‘The Walking Dead’ is currently in the midst of filming the rest of Season 3 and if you weren’t already excited about the addition of Michonne and the Governor in the series, then AMC’s interview with executive producer Gale Anne Hurd should remind you why this season will probably be the best one yet.

In the interview, Hurd talks about changing the location of the set, what they plan on doing to keep the show fresh and what to expect at Comic-Con. Here are a few highlights from that article:

Q: This season is the longest yet, at 16 episodes. What kind of challenges does a longer season present?

A: It’s really a marathon this year. The advantage is we have had some cooler weather in May and we’ll be going into cooler weather again in October. The challenge is maintaining the same intense level of storytelling that our audience expects of us, and we certainly plan to deliver on that.

Q: There are so many new locations and characters this season, what are you most excited about?

A: I will say that I loved the farm, but it is good to be off the farm. And the contrast between our [two main sets] this season is so great…We’re setting up this first community that is functioning in a post-zombie apocalypse. We get to see not only the advantages of putting civilization back on its feet again but also the dark forces at work in what may seem like a Utopia.

Q: This is your third season of The Walking Dead. What’s the secret to keeping the show feeling fresh and scary?

A: It’s really important to focus on making the story as richly character-driven as possible because the scares and the sense of jeopardy only come with identifying with those characters when they’re in jeopardy.

Q: There are many new human threats this season, which you’ve always warned about, but what about the zombies. What new tricks can we expect from them?

A: Obviously we have the absolute best makeup effects team on the planet, led by Greg Nicotero… And every year he ups his game. So we’re not just seeing the same old thing. This season, we’re going to have puppeted animatronic zombies and that’s something that we haven’t seen before.

Q: Next month will be your third visit to Comic-Con to give fans a look at The Walking Dead. What can fans expect?

A: We like to bring a special reel for the fans at Comic-Con so they can see a special sneak peak of Season 3 before everyone else. It’s sort of a reward for waiting in line to getting it into the hall. And we’ll be bringing a larger contingent of our cast and crew than ever this year. And also because we began shooting a lot earlier this year, the reel will contain a lot more footage than it has in the past.

Looks like we’ll be in for some great storytelling and visuals when ‘The Walking Dead’ returns! If you’re one of the lucky ones who will be going to this year’s Comic-Con, then make sure you get to ‘The Walking Dead’ panel to be one of the first to see what the season will bring!

If this snippet of the interview has you wanting more, you can read the rest of it over at the AMC ‘The Walking Dead’ blog.