Melissa McBride: Obviously, There’s Something Going on With Carol
The Season 5 premiere sealed it: The Walking Dead’s Carol Peletier is primetime’s reigning action heroine.
“She’s doing these extraordinary things that two years ago… she never would have fathomed she would be running around in a blanket full of guts, blowing things up,” actress Melissa McBride tells Yahoo TV about her character, Carol. “I love her. I’m so endeared by her.
“I was elated that the writers came up with this particular story for her, this role for her to play. I was so proud of her, creating that wonderful diversion. And I loved it that she was going to take it on at any cost, to try it, regardless of the consequences. She could be killed, she could be mistaken for a walker. Anything could’ve happened, but she was going to try, and I loved that.”
Carol’s badassery is going to be called on again and again this season, be it running off with Daryl to find Beth, as we saw her doing at the end of Episode 2, or helping her friends understand, as she puts it, that they can’t rely on luck to see them through their ever-more-dangerous world. McBride talked to Yahoo TV about why she gets so emotional about her character, why Carol is having a hard time reconnecting with her friends, and a cryptic preview of what’s ahead for Carol the rest of Season 5.
Before we jump into Season 5, when you were asked about Carol at New York Comic Con a couple of weeks ago, you became very emotional about her. What sparked that?
I get emotional when I think of her… just how far she’s come. I love the strength that she’s able to experience now within herself. My heart just goes out to anyone who has to struggle against anything like that. You think, “It’s never going to end. I can’t find the strength within myself to do what I know I need to be doing.” It’s such an internal conflict, and my heart goes out to anyone who has done what they needed to do to overcome that situation. Carol represents to me so many people who I know in my life who are still here, maybe still struggling, or who are not here anymore. [Carol] is definitely a hero to me and a hero to a lot of people who identify with her story so far. That makes me truly, genuinely, very happy.