he knew what kinda stereotype the writers were going for.
i’ve been accused of as much. i also cheer for the soviets in ’80s olypmic hockey and boxing movies.
shit – that was supposed to be a reply to neums, by the way!
So the Governor’s a fan of the cross-draw. That’s ballsy, gonna slow you down a bit when a pissed off Rick is coming at you.
So not only has Merle acquired a machete hand, but he’s also learned some sweet martial arts moves. How can you NOT love this character?! I can’t wait.
Love for Merle aside, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Michonne will be the favorite this season.