13 Things We Learned From 'The Walking Dead' Producer David Alpert

If you couldn't tell from Rick's meeting with the Governor, his hometown trip the other week was his return to normalcy.

"I think you'll see that 'Clear,' [Season 3, episode 12], is really the beginning of something major for Rick. That sort brings him back from the brink," says Alpert. "This will always be a point for him where he decides, "You know what? Engagment is important, and I must do it, because it's not a life worth living without.'" 

One point of Morgan's (Lennie James) return was to bring Rick back on point.

"This Morgan is a very damaged, very messed-up individual," says Alpert. "There is no hope for him. We felt it was important for Rick to have that turning point. We really needed Morgan to be messed up and sort of incredibly depressed and beyond redemption."

"I think there's a real desire on everyone's part to see Lennie James again," says Alpert. "Morgan's character is fascinating. I think the rest of us fans want to see more of him, so I feel like there's a real opportunity. I don't know that it will necessarily be as part of the group in quite the same way. I hope we will see Lennie James again."

"We always figured we'd see him again at some point, we just didn't know when," said Alpert. "And, we sort of let the story dictate it. Even with the farm [in season 2] we talked about whether there was a way to bring him in … It never felt special enough."

"We were looking for how we could reward viewers who sort of remember him and how we could engage him in cumulative storytelling. We figured this was the best way to do that."

Between outings to Woodbury, supply runs, and Rick venturing on a roadtrip to his hometown, the group guzzles a lot of gas. 

Shouldn't we be running out of resources in a zombie apocalypse?

Alpert says no way.

"A lot of people ran out of gas. You see a lot of those cars sort of abandoned on the highway, but then, what happened is that a lot of cars actually have gas in them. They were abandoned on the highway because they just got caught in traffic. There's so many fewer people left that actually gas isn't, I don't think, quite as limited. It's gotten more available per person as more people have died."

Last week's episode saw the first meeting between Rick and The Governor where the Woodbury leader asked for Michonne to be given up in exchange for his group's freedom.

But, after Rick and Michonne's latest exchanges, he wouldn't do that, right?

"We have some really crazy twists for her," says Alpert. "It's going to get even more intense. [Whether] she is willing to let herself be part of a group will be a major push for her." 

"She's slowly opening herself up, and that's when she's vulnerable. That's the hardest thing for her to be," he added. "She's so invested in being self-sustaining, and being an island that it's really hard for her to acknowledge that she may need somebody's help." 

Sure, Rick's wife Lori passed away a few episodes ago, and he has a new baby to take care of, but that didn't stop fans from suggesting there may be something more between the two after sharing an intimate conversation the other week.

"I would think that Rick's too caught up in Carl and making sure that he takes care of Judith to see that happen anytime soon, but beyond that, I would say never say never" says Alpert.

Up until now, Merle has always been the big bad wolf on the show. Since reuniting with his brother, we're still not sure where his allegiances lie.

"I think we're going to see some real growth in Merle," says Alpert. "I think the Merle storyline is going to be really unexpected."

We haven't seen a whole lot of Rick's youngest child, but that will change. 

"Clearly, from a safety perspective, it's a bad idea to have a baby in a prison, but from a humanity point of view, we have to find a way to let her exist," says Alpert. "We have to protect her and everybody knows that. What defines our group is that they believe in the future and they have to. I think what we're going to see as we move forward, maybe this season, maybe not, but we're going to see that Judith's role and existence is going to be more and more important to their identity."

This season we saw Carl kill his mom, The Governor lose his eye, and the group's leader, Rick have a huge mental break down. (The man was having conversations with his dead wife.)

With three episodes left to go, it's not over yet. 

"We're going to hit some really dark, nasty places," says Alpert. "... like even darker than where we've been." 

However, Alpert says there will be moments of hope and optimism, too. 

"As we go to those places, and we've done things that you may be sort of cringing from, bare with us because we're going to reward you for it," says Alpert.

Probably not. 

One of the teaser posters for the season, showed the Governor with his iconic eyepatch after Michonne left him blind out of one eye.

Though we've already seen the Governor wants to get his claws on the machete wielder, it may take longer than this season to fully flesh out his revenge. 

"It will be an interesting thing to explore. We're far from done." says Alpert. "There's a lot more blood that needs to be spilled before that storyline gets resolved."

With Glen Mazzara departing from the show this season and Gimple stepping in to take over, Alpert says we can expect more walkers. 

"We're going to have a lot of crazy zombie awesomeness, like what you saw in "Clear" [Season 3, episode 12] where Morgan came up with those amazing traps and prevention devices."

Gimple has brought some of the biggest "Walking Dead" scenes to the small screen from Sofia's reveal in season two to the return of Morgan. Expect to see more writing reflect that in the future.

"You're going to get that emotional closeness, you're going to be given a scene and see how these characters feel and react," says Alpert. "We'll really focus in on the emotions, the characters, and all those aspects."

"As well, we're going to get a look into the long-term and short-term story arcs that are created from the build," he added. "The careful viewer will really be rewarded."

Don't count your chickens that everyone will make it out by the season's end.  

"Nobody is off limits," says Alpert. "There is no safe board. There is no one who can ever say, 'Oh you can't touch this person.'"

See what producer David Alpert said other television shows can learn from "The Walking Dead" >