Giant Freakin Robot

A few days ago, there was some talk that actor Lawrence Gilliard Jr. would join the cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead for season four. It was rumored that he’d be playing an original character (like Merle & Daryl Dixon, and T-Dog) named Roy Stark, a “former army medic who is deeply haunted by his past.” As it turns out, Gilliard is now confirmed to be a regular cast member of The Walking Dead, but he will play the character of Bob Stookey from Robert Kirkman’s comics instead.

According to TVLine, Lawrence Gilliard Jr.’s character will still meet the same general description as above. Although Bob Stookey is deeply troubled, he will have a charming, confident, and self-deprecating public face. In the comics, Bob Stookey is an alcoholic medic and a new addition to the Woodbury community. He saved the Governor’s life after Michonne tortured him and left him for dead.

Gilliard Jr. will join Chad Coleman, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Emily Kinney, who play Tyreese, his sister Sasha, and Hershel’s daughter Beth, respectively, in the fourth-season cast. Gilliard Jr. famously played the role of D’Angelo Barksdale on the acclaimed HBO drama The Wire. He has also appeared in numerous TV crime dramas, including Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, and New York Undercover.

While the third-season finale of The Walking Dead was lackluster, it will be interesting to see the show’s new direction with staff writer Scott Gimple as the series’ newly appointed showrunner. Honestly, it looks like we may get more of the same in season four, only with more zombies.

The Walking Dead season four will premiere sometime in October 2013.

Without going into spoilers, the third-season finale of AMC’s The Walking Dead left things in such a way that there could be plenty of new characters next season. So far, the upcoming fourth season has bumped Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman), Sasha (Sonnequa Martin-Green), and Beth (Emily Kinney) up to series regulars, and word on the street was that they were casting a character named Roy Stark.

iDigitalTimes now reports that Lawrence Gilliard Jr., a veteran of HBO’s The Wire, is in final negotiations to take the part. Though the show is based on the comic books by Robert Kirkman, Roy Stark appears to be a wholly original character. He joins the likes of Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker), Milton (Dallas Roberts), and T-Dog (Irone Singleton) as characters created specifically for the show. If Gilliard does indeed wind up on The Walking Dead, he’ll be the second veteran of The Wire. Coleman played ex-con and boxing enthusiast Cutty.

There isn’t much known about Roy Stark except that he’s a “former army medic who is deeply haunted by his past.” Really, that’s the best you can come up with? That’s such a bland, generic description, and I really hope there’s more to him than that. But this is The Walking Dead we’re talking about here, so there might not be. I hope this isn’t another case of the show half-heartedly attempting to carve out a new character when there are perfectly serviceable, and more complete characters—like Abraham—that already exist in the comics.

As hit and miss as season three of AMC’s zombie drama The Walking Dead was, the impending Blu-ray release is going to arrive in one hell of a package. One of the most disturbing and enduring images of the season was the Governor’s (David Morrissey) aquarium wall full of severed heads. And that’s exactly what your shiny video discs will arrive in, a box fashioned to look like a tank full of disembodied heads.

The Walking Dead is no stranger to unique packaging. The first season arrived on my doorstep, unannounced, in an envelope with a big bloody boot print on it. I feel like that should have raised more eyebrows at the post office than it did. Season two came in a zombie head with a screwdriver sticking out of its eye.

This is somewhat more tasteful than an impaled undead eyeball, or at least much less likely to frighten any small children who may peruse your movie collection. Maybe. It’ll still scare the crap out of the ones with a keen eye for detail, but it isn’t as obvious as a full-sized head sitting on your shelf, staring them full on in the face.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) is hands down the best character on AMC’s The Walking Dead, despite the fact that he doesn’t appear in the comics that serve as the zombie drama’s source material. In fact, he’s one of the few characters I don’t regularly root for to die, and even inspired the popular “If Daryl Dies, We Riot” meme. Folks love his grizzled-redneck-badass-with-a-heart-of-gold persona. But still, Daryl is one of the few survivors of the undead apocalypse not on the receiving end of some sweet, sweet loving so far. But perhaps that may change moving into season four.

Seriously, everyone but Daryl is hooking up. There’s Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Ghost Lori (still Sarah Wayne Callies). Even Shane (Jon Bernthal) and The Governor (David Morrissey) get laid left and right, and they’re dicks. Why can’t Daryl find somebody to love?

Before you all start yelling, “But what about Carol (Melissa McBride)?” that bit of weirdness doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. After nothing came of her throwing herself at him early on in season three, and after he saved her life, the two settled back into a more platonic, almost familial relationship. Also, we don’t know how much season four of The Walking Dead will pull from the comics, but if they keep one particular storyline, there could be a love connection between Carol and newcomer Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman).