There’ll Be a Dangerous New Character When The Walking Dead Returns Sunday

You have two days before The Walking Dead returns for Season 4 on Sunday night. To get ready, you could participate in The Walking Dead Experience taking place Saturday in New York City, where you can be a survivor or a walker in a zombified obstacle course. You could dose up on undead films like World War Z, 28 Days Later or Shaun of the Dead. You could just get into the October mood by watching countless scare-prank videos on YouTube. (My current obsession? The Carrie movie tie-in in a New York City coffee shop. Brilliant.) You could even rewatch all 35 episodes from Seasons 1 to 3.

Or you could read this brief Season 3 overview and a list of a few things to look forward to in Season 4.

Very Brief Synopsis of Season 3

The gang survives the farmhouse zombie infestation of Season 2 and takes up residence in a prison. While ridding the place of walkers, Lori goes into labor. The baby survives the emergency C-section but Lori does not. Her son Carl—henceforth known as Little Shit—shoots her in the head to prevent her from turning. After losing Lori, her husband and the gang’s de facto leader Rick goes nutso.

Meanwhile, Andrea—who got separated from the gang after the farmhouse—and samurai sword-wielding badass Michonne come across an almost too-idyllic town called Woodbury. Michonne is creeped out, especially by the town’s leader The Governor, and leaves. Andrea stays behind. Under The Governor’s order, Merle (Daryl’s older brother) goes after her. She escapes but Maggie and Glenn are taken hostage. They are rescued but war breaks out between the Woodbury army and the gang at the prison.

By end of the season, people are dead, things are destroyed, Little Shit is even creepier. The Governor escapes, but not before being stabbed in the eye by Michonne. Andrea takes her own life after getting bit. And Rick has a change of heart: He abdicates his Ricktatorship and welcomes other survivors into the prison. And Little Shit apparently enjoys killing things. (I hate him.)

Major characters killed: T-Dog, Lori, Merle and Andrea
Major characters that survived: Rick, Hershel, Beth, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Carol and Little Shit
New characters introduced: Tyreese, Sasha, Michonne and The Governor
Number of walkers killed: 297 (from The Walking Dead Kill Count)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sKAFKz0x4k

What’s to come in Season 4

No character is safe
In a interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scott M. Gimple, the new showrunner, stated that Season 4 would still be in the same world. “It’s absolutely the same show, so nobody is safe.”

More of the prison
In the first season, the group goes to the CDC in Atlanta. In the second season, they go to the farm. In the third season, they go to the prison (and Woodbury). But in the fourth season, the group stays where it is. By fortifying the prison, the group begins to settle in and build a community.

Change in Rick
After relinquishing complete control of the group, Rick will finally deal with the death of Lori, raising his new baby girl and coming to terms with the fact that his son, Little Shit, is becoming a psycho. And if rumors are true, Rick might also have to deal with the loss of a limb.

More scary zombies
More walkers, more threats, more herding. And, apparently, a zombie baby.

New characters
Brother and sister Tyreese and Sasha, introduced in Season 3, will become major characters in upcoming episodes. Of particular focus will be Tyreese and Rick, whose tenuous relationship is key to the comic books. Also new is Bob Stookey, an Army medic who’s still dealing with his past. What we don’t know much about is the dangerous new character. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gimple teased: “It’s someone we haven’t seen before. Someone unusual; you can’t stab them in the face, you can’t reason with it. It’s a force that would be dangerous in this world and in the world of The Walking Dead, it’s terrifying,”

More Daryl and Michonne
They are the best part of the show. Period. If something should happen to either of them, especially Daryl, the interweb would explode.