The Walking Dead’s David Morrissey Talks About The Governor’s Fate

By Rudie Obias | Updated

The Governor
SPOILERS FOR THE WALKING DEAD’S MIDSEASON FINALE!

The mid-season finale of The Walking Dead was the finale we were all hoping for in season three. The mid-season finale also featured several main character deaths that were shocking, but yet fitting ways to send The Walking Dead on hiatus for a few months. Although the show won’t return until February 2014, one of its fallen cast members has sounded off about his character’s motivations in “Too Far Gone.”

In an interview with THR, David Morrissey explains why his character killed Hershel instead of his arch-nemesis Michonne. The Governor had an opportunity to end Michonne’s life when the characters were tied up in front of him, but he chose to kill Hershel instead. Morrissey says that the Governor wanted to show Rick that he was serious about taking over the prison. Here’s Morrissey:

“There’s a sense that he wants them to see just how terrible he can be; he wants to shock them,” he says. “He was planning on killing Michonne afterward, but he has a sword to this man’s neck and he was hoping that [Rick’s group] would see he was serious and says, ‘We’ll leave [the prison],’ but they still weren’t saying that.

“In the Governor’s craziness, just like at the end of Season Three when he has this blackout, he goes into this traumatic place again and blacks out and lashes out. The person he lashes out to is the person whose neck is right in front of that sword.”

While the Governor’s days on The Walking Dead have come to an end, Morrissey is happy that the villain’s end came at the hand of his new lover Lilly and not his enemy Michonne. Lilly’s life was turned upside down when she met the Governor in “Live Bait,” and now she has lost her daughter Megan and is separated from her sister Tara “pound it” Chambler. Morrissey continues:

“I was very happy that the person who ended his life was Lilly and not Michonne,” he says. “Michonne condemned him into being a zombie and was very happy to leave him in that horrible place, whereas Lilly was not happy to leave him in that place. She knew that in order to give him freedom, it has to be killing his brain, and that’s debatable if that’s a compassionate act on her part. But I would like to believe it was.”

Meanwhile, the cast and crew have a tradition when it comes to bidding their fallen brethren a fond farewell on the series: a special Death Dinner. Now that The Walking Dead is one of the most popular TV shows, it has become harder and harder to have these Death Dinners without fans of the series catching wind of who’s on the chopping block. The cast and crew now have these Death Dinners at private houses, so as to not draw attention to the special events. Apparently, actors who previously were killed off on the series are invited back for these gatherings. Morrissey says a familiar face was invited to festivities for his Death Dinner.

Sarah Wayne Callies [whose Lori Grimes was killed off in season three] came,” he says. “She knew Scott Wilson very well, and it was great to see her and hear what she had to say. It’s a very close family. Once you’ve been in The Walking Dead, you’re always in The Walking Dead.”

The Walking Dead will return to conclude season four in February 2014.

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