The Walking Dead: Norman Reedus describes how season 6 will be different

Rick Grimes. The Walking Dead – AMC /

After what has felt like a never ending wait, there’s now only 4 days left until season 6 of The Walking Dead begins. When we last left Rick and the rest of the group, things in Alexandria weren’t going so well. We’re pretty sure that the Wolves are closing in on Alexandria, Rick has gone “full-Shane” (as his behavior has been dubbed on social media), Pete had just killed Reg with Michonne’s katana, and this led Deanna to finally give Rick the go-ahead to kill Pete.

In other words, it’s been a rough day.

Morgan Jones. The Walking Dead – AMC /

On the plus side, we finally saw Morgan, who seems to have attended the Jedi academy sometime between late in season 3 and the end of season 5, join the group he’d been trailing on and off for the past five seasons. It will be fascinating to learn (if we get to learn) what happened to him along the way, and how he went from the unhinged guy we saw in “Clear” to the new and improved Morgan who saved Daryl and Aaron from certain death using, basically, a big stick.

Also a positive, Daryl and Aaron made it back to Alexandria after walking into what had appeared to be a deadly trap involving more walkers than you can shake a stick at (unless you’re Morgan, because that’s exactly what he did!).

In a video released today, Norman Reedus talked about how season 6 is going to be different. We’ve seen this group run and fight and survive unimaginable odds up to now, but what’s going to make this season different, he said, is that the group is going to struggle with being part of a community, and with whether the wild animals that they are now most akin to can survive with other people, which they had started to do at the end of season 5.

For the video clip of Norman Reedus talking about season 6, click below.

If the video doesn’t play for you, click here to go to the Entertainment Weekly article featuring the video, and scroll to the end to find it.

I found it extremely unsettling to see Rick’s group in the more familiar, suburban looking setting of Alexandria at the end of season 5. Running through the woods? Yes! Living in a prison? Sure! Living in houses, with bedrooms and indoor plumbing? Now that’s creepy!

Abraham Ford The Walking Dead – AMC /

I can’t help but wonder about this focus shift to the more human side of the zombie apocalypse. How will it affect the presence of the walkers that we’ve come to know and love? Over the past six weeks we had the chance to go back and watch the beginning of the zombie apocalypse in Los Angeles, with a very strong emphasis on the human side of what was going on, on Fear the Walking Dead. It made sense that the walkers weren’t a prominent feature of that show, since it makes sense that there weren’t all that many walkers out there when the outbreak began.

If season 6 of The Walking Dead does focus on the danger from humans, I’m curious to see how fans’ reaction would compare to the reaction to Fear. There were a lot of complaints about the lack of walkers during FTWD’s six week run. A lot of people said it was too slow, and that they wanted to see walkers much faster and more frequently than we ultimately did.

Personally, I thought they did a fantastic job of building the story and helping us get to know and care about the characters. I think some people just wanted TWD back and were trying to appease themselves with Fear The Walking Dead, forgetting that it was its own show and that things had to happen in their own time.

Heath. The Walking Dead – AMC /

As fans who’ve been hungry for the return of our favorite survivors since season 5 ended in March, it can be hard to take a step back and go back to the beginning when what we really want is to know what happens next. The Walking Dead fandom is a passionate bunch, though not necessarily a patient one.

Of course, The Walking Dead, even in a human-centered season 6, is very likely to have many, many more walkers than we saw in season 1 of Fear. We know for a fact that the herds of walkers are out there in the TWD timeline, it’s only a matter of whether they reach Alexandria or not.

I’ve worked so hard during the break not to read spoilers about season 6, or really to do much speculating at all. I find that I enjoy it more if I go into the episodes without having put a lot of thought into what I think will happen, or what I want to happen. In the end, my opinion is irrelevant anyway. Whether the show turns out the way I want it to or not, I’m sure that Robert Kirkman and the TWD writers have another phenomenal season in store for us. I have no doubt that it’ll be over much too fast. For now, I can only grit my teeth and hope that my favorite characters make it from one episode to the next.

Next: Top 15 Reader-Chosen Dramatic Moments from Season 5

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