When Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes leaves The Walking Dead in Season Nine, Melissa McBride’s Carol Peletier will become the longest running survivor still on the series. Through the upcoming episodes, though, the character will undergo some considerable changes as life in Alexandria settles down in its post-All Out War era.

While visiting the set of The Walking Dead’s upcoming season, ComicBook.com caught up with McBride to talk about how a time jump will have changed her character. Not only will she have opened the door to romance, having taking on a serious relationship with King Ezekiel, but she will also be more hardened and equipped with new weapons to take on whatever threats may be lurking.

“I think what we see of Carol is a whole new rebirth from the woman that she was when we met her, to the woman that she is now, and I don’t think there’s any going back,” McBride said. “Once you experience that voice for yourself, that way of life, it’s very difficult to just submit to whatever. I don’t see her doing that.”

In the zombie apocalypse, characters have had little success in the way of relationships. Rick lost his wife. Carol lost her first husband. Aaron lost his boyfriend. However, like Danai Gurira’s Michonne, Carol is embracing an attitude of living “in the moment.”

“I mean anything could happen at any moment, and also that’s her being in the moment, to allow a relationship to happen,” McBride said. “But then again, it’s like I can take it, but I can’t take the loss. I can be with you, but it’s going to be on my terms, and that’s important to her, and the King is very complicated.”

In fact, that complicated nature of King Ezekiel may be what attracted Carol to him. In a sequence from the Season Nine premiere episode, Carol discusses her romance with long time friend Daryl, and acknowledges he is quite “corny.” However, after so many years with an abusive husband and suffering such tragic losses through the post-apocalyptic years, “corny” might be what she needs.

“I think he just has the way about him, and he’s very different than anyone she’s ever encountered, that most people have encountered,” McBride said. “I think just some of the masks that they wear, they have that understanding, ‘I know where you’re coming from.'”

Relationships or not, the women of The Walking Dead are being credited by several cast members — especially Norman Reedus — as the main drivers of the upcoming season.

“I’ve seen a couple of [episodes], but that the women are being put into positions of leadership and making really, really hard choices, and not backing down, keeping their people safe and that’s exciting to play. I really like Angela [Kang]’s point of view. It’s fresh, and new, and different for a myriad of reasons. She herself is a really interesting person who has a very interesting world view, and I just think the time is now, it’s nice to know for sure.”

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. The Walking Dead returns for its ninth season on Oct. 7, 2018.

Hey all!

Finally, the gallery is completely up to date with The Walking Dead episode captures Melissa. I’ve also added stills for the premiere episode of Season 9 along with a couple of promotional images if you hadn’t checked them out already.

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Hey all! So I’ve been slacking on the site lately, and I’m really sorry for that. In gearing up for the Season 9 premiere, I am getting the rest of the missing episode captures uploaded over the next day or two. I’ve started today with finishing up Season 3. I have a few episodes from Season 4 that also need adding plus the bulk of Season 8 and then we’ll be up to date! Stop back in a day or two or more updates!

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Hey all!

I just wanted to post quickly and let you know we are moving hosts so if you see any broken links or have issues with the site, hopefully everything will be fixed soon!

In a last minute line up change it was confirmed that The Walking Dead’s Melissa McBride won’t be attending SDCC this year.

The Walking Dead’s panel for SDCC is going to be a little smaller this year. AMC confirmed to Undead Walking that Melissa McBride won’t be attending the show’s highly anticipated panel at SDCC this year. That leaves just five cast members that will be on the panel: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Also on the panel will be Executive Producer and new showrunner of The Walking Dead Angela Kang, Executive Producers Scott M. Gimple and Gale Anne Hurd, and Direction/Executive Producer/Special Effects Supervisor Greg Nicotero.

The panel will be hosted by The Walking Dead superfan Yvette Nicole Brown who stepped in to moderate both The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead panels after Chris Hardwick chose to withdraw.

Fans are excited about the panel and to see the premiere of The Walking Dead season 9 trailer. This season has been called “a new beginning” for the show as it is expected to be Andrew Lincoln’s last season playing Rick Grimes. There will be at least one time jump and the season will pick up after the fallout of All Out War when the communities have settled into a new routine of survival and cooperation. The season will also pick up after the birth of Maggie and Glen’s baby, named Hershel.

A New Era Begins

There have been some major shakeups for The Walking Dead since the season 8 finale aired. Lauren Cohan joined the cast of the ABC show Whiskey Cavalier which will mean that she won’t be featured as heavily in The Walking Dead. And while it has never been confirmed by AMC it is widely believed that Andrew Lincoln will leave the show sometime during season 9. The details of his departure, and whether or not he will return at some point in the future, are also unconfirmed and up in the air although there has been endless speculation about how the story of Rick Grimes will come to a close and what will happen to the show after that.

While some people predict that season 9 will be the last season of The Walking Dead there are still a lot of beloved characters that are still alive and a lot of stories left to tell in The Walking Dead universe. The season 9 trailer that will be unveiled at SDCC next week should answer some questions about the direction that the show will take in the future and fuel a lot of speculation about the fate of the characters that fans love so much like Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, and Carol Peletier.