The Walking Dead: Rick vs. the Governor

Spoilers for "Arrow in the Doorpost" within. You've been warned.

The big confrontation between Rick and the Governor finally happened, but not in the way we expected. In an impressive pair of performances, Andrew Lincoln and David Morrissey were able to anchor this episode despite it mostly being about two guys talking. We caught up with series creator/executive producer Robert Kirkman about The Walking Dead's latest.

IGN TV's Review of "Arrow in the Doorpost"

IGN TV: This episode really bucks expectations in terms of the first meeting of the Governor and Rick, and I think it works really well. Why go with this calm-before-the-storm route of pitting them face-to-face instead of guns blazing? What do you think this angle offers in terms of dramatic potential?

Robert Kirkman: I think it’s really cool to see these two characters in a room interacting, having, to a certain extent, a battle of wits as opposed to a battle of battles. The way they met in the comic book series was very quick, very early on in the storyline, and very explosive. It kind of set the story off in a different direction than we went in the television show. The fact that they didn’t meet for so long; the fact that it’s episode 13 of this season by the time they actually see each other face-to-face, we felt that we really needed to play up this meeting and give it the gravitas that it deserved. So that’s what led to this decision.

IGN: In terms of comparing the comic to the show and how these characters met in either medium, do you see the show as sort of an opportunity to, not redo, but maybe re-examine the way you hit certain beats?

Kirkman: That’s kind of what the show has become. It’s definitely fun to adapt things directly, and we have done that and we will always continue to do that. I know that there’s some big memorable stuff from the comic still coming up and definitely some stuff planned for Season 4, but being able to – I hate to say “remix,” but that’s a good way to look at it – being able to get in there and see what’s going on in the comic and step back and analyze it with the benefit of hindsight.

I was writing those stories and was very in the moment; I knew what was coming up in those stories for years and years, but I hadn’t actually nailed down exactly how it went. Being able to read 107 issues of the comic and know every nook and cranny of that story and move things around and set things up better and draw out things that worked really well to get a little bit more story out of them and speed things up to make it a little bit more intense here and there, it’s a lot of fun just being able to reposition story and alter things to a certain extent. And hopefully improve the storytelling, or at the very least do it in a little different, interesting way.

IGN: A huge chunk of this episode is really just Rick and the Governor sitting at a table, yet it never feels uneventful. Did you have any reservations about this episode from a logistics standpoint, or were you confident that Andrew Lincoln and David Morrissey would be able to pull it off?

Kirkman: I think that’s really it. After having seen what Andrew’s done over the course of these three seasons and what David Morrissey has done over the course of this season, we knew that just having these two characters having conversation would be enough to fill up 13 episodes, let alone one episode.

The fact that there was this huge undercurrent between the two of them; by the time they meet in this episode, the Governor has this mythic idea of this guy who took over this prison that was overrun and led these people through this wasteland. He doesn’t know anything about this guy other than all these stories of his accomplishments. And then Rick has all this information about this guy who calls himself “the Governor,” and it’s through this filter of other people. So he hears about all these terrible deeds, but he doesn’t really know this guy. You need a lot of time for these people to feel each other out and get to the bottom of who they actually are. It was fun to take that break and see that story work and see what makes these two characters tick; see them getting to know each other a little bit.

IGN: How much of those scenes were hoisted by the director and actors as opposed to the script?

Kirkman: I can definitely say a lot of the undercurrent -- the intention in their words -- a lot of that is from the acting. And the directing by David Boyd on this episode is really spectacular. We were really worried that this stuff would play a little flat and that it wouldn’t come off as well as we had hoped it would on the page. But it was really just brought to life beautifully, and making two people sitting in a room talking, as interesting as this episode is, is a pretty tall order. They really pulled it off.

IGN: Something else I thought was really interesting about this episode was how the rest of the group that went along to the meet-up pretty much got along at the end of the day. I think that speaks to the egos of both Rick and the Governor to some degree; though the Governor is clearly psychotic, it feels like if those two didn’t have their beef with each other, their respective groups might actually be able to co-exist. Do you think their leaders are doing them more harm than good in that way?

Kirkman: Yeah, that’s certainly possible. A good deal of what’s going on is due to the fact that the Governor is manipulating these people into following him on his mad quest. Seeing an interaction between Martinez and Daryl Dixon really shows that these are two people that are really putting their faith in Rick and the Governor, but otherwise they would be getting along. I think Hershel and Milton would totally be best friends if it weren’t for their different locations.

So yeah, a lot of this comes down to the Governor’s mad quest and how he’s driving these people to do this. I think that really informs Andrea’s quest. I think she sees that and is struggling to figure out how she can save these people who are being duped by this guy. Hershel says to her in this episode, “Come back with me.” And the fact that she can’t is due to the fact that she does recognize this and can see these people for the good that’s in them and is trying to save their lives.

IGN: Will we be seeing more of that sort of stuff, as we build toward the climax of the season? The two groups interacting in a non-combat situation?

Kirkman: I can say that the next episode is a very Andrea-centric episode, but there’s not a lot of non-combat coming up in these last three episodes. They’re going to be somewhat combat heavy!

IGN: I think it’s interesting that this deal the Governor offers with Michonne comes up after Rick’s experience with Morgan. We talked last week about how that experience would change Rick’s decisions. Do you think that had the Governor offered the same deal before the events of last week, there would be less deliberation on Rick’s part?

Kirkman: Possibly. Rick’s very on the fence about this deal. This is kind of an impossible decision for him to make, to give up a human life for the chance of peace. That’s something that’s really going to weigh on him and certainly his experience with Michonne in the last episode is affecting his decision, but I have to think that this would’ve been a tough decision for him regardless. At his core, Rick is a good person, which is at times a strength, but oftentimes in this world is a major weakness. That will play into what decision he does end up making.

Joey is a Senior Editor at IGN and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. If he could, he'd run away to live amongst wild cats for the rest of his days.

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